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 percent 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 Judging Centers

The National Homebrew Competition (NHC) First Round is held at ten (10) Judging Centers in the U.S. Each Judging Center's competition is organized and run by local teams of homebrewing volunteers. The ten Judging Centers are listed in Entry Shipping/Drop-Off. In addition, a Canadian qualifying competition to the NHC; the ALES Home Brew Open hosted by the Ale & Lager Enthusiasts of Saskatchewan acts as the eleventh First Round competition for the NHC.

Download the 2012 NHC Judging Center Map , and/or see it in the March/April 2012 Zymurgy.

Download the 2012 NHC Rules & Regulations .

How the National Homebrew Competition Works

The National Homebrew Competition is an AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competition. All submitted entries will be judged using BJCP score sheets and the 2008 version of the BJCP Beer Style Guidelines. All entrants will receive score sheets for their entries following the completion of each First Round competition.

In order to be fair to all entrants of the National Homebrew Competition, the winners lists for all 11 competitions are posted simultaneously. No results will be posted until all 11 sites have turned in their results. The competitions take place during the month of April, and NHC Winners are usually posted the first week of May. Winning entries that score 30 or above from each of the NHC First Round Judging Centers receive ribbons from the AHA and qualify for entry into the NHC Final Round competition.

The Final Round judging takes place on Thursday, June 21, 2012 at the National Homebrewers Conference held in Seattle, WA. 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 prizes at the Grand Banquet & Award Ceremony, held on the Saturday evening of the conference. Please see the 2012 NHC Rules & Regulations for details about the competition.

Good Luck!