Brewers Cup of California Info
Account Registration
You can create your account today through Sunday, March 15, 2026 11:59 PM, PDT.
Judges and stewards may register now through Thursday, March 26, 2026 12:00 AM, PDT.
Entry Registration
You can add your entries to the system today through Saturday, February 28, 2026 11:59 PM, PST.
Entry Fees
$80.00 (USD) per entry.
BA Styles Accepted
If a style's name is hyperlinked, it has specific entry requirements. Select or tap on the name to access the Brewers Association styles as listed on their website.
| British-Style Barley Wine Ale | British-Style Imperial Stout | Brown Porter |
| Classic English-Style Pale Ale | Contemporary-Style Gose | Double Red Ale |
| English-Style Brown Ale | English-Style Dark Mild Ale | English-Style India Pale Ale |
| English-Style Pale Mild Ale | English-Style Summer Ale | Extra Special Bitter |
| Oatmeal Stout | Old Ale | Ordinary Bitter |
| Robust Porter | Scotch Ale | Scottish-Style Export Ale |
| Scottish-Style Heavy Ale | Scottish-Style Light Ale | Special Bitter or Best Bitter |
| Strong Ale | Sweet or Cream Stout | Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout |
| Foreign (Export)-Style Stout | Irish-Style Red Ale | American-Style Amber/Red Ale |
| American-Style Barley Wine Ale | American-Style Black Ale | American-Style Brown Ale |
| American-Style Imperial Porter | American-Style Imperial Stout | American-Style India Pale Ale |
| American-Style Pale Ale | American-Style Sour Ale | American-Style Stout |
| American-Style Strong Pale Ale | American-Style Wheat Wine Ale | Dark American-Belgo-Style Ale |
| Fresh "Wet" Hop Ale | Golden or Blonde Ale | Imperial or Double India Pale Ale |
| Imperial Red Ale | Juicy or Hazy Imperial or Double India Pale Ale | Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale |
| Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale | Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale | Pale American-Belgo-Style Ale |
| Session India Pale Ale | Smoke Porter | Specialty Stouts |
| West Coast-Style India Pale Ale | Adambier | Bamberg-Style Weiss (Smoke) Rauchbier (Dunkel or Helles) |
| Berliner-Style Weisse (Wheat) | German-Style Altbier | German-Style Kölsch / Köln-Style Kölsch |
| German-Style Leichtes Weizen / Weissbier | Kellerbier (Cellar beer) or Zwickelbier - Ale | Leipzig-Style Gose |
| South German-Style Bernsteinfarbenes Weizen / Weissbier | South German-Style Dunkel Weizen / Dunkel Weissbier | South German-Style Hefeweizen / Hefeweissbier |
| South German-Style Kristall Weizen / Kristall Weissbier | South German-Style Weizenbock / Weissbock | Belgian-Style Blonde Ale |
| Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale | Belgian-Style Dubbel | Belgian-Style Flanders Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ales |
| Belgian-Style Fruit Lambic | Belgian-Style Lambic | Belgian-Style Pale Ale |
| Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale | Belgian-Style Quadrupel | Belgian-Style Session Ale |
| Belgian-Style Table Beer | Belgian-Style Tripel | Belgian-Style White (or Wit) / Belgian-Style Wheat |
| Contemporary Belgian-Style Gueuze Lambic | French & Belgian-Style Saison | French-Style Bière de Garde |
| Other Belgian-Style Ales | Traditional Belgian-Style Gueuze | Australian-Style Pale Ale |
| Classic Australian-Style Pale Ale | Dutch-Style Kuit, Kuyt or Koyt | Grodziskie |
| International-Style Pale Ale | New Zealand-Style India Pale Ale | New Zealand-Style Pale Ale |
| Bamberg-Style Bock Rauchbier | Bamberg-Style Helles Rauchbier | Bamberg-Style Märzen Rauchbier |
| Bohemian-Style Pilsener | Dortmunder / European-Style Export | European-Style Dark / Münchner Dunkel |
| Franconian-Style Rotbier | German-Style Doppelbock | German-Style Eisbock |
| German-Style Heller Bock/Maibock | German-Style Leichtbier | German-Style Märzen |
| German-Style Oktoberfest / Wiesen (Meadow) | German-Style Pilsener | German-Style Schwarzbier |
| Kellerbier (Cellar beer) or Zwickelbier - Lager | Münchner (Munich)-Style Helles | Traditional German-Style Bock |
| Vienna-Style Lager | American-Style Amber Lager | American-Style Amber Light Lager |
| American-Style Dark Lager | American-Style Ice Lager | American-Style India Pale Lager |
| American-Style Lager | American-Style Light Lager | American-Style Maerzen / Oktoberfest |
| American-Style Malt Liquor | American-Style Pilsener | Contemporary American-Style Lager |
| Contemporary American-Style Light Lager | Contemporary American-Style Pilsener | Australasian, Latin American or Tropical-Style Light Lager |
| Baltic-Style Porter | Dry Lager | International-Style Pilsener |
| Aged Beer (Ale or Lager) | American-Style Cream Ale or Lager | Belgian-Style Fruit Beer |
| Brett Beer | California Common Beer | Chili Pepper Beer |
| Chocolate / Cocoa-Flavored Beer | Coffee-Flavored Beer | Dark American Wheat Ale or Lager with Yeast |
| Dark American Wheat Ale or Lager without Yeast | Dessert Stout or Pastry Stout | Experimental Beer (Lager or Ale) |
| Experimental India Pale Ale | Field Beer | Fruit Beer |
| Fruit Wheat Ale or Lager with or without Yeast | German-Style Rye Ale (Roggenbier) with or without Yeast | Ginjo Beer or Sake-Yeast Beer |
| Gluten-Free Beer | Herb and Spice Beer | Historical Beer |
| Indigenous Beer (Lager or Ale) | Kentucky Common | Light American Wheat Ale or Lager with Yeast |
| Light American Wheat Ale or Lager without Yeast | Mixed Culture Brett Beer | Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage |
| Other Strong Ale or Lager | Pumpkin Beer | Rye Ale or Lager with or without Yeast |
| Session Beer | Smoke Beer (Lager or Ale) | Specialty Beer |
| Specialty Honey Lager or Ale | Wild Beer | Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer |
| Wood- and Barrel-Aged Dark Beer | Wood- and Barrel-Aged Pale to Amber Beer | Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer |
| Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer | Imperial Brown Ale (Custom Style) | Hard Kombucha (Custom Style) |
| Hard Seltzer (Flavored Malt Beverage) (Custom Style) |
Per Entrant Limits
Each entrant is limited to 20 entries.
Pay Entry Fees
After creating your account and adding your entries to the system, you must pay your entry fee(s). Accepted payment methods are:
- Credit/debit card and e-check, via PayPal
Entry Acceptance Rules
Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 4
The following outlines rules & requirements for participation in the Brewers Cup of California. Failure to comply with any of these requirements may result in disqualification.
Brewers must be:
- Official residents of California
- The brewery must hold a valid commercial brewing license, and
- Brewers must be at least 21 years of age.
- Persons submitting entry must have a direct association with the brewing of the entry, being a brewer, owner, or management. Distributors are not considered directly related to the production of beer and may only submit entries in the names of their clients, with their clients’ approval.
- Contract brews may only be entered by the brewery which produced them.
- Entrants or their qualified representative may participate in the judging on any panel they are not entered.
Eligible: At least 51% of the fermentable carbohydrates must be derived from malted grains. Beverages made with malt substitutes, honey, fruit or fruit juices, or anything other than malted grains as the majority of fermentable sugars are not eligible to participate. Not eligible: Mead, cider, spirits, and most shandies and radlers are not eligible to be entered into the competition. No single brewing location nor a group that owns multiple breweries may enter more than a total of 20 beers combined. A beer brand may not be renamed and entered into multiple categories, however the same beer brand can be entered into multiple categories. A separate entry fee must be paid for each additional category entered, and the minimum bottle, can, crowler, or growler requirements still apply. Also, you must not exceed the 20 maximum total entry limit. Entries may be bottled, canned, in crowlers, or in growlers. Do not remove any commercial bottle labels. Do not black out any commercial or identifying designs or text on caps of entries. This facilitates the Cellar. Shipping tape appears to have worked well. It helps to put them in plastic baggies also. Attach the bottle labels from the competition website (copies are OK) to each bottle with CLEAR packaging tape. NO RUBBER BANDS. An official entry shall consist of one of the following:
- Four (4) 12/16/20 oz. bottles or cans
- Four (4) 22/24 oz. bottles or cans
- Four (4) 32 oz. or greater crowlers
- Two (2) 64 oz. growlers
All judging will be done with panels combining qualified judges and commercial brewing peers. Brewers or judges may not judge on panels in which they have a conflict of interest. At least one judge who has been certified by the Beer Judge Certification Program will sit on each judging panel. Beers will be disqualified for entry requirement infractions. These beers will be judged and will receive evaluations but will be ineligible for awards. All beers will be decanted prior to presentation to the judges. Brewers are required to use online registration and payment at www.brewerscupofca.com. Please include a summary of your entries with your shipment packaging or delivery. This can be printed from the online entry submission software. No late entries will be accepted. By submitting an entry to this competition, the entrant:
- Asserts that they have legal title to submit the entry.
- Asserts the beer was brewed in the State and for commercial sale in the State of California
- Agrees to provide proof of such availability upon request.
- Agrees to abide by the herein-stated policy on use of any awards or certificates in advertising.
- All brewers that have entered the competition are invited and encouraged to participate in the awards presentation.
The only allowable use of awards and certificates given by the Brewers Cup of California for advertising/marketing purposes shall be as follows:
- Any advertising use must clearly state the name and year of the competition.
- Must clearly state the level and category of award.
- The phrase “Best Beer in California” shall not be used in conjunction with any awards made by this competition.
- The Brewers Cup of California logo may not be altered in any way (i.e. changes to color, modifying text)
Failure to comply with these guidelines will be a basis for revocation of award or certificates by organizers and the publication of such revocations to the general public.
Entry Delivery
Entry bottles accepted at our drop-off locations Monday, March 16, 2026 12:00 AM, PDT — Friday, March 20, 2026 12:00 AM, PDT.
Please pay attention to the notes provided for each drop-off location. There could be earlier deadlines for some drop-off locations listed, particular hours when entries are accepted, certain individuals to leave your entries with, etc. All entrants are responsible for reading the information provided by the organizers for each drop-off location.
TBA
TBA
N/A
Judging Sessions
Thursday AM
Thursday, March 26, 2026 9:00 AM, PDT
Thursday PM
Thursday, March 26, 2026 1:00 PM, PDT
Friday AM
Friday, March 27, 2026 9:00 AM, PDT
Friday PM
Friday, March 27, 2026 1:00 PM, PDT
Saturday AM
Saturday, March 28, 2026 9:00 AM, PDT
Saturday PM
Saturday, March 28, 2026 1:00 PM, PDT
Sunday AM (if necessary)
Sunday, March 29, 2026 9:00 AM, PDT
Awards
The Brewers Cup of California medals for excellence in more than 60 categories and does not necessarily award medals to the top three finishers in a particular category. When judges decide that a category contains three excellent examples of the style, they award gold, silver, and bronze medals for the first, second, and third place beers, respectively. If judges believe that no beer in the category meets the quality and style accuracy criteria, they may elect not to award a medal. Judges may award a silver or a bronze medal and yet not award a gold medal in a category. The award criteria are as follows:
Gold: A world-class beer that accurately exemplifies the specified style, displaying the proper balance of taste, aroma, and appearance.
Silver: An excellent beer that may vary slightly from style parameters while maintaining close adherence to the style and displaying excellent taste, aroma, and appearance.
Bronze: A fine example of the style that may vary slightly from style parameters and/or have minor deviations in taste, aroma, or appearance.
Both score sheets and awards will be posted to this website after the ceremony concludes. Results will be posted to this competition web site after the ceremony concludes.
Other awards include:
- Brewers Cup of California Best of Show: Awarded to the brewery with the highest-rated beer, overall.
- Brewery of The Year: Awarded to the brewery that received the most awards, overall.
- Guild of The Year: Awarded to the Brewers Guild whose members garnered the most awards.
- Pioneer Award: Awarded to an individual who has made significant contributions to California’s craft beer industry.
Hard seltzer and kombucha will not count toward Brewery of the Year and are not eligible for Best of Show.
Past Winners
Judging Sessions
Thursday AM
03/26/2026 9:00 AM, PDT.
Thursday PM
03/26/2026 1:00 PM, PDT.
Friday AM
03/27/2026 9:00 AM, PDT.
Friday PM
03/27/2026 1:00 PM, PDT.
Saturday AM
03/28/2026 9:00 AM, PDT.
Saturday PM
03/28/2026 1:00 PM, PDT.
Sunday AM (if necessary)
03/29/2026 9:00 AM, PDT.
Account Registration Open
Account registrations accepted 12/01/2025 12:00 AM, PST through 03/15/2026 11:59 PM, PDT.
Registrations for judges or stewards accepted 12/01/2025 12:00 AM, PST through 03/26/2026 12:00 AM, PDT.
Entry Registration Open
Entry Drop-Off Closed
Please pay attention to the notes provided for each drop-off location. There could be earlier deadlines for some drop-off locations listed, particular hours when entries are accepted, certain individuals to leave your entries with, etc. All entrants are responsible for reading the information provided by the organizers for each drop-off location.