Competition Information
- About the Festival
- How is it judged?
- GABF Awards Philosophy
- Brewery of the Year Criteria
- Judges' Comments
- GABF Judge Only
- Refund Policy
- Pro-Am Competition
GABF Eligibility Rules
- All beer brands (as defined in the GABF Style Guidelines) entered in the Great American Beer Festival must be brewed and fermented in the U.S., must meet the definition of beer as defined by the TTB, and must possess the characteristics generally attributed to and conforming to the trade understanding of “beer”.
- All beer brands entered in the Great American Beer Festival must be commercially available exactly as entered by brand name. “Commercially available” means the entered brand has been available for sale at retail under the exact brand name as entered on the GABF entry registration form prior to the competition entry registration deadline.
- Each beer brand may be entered only one time. A beer brand may not be entered in multiple categories. A beer brand may not be renamed and entered in multiple categories. Beer brands may not be entered by more than ONE brewery in a chain of stores, brewing company, or by breweries with related names or aligned marketing strategies.
- Entering breweries must have a Brewers Notice on file with the TTB (U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau).
- The first 5 beers entered must be registered to appear in the Festival tasting. The first eight beers listed on your entry form will be counted toward Brewery of the Year awards; if you plan to enter more than eight beers in the GABF, please be sure to prioritize them appropriately.
- ALL entries to be judged must be shipped separately from your Festival beer.
- A minimum of 6 (six) entries is required in a category for that category to be judged. Categories with fewer than 6 (six) entries as of the competition registration deadline will be recombined at the discretion of the competition manager as a subcategory of another appropriate category in order for those entries to be judged. Breweries with entries in these categories will be notified, and given the option of accepting this recombination, or withdrawing those entries, at their discretion.
- Entries submitted for judging must be bottled or canned. If your product is only available in draft form at retail, you must bottle your entries for the purpose of entering the GABF judging.
About the Festival
The Great American Beer FestivalSM (GABF), America's longest running and largest gathering of breweries in the US, is a production of the Brewers Association. The GABF continues to unite the brewing community with beer enthusiasts in a celebration of the quality and diversity of American-brewed beers. It provides an excellent opportunity to expose your beers to beer lovers who travel from around the country and world to experience the festival each year.
The primary purpose of the Great American Beer Festival is to educate the consumer about the quality and diversity in beer-styles and breweries that exist across the United States.
Part of that educational process lies in recognizing brewing excellence through the GABF Judging panel which awards gold, silver and bronze medals in 78 different beer-style categories. GABF medals symbolize excellence in brewing throughout the world. During the three days of the GABF judging, an internationally renowned panel of qualified beer judges will evaluate all beers entered in the competition.
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How is it judged?
The Great American Beer Festival held its first competitive judging in 1987. The GABF invites industry professionals to sit together in small groups and, without knowing the brand or brewery name, evaluate beers in defined style categories. The ultimate goal of the GABF Judge Panel is to identify up to three world class beers that best represent each beer-style category as described and adopted by the GABF.
Brewers entering beers into the GABF judging should carefully review the category and subcategory designations before registering their beer. Brewers may enter each brand only once in the GABF. Beers entered more than once in the GABF will be disqualified from winning awards. It is imperative that beers are entered into the proper category and subcategory since judges evaluate beers on the basis of these category and subcategory descriptions. Brewery and beer brand information is publicized by the GABF exactly as it is provided on the entry forms by the entering brewery. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of error, please review your confirmation letter carefully, and then sign and return it, indicating your final approval of your company name, all spelling, and also categories and subcategories.
Awards are only given in categories and not in subcategories; however, judges do evaluate beers based on their adherence to the subcategory guidelines provided in this guide. It is the responsibility of each brewery to enter its beer in the category and subcategory it feels appropriate. GABF and Brewers Association employees cannot aid breweries in this decision. Information regarding the number of entrants for a particular category of the 2009 GABF judging will be made available at the Awards Session. Categories typically attract 10 to 50 entries. In 2009, if six or more beers are entered into any one category, these beers will be judged and are eligible to win an award. The GABF, however, reserves the right to discontinue categories in the following year (2010) to reflect changing market conditions and brewing interest.
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GABF Awards Philosophy
The GABF awards medals for excellence in 78 categories and does not necessarily award medals to the top three finishers in a particular category. When judges decide 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 beer silver or a bronze medal and yet not award a gold medal. The award criteria is as follows:
| Award Criteria | |
| 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. |
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Brewery of the Year Criteria
IMPORTANT: Please read the following information carefully in order to properly determine the correct size category you should select for your brewery. Breweries that select categories that are later found to be incorrect will be disqualified from winning the Brewery of the Year award in that category.
For packaging breweries, size is defined by total U.S. volume of the company which has majority ownership of the brewery.
For brewpubs*, size is defined by production volume of the individual operation which holds the brewing license. If a brewery group wishes to enter as one group, the size is defined by the total volume of all the brewpub locations.
The Brewers Association recognizes excellence in achievement by breweries, brewpubs and the brewmasters crafting their products. Awards are given in the following categories:
| Brewery of the Year Awards | |
| Great American Beer Festival Brewery and Brewmaster of the Year Small Brewing Company |
1–15,000 barrels per year |
| Great American Beer Festival Brewery
and Brewmaster of the Year Mid-Size Brewing Company |
15,001–2,000,000 barrels per year |
| Great American Beer Festival Brewery and Brewmaster of the Year Large Brewing Company |
Greater than 2,000,001 barrels per year |
| Great American Beer Festival Brewery and Brewmaster of the Year Small Brewpub* |
1–1,200 barrels per year |
| Great American Beer Festival Brewery and Brewmaster of the Year Large Brewpub* |
Greater than 1,201 barrels per year |
*Brewpub: A restaurant-brewery that sells 25% or more of its beer on site. The beer is brewed primarily for sale in the restaurant and bar. The beer is often dispensed directly from the brewery’s storage tanks. Where allowed by law, brewpubs often sell beer “to go” and/or distribute to off site accounts. Note: BA re-categorizes a company as a microbrewery (packaging brewery) if its off-site (distributed) beer sales exceed 75 percent.
Winners are determined based on the results of the competitive beer judging held at the Great American Beer Festival. The first 8 entries on the registration form count toward Brewery of the Year points. Breweries are awarded points based on medals won, and these points are tabulated to arrive at the results. Here are the criteria used for awarding points, and the tie breaking system used to rank breweries.
- Most Total Points: Breweries are awarded points based on the number of gold (3 points), silver (2 points) and bronze (1 point) medals won in the competition.
- Most Gold Medals
- Most Medals
- Most Total Entries in all Medaled Categories
- Number of Entries in Gold Medaled Categories
The second and third criteria have the effect of making a gold and two bronzes worth more than a gold and silver, while two golds would be worth more than a gold, silver and a bronze. The fourth and fifth criteria recognize overall competitiveness by achieving medals in categories with more entries than others.
Winners of the 2009 GABF medals will be announced on Saturday, September 26, 2009 at the GABF Awards Ceremony during the Members Only Session. Winners of the Brewing Company of the Year and Brewmaster of the Year awards will also be announced at this time. Lists of medal winners and the number of entries in each category will be available after the winners have been announced.
Team Brewery Name
We allow a team concept for the Brewer of the Year award. There are 2 choices for this recognition - an individual name/s (up to 2 people) or “Brewery Team Name”. One trophy is presented.
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Judge Selection and Procedures
The Great American Beer Festival Competition Manager will select judges from a list of internationally recognized brewers, consultants, industry suppliers and writers. These individuals have been selected on the basis of: (1) industry and peer recognition; (2) knowledge of beer styles and the brewing process; (3) flavor perception; (4) sensory training and prior judging or beer evaluation experience; and (5) judging demeanor.
Each year the GABF judge panel may include up to 10 new judges to keep the panel fresh with new ideas and palates. Interested persons wishing to be considered as a judge should send by email a brewing industry vita or résumé and three letters of recommendation (all in English) to: Chris Swersey, Great American Beer Festival Competition Manager; chris@brewersassociation.org. Or by mail to: Chris Swersey, Great American Beer Festival Competition Manager, 40 Lovers Lane, Salmon, ID 83467 USA. Prospective judges must communicate in fluent written and verbal English, must have formal sensory training, and must participate in regular flavor panels or competitions. The current backlog of new judges is roughly 2-3 years.
Judges' Comments
During first-round beer tastings, each judge completes a beer tasting form for each beer judged. Brewers should each receive a minimum of three beer-tasting forms for each beer entered. Judging results will be sent within 30 days of the end of the Festival.
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GABF Judge Only
This option is only available once the festival floor is full, and does not include complimentary entrance to the festival.
If the festival floor is filled and we have received your completed registration by the June 26, 2009 deadline and a brewery still wishes to participate, they may enter their beer into the Judge Only competition. The fee structure for Judge-only beers in this situation will be $375 ($175 for Brewers Association Brewery members) per brand.
Breweries entering the Judge Only portion of the event will be provided 2 complimentary Brewers Gathering tickets, if requested by August 10. Complimentary festival entrance is limited to the breweries that have a festival booth. Additional Brewery representative badges for festival entrance may be purchased for $100 per person for BA members and $180 per person for non-members in advance. This includes entry to all sessions. Badges are not available for purchase on site.
Breweries that choose to be placed on the waiting list for space on the festival floor will be added to the Festival floor as cancellations are received. Additions will be made based on the type of booth space available (for bottle/canned or draught product).
No breweries will be added after August 27, 2009. Please direct questions to Robin Panzer at (303) 447-0816 ext. 120 or email robin@brewersassociation.org.
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Refund Policy
Refunds will not be issued until after the Festival. A full refund will be given only in the event that your brewery cancels before August 31, 2009. You may also request a credit for the 2010 GABF.
Any brewery that ships their product and later wishes to have the beer dropped from the Festival due to improper fermenting, off-flavors discovered after shipping, etc. will not be refunded. Beer is a donation and is not purchased by the Festival.
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Pro-Am Competition
The Brewers Association and the American Homebrewers Association are proud to present the Fourth Annual GABF Pro-Am Competition of the Great American Beer Festival.
Commercial Brewery Rules
- Breweries that have entered at least one brand in the GABF competition/festival and will have a booth on the festival floor are eligible to enter a beer in the Pro-Am Competition. Breweries are not allowed to enter only the Pro-Am Competition.
- Beers entered in the GABF Pro-Am competition must be commercially available. Commercially available means the entered brand has been available for sale at retail before August 24, 2009. All GABF eligibility rules apply to Pro-Am entries.
- Beer entered in the Pro-Am competition must be available on the floor of the GABF and cannot be entered solely as a Judge Only entry. Pro-Am beer will be served at a designated GABF Pro-Am booth on the festival floor, thus will not be counted toward the maximum number of beers that can be served at the brewery’s booth. However the brewery may choose to offer the Pro-Am beer as one of their five floor beers at their brewery’s booth as well. Each beer entered in the Pro-Am competition will be served during one of the four tasting sessions. Breweries may request an additional 1⁄6 bbl MicroStar keg for their Pro-Am beer to be served at the Pro-Am booth.
- Breweries may determine the homebrew recipes they scale up in one of three ways:
- Select an award winning homebrew from an American Homebrewers Association (AHA)/Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) sanctioned homebrew competition held on or after January 1, 2008.
- Organize your own AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition.
- Partner with a local homebrew club to organize an AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition.
See our Events Calendar (www.beertown.org/homebrewing/calendar/events.aspx) for a calendar of up-coming AHA/BJCP sanctioned competitions or go to www.bjcp.org/apps/comp_reg/comp_reg.html to register a competition. Breweries may wish to partner with a local homebrew club or homebrew supply shop if they wish to organize their own competition. Contact Janis Gross, American Homebrewers Association Project Coordinator at 888-822-6273 x134 or janis@brewersassociation.org for information about local homebrew clubs and homebrew supply shops.
- Breweries may choose to restrict entries to categories they are reasonably able to brew. For example, breweries may choose not to accept recipes for fruit beers, sour beers, or beers requiring extended aging, etc.
- The homebrewer brewing their recipe with the professional brewery cannot be an employee of that brewery or on the brewing staff at any brewery.
- Breweries will brew the winning beer from the recipe submitted by the winning homebrewer. The winning homebrewer must be an AHA member at the time they enter the homebrew competition and must have a valid AHA membership at the time of the GABF. All brewery entrants must be members of the Brewers Association.
- Limited modifications are allowed to accommodate the scale of commercial brewing and ingredients available to the brewery.
- All entrants, both professional and amateur brewers, must sign a licensing agreement, which limits and protects the way the GABF trademark is used prior to the submission of entries to the GABF.
- There will be a $25 charge for GABF Pro-Am Competition entries, which will cover the cost of awards, etc.
- No more than one entry per brewery will be accepted in the GABF Pro-Am Competition.
- No more then 96 total entries will be accepted for this competition. Entries will be accepted first come, first served based on when entry registrations are received by the Brewers Association.
- GABF Pro-Am entries will compete in a best-of-show style judging, during the regular GABF judging. The GABF Style Guidelines and GABF judge panel will be used for the judging. Entering brewers must provide the appropriate GABF category name and number along with any requested supplemental information for the entry to be judged correctly. Entries that do not include this information will not be accepted.
- Judges will determine the top three entries in the GABF Pro-Am Competition, which will be awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze GABF Pro-Am Competition medals during the GABF awards ceremony, held September 26, 2009. Medals will be issued to both the winning brewery and the winning homebrewer.
- The Pro-Am medals will not count towards “Brewery of the Year” awards, and therefore, will not be counted among the eight entries allowable for Brewery of the Year points.
Homebrewer Rules
- All homebrewing entrants must be members of the AHA at the time the original homebrew entry is submitted for competition as well as when the Pro-Am entry is judged (September 26, 2009). All brewery entrants must be members of the Brewers Association.
- Qualifying homebrew competitions must be American Homebrewers Association (AHA)/Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) sanctioned homebrew competitions held on or after January 1, 2008 and must use AHA/BJCP categories, as defined by the BJCP 2008 Style Guidelines for their entries, excluding those restricted by the competition. See our Events Calendar (http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/calendar/events.aspx) for a calendar of up-coming AHA/BJCP sanctioned competitions or go to http://www.bjcp.org/apps/comp_reg/comp_reg.html to register a competition.
- Competitions must be timed to give the brewery adequate time to brew the beer to be ready for entry to the GABF.
- The nature of the competition is entirely up to the brewery, they may choose to work with an existing competition or create their own. Breweries may restrict the styles of the competition to styles they can reasonably brew.
- AHA membership of the winning homebrewer will be verified by the AHA. AHA membership of the homebrewer must be current at the time of the GABF judging.
- The homebrewer brewing their recipe with the professional brewery cannot be an employee of that brewery or on the brewing staff at any brewery.
- All entrants, both professional and amateur brewers, must sign a licensing agreement, which limits and protects the way the GABF trademark is used, prior to the submission of entries to the GABF.
- No more than one entry per brewery will be accepted in the GABF Pro-Am Competition. Individual AHA members may be associated with no more than one entry submitted into the GABF Pro-Am Competition judging at the GABF.
- GABF Pro-Am entries submitted by breweries will compete in a best-of-show style judging, during the regular GABF judging. The GABF Style Guidelines and GABF judge panel will be used for the judging. Entering breweries must provide the appropriate GABF category name and number along with any requested supplemental information for the entry to be judged correctly. Entries that do not include this information will not be accepted.
- Judges will determine the top three entries in the GABF Pro-Am Competition, which will be awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze GABF Pro-Am Competition medals during the GABF awards ceremony, held September 26, 2009. Medals will be issued to both the winning brewery and the winning homebrewer.
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