The 2025 Denver International Beer Competition will be held on Saturday, November 15th and Sunday, November 16th.  The entry window has opened and it will remain open until the start of the festival. Entries must be received between Monday, November 10th and Friday, November 14th.  This year’s event is being held at New Image Brewing in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.  Please note that this brewery has two locations, so be sure to send beverages to the correct address.  Please ship entries to:

ATTN: Denver International Beer Competition

9505 W 44th Ave

Wheat Ridge, CO 80033

Any beverage may be entered using any of the categories established by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP).  For beer, the Denver International Beer Competition will be using the 2021 categories.  These categories may be found here.  Please note that many of the main categories have sub-categories.  For example, Light Lager is further broken into Light American Lager, Standard American Lager, Premium American Lager, Munich Helles, and Dortmunder Export.

Meads may be entered using the 2015 style guidelines, which are the most recent guidelines available.  Similarly, ciders may be entered using the 2025 guidelines.  Mead categories can be found here.  Cider categories can be found here.

Any beer which does not fit into any of the established categories may be entered using Category 34, “Specialty Lager”.  This includes experimental ales and lagers.

Please package your product so that it can withstand rough handling during transport.  When shipping beer, you should hope for the best handling but plan for the worst.  If broken containers are received, we will do our best to judge your entry using any beer in the non-broken containers.  If so many containers break that we cannot judge your product, we will reach out to you and see if another submission can be made in time for judging, however if replacement product does not arrive in time, we will not be able to judge your entry.  No refunds will be given for broken containers, however we may be able to give you credit towards the following years competition.  Please, if possible, do not use packing peanuts.

A minimum of four containers are needed for adjudication.  This allows one container for initial judging, a container for any retastes (judges in the past have asked to have a sample from another container to check for consistency), and one to two bottles for any final round judging.

Once you register your entries through Beer Awards Platform, you can print competition labels for you entries.  Apply a competition label to each container.

This year’s event is being held at New Image Brewing in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.  Please note that this brewery has two locations, so be sure to send beverages to the correct address.  Please ship entries to:

ATTN: Denver International Beer Competition

9505 W 44th Ave

Wheat Ridge, CO 80033

Please do not ship any alcoholic product by US Mail. Please, if possible, do not ship product in packing peanuts.

If your beer arrives late but during the competition, we will do our best to accommodate judging.  If your product arrives after judging is completed, it will not be adjudicated.  No refunds can be given for entries which are not adjudicated due to late arrival.

Breweries in the Denver metro area may elect to have their beers picked up the week before the festival, or to drop them off at the festival location in person.  Details for each of these options will be communicated closer to the competition.

Entries from breweries outside of the United States MUST include the following label:

For sample purposes only. Not for resale. Government Warning:(1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems.

All adjudication is conducted by BJCP certified adjudicators and is done in a double-blind format.  The adjudication follows the rules set forth by the BJCP and takes five factors into account: Aroma (12 points), Appearance (3 points), Flavor (20 points), Mouthfeel (5 points), and Overall Impression (10 points).  There are fifty points possible in total.  Beers will be given a final rating of Outstanding (45-50 points), Excellent (38-44 points), Very Good (29-37 points), good (21-29 points), Drinkable (14-20 points) or problem (0-13 points).

 Following the competition, score sheets and adjudicator feedback will be provided for all submissions

All awards are based on the score of each entry, with the exception of the Best in Show Award. The award types are as follows:

• Gold (Beers that achieve a score of 40 or more points by the BJCP Certified Adjudicators)
• Silver (Beers that achieve a score of 35 to 39 points by the BJCP Certified Adjudicators)
• Bronze  (Beers that achieve a score of 30 to 34 by the BJCP Certified Adjudicators)
• Best in Show (Top scoring beers are advanced to a best of show round where the top three beers are chosen)

All award-winning breweries will receive a press package with awards won and publicity materials.  Digital images of the awards, logos, and photos will also be sent.  Additionally, a diecast medal will be sent to your brewery following the competition.