Competition Information

Homebrewing History

Homebrewing has a long history in America and around the world. Beer had been brewed in people's homes since the dawn of agriculture several thousand years ago. In colonial times, homebrewing was a common household practice, typically performed by women. Many of the Nation's founding fathers, including George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were homebrewers.

The AHA estimates that 500,000 to 750,000 Americans brew beer at home at least once a year. At the beginning of 2010, there were nearly 20,000 members of the American Homebrewers Association.

Homebrewing serves as training for many future owners and skilled employees of small businesses. The American Homebrewers Association estimates that at least 90% of professional brewers got started in brewing as homebrewers.

Why Compete?

Entering your homebrew in a competition is one of the best ways to improve your brewing skills. The objective feedback from certified judges in an AHA and Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) sanctioned competition can be invaluable in fine-tuning your brewing process.

Competition Regions

The National Homebrew Competition (NHC) First Round is held in nine separate regions in the U.S. Each regional competition is organized and run by teams of homebrewing volunteers in the region. The nine basic regions are: East, Great Lakes, Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, Old West, South, Southwest, and West. The states comprising the regions are adjusted each year in an effort to equalize the number of entries the regions receive during in the competition. In addition, a Canadian qualifying competition to the NHC; the ALES Home Brew Open hosted by the ALES club (Ale & Lager Enthusiasts of Saskatchewan) acts as the tenth region for the NHC. Check out the Regional map (PDF file) for the 2010 NHC.

How National Homebrew Competition Works

Winning entries that score 30 or above from each of the NHC First Round regions receive ribbons from the AHA and qualify for entry into the NHC Final Round competition. The Final Round judging takes place on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at the National Homebrewers Conference being held in Minneapolis, MN this year. The winning entries scoring more than 30 points in the ALES Home Brew Open also advance to the NHC Final Round competition in June. The brewers of the winning entries in the NHC Final Round are awarded medals and fabulous prizes at the Grand Banquet & Award Ceremony on Saturday evening of the conference. The 2010 NHC Rules & Regulations (PDF file) are now available.

Good Luck!