The NC Brewers' Cup is the largest craft beer competition of North Carolina. All independent craft commercial brewers in North Carolina are invited to participate in this BJCP sanctioned beer competition, sponsored by Pro Refrigeration, Inc. and administered by the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild.
Online registration is open now through Sunday, August 1, 2021.
All entries must be received at the below location during the drop-off period: August 11th & 12th, 2021 (Wed & Thurs)
Pro Chiller Systems Inc.
319 Farmington Rd.
Mocksville, NC 27028
Shipping your entries? Please direct all shipments to:
Attn: Lisa Parker
3451 Hawk Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
GENERAL RULES:
Entrant must be the producer of the beer.
Beer entries must be produced in North Carolina.
Only federally and NC ABC permitted North Carolina breweries may enter the competition.
All entering breweries must qualify as independent craft, per NCCBG (ie. less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.)
Entries must be registered in North Carolina, and have a NC-approved label.
All entries (bottles/cans/crowlers/growlers) must include an official Entry Identification Label and a No-Charge Donation invoice (both forms are auto-generated based on your online registration.)
Online registration is required prior to dropping off/shipping your entry.
Entrants must submit three (3) containers (cans/bottles/crowlers/growlers) of each entry for the commercial competition.
Entry fees are $35 per entry. Credit card payment is collected during the online registration process.
Entry limit: A brewery can enter a maximum of 10 entries into the NC Brewers Cup competition.
Breweries may use the same beer brand for multiple entries. (For example, if a beer is entered into a BJCP category, but also meets the definition of the "NC Home-Grown" category.) Entrants must still submit three (3) containers for each entry registration.
JUDGING
A minimum of one Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judge and one professional beer judge will evaluate all entries.
Entries will be judged according to the 2015 version of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style guidelines at www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php.
Entries will be accepted for the 34 BJCP categories listed in the judging section. The NCCBG reserves the right to combine categories for medal distribution, based on the number of entries received.
Regardless of medal category, all entries will be judged blind according to the style guidelines for the BJCP sub-category that they are entered into.
Entries will additionally be accepted for a 35th category: "NC Home-Grown": To qualify for this category, 55% of the beer's dry-weight ingredients must be sourced from North Carolina produced products.
WINNERS
Medals (gold, silver, bronze) will be awarded to the top 3 winners of each designated medal category. If warranted, a honorable mention in the category will additionally be recognized, but does not receive a medal.
The NC Brewers Cup trophy will be awarded to the overall competition Best in Show winner.
NEW THIS YEAR... We will be recognizing two additional competition winners:
NC Brewery of the Year (Breweries are awarded points based on medals won. Points are tabulated to determine a winner.)
NC New Brewery of the Year (Especially for breweries who have opened over the past two years, this special group of entrants will be awarded points based on medals won. Points are tabulated to determine a winner.)
All winners will be recognized at the NC Industry Awards Banquet in Winston-Salem on Wednesday, Nov. 3rd.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Lisa M. Parker | Associate Director
North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild
lisa@ncbeer.org
c. 919.951.8588
