Best Judging

Below are ranked the competitions providing the best judging feedback out of 89 ranked USA competitions. These competitions are rated Excellent or Great by the entrants of the competition through anonymous survey results.  

Note a minimum of 3 surveys is required to be included in this list.

1st Place (13.6 / 15 points) - KCBM


"Great judging gifts, wonderful food for judges, staff and during the awards ceremony."

"Highly qualified judges."


"They have highly ranked judges attend."


"Great judges, great feedback."

2nd Place (13.0 / 15 points) - Commander Saaz


"The judging was very effective; mixed use of sliders and commentary. All of the commentaries included some note on the major issues facing the beers and how the beer would be improved. ."


3rd Place (12.7 / 15 points) -  SNERHC


"Fantastic judging by some highly qualified judges"

"Most judges were BJCP. "

"...quick feedback, above average judges,"

"very good judges; great and helpful feedback;"

4th Place (12.6 / 15 points) - Sower's Cup


"Most judges were BJCP."

"Quick feedback, above-average judges."

"Wonderful judging gifts and food for judges and staff."

"Very good judges; great and helpful feedback."

"Fantastic judging by some highly qualified judges."


4th Place (12.6 / 15 points) - Valkyrie's Horn


"Very detailed feedback from judges and great scoresheets."

6th Place (12.4 / 15 points) - Indiana Brewers Cup


"Judging seemed to drop off this year.  Otherwise well judged."

7th Place (12.1 / 15 points) - Drunk Monk Challenge


"Inconsistent Score Sheets."

"Contradictory comments galore on the same scoresheet by same judge. A couple of terrible judges. Otherwise decent comp/judging. "

"Fantastic judging! All in person!!"

"Well managed and well judged."

"Just all around well run competition with consitent judging and quality. "

8th Place (12.0 / 15 points) - Cactus Classic


"The competition was extremely well judged. Of my scoresheets, there were only 4 non-bjcp judges; most scoresheets had at least 2 bjcp judges. Well done!"


"The number of certified, national, and grand master judges participating in this event was impressive. I only had 3 judges that were not certified."

8th Place (12.0 / 15 points) - Greg Noonan Memorial



10th Place (11.3 / 15 points) - Spirit of 76

10th Place (11.3 / 15 points) - North Georgia Homebrew Competition


10th Place (11.3 / 15 points) - 8 seconds of Froth


"Well run and they provide well for the judges/stewards/staff. Always on the top of my list of comps to judge and/or steward. Judging is usually very high quality"


"Great communication and feedback"


"Extremely well judged, and the judging qualifications were fairly impressive: professional brewers, certified, national, master, and grandmaster judges -- very nice mix. There were non-certified judges, of course, but all were paired with certified or above judges. This competition is part of a very competitive circuit, the Front Range, and it is able to draw very talented homebrewers and judges into the competition."

13th Place (11.2 / 15 points) - Happy Holidays HB Competition


"Scoresheets were throughly filled out with above average comments."


"Judging feedback was outstanding"

14th Place (11.1 / 15 points) - Foam Cup


"Well above average judging."

"Good food between judging sessions, fun awards banquet, several national judges "

"Great judges"

"they take care of judges and stewards well, good food,'

14th Place (11.1 / 15 points) - Red Earth Spring Brew Off

"A very well-run competition, with close attention to detail. I'll be judging for this competition again. "


16th Place (11.0 / 15 points) - Liquid Poetry Slam

16th Place (11.0 / 15 points) - Redcoat Challenge


16th Place (11.0 / 15 points) - Dogg Dayzz