Participate

FAQ – European Beer Star 2024


Registration

Which breweries are allowed to participate?

  • All commercial breweries worldwide can participate.
  • Locally, regionally, nationally and internationally active breweries.
  • Not only from Europe, but from all countries of all continents.
  • We would like to refer you to our conditions of participation.

Are brew pubs allowed to participate?

  • Brew pubs may of course participate in the competition.
  • The beer is/will be bottled in siphons or larger swing-top bottles.
  • Each bottle must be visibly marked with an adhesive label with the following data:
      • Name of the beer
      • Participation number of the beer
      • Beer category number (see categories section)

For more on shipping and labeling, see Shipping.

Which dates are important?

Registration start02 April 2024
End of early bird discount17 May 2024
End of registration period24 July 2023
Shipping and beer recepiton12 August - 06 September 2024
Expert tasting18 - 21 September 2024
Award ceremony27 November 2024
Winners' Night27 November 2024

In which categories can I register beers?

  • At European Beer Star 2024, the beers will be tasted in the regular 75 categories.
  • The list including detailed description of the categories is available under the heading Categories.

NEW 2024! How many beers can I enter per category?

  • Each participant may enter up to three beers in the respective category to the competition. However, the beers must each have a different recipe or, in the case of beers matured in wooden barrels, be aged in barrels of a different type of wood or in barrels with different previous filling such as sherry, rum, red wine, etc. and must each be marketed under a different brand name.
  • The same beer from one brewery may only be entered in one category.
  • The list including detailed description of the categories are available on the homepage.

How can I register?

  • Registration takes place exclusively online on the registration portal for breweries.
  • The alcohol content and original wort of each registered beer must be stated at the time of registration.
  • In addition, depending on the beer style, further information is required (as explained in the category descriptions).
  • Only beers that exactly match the category composition and with the commercial packaging & labeling can be submitted.

How much are the registration fees?

Registration period

Price in € per beer


Beer 1 and 2

Beer 3 and more

until 17 May 2024

250,00 EUR

220,00 EUR

from 18 May 2024

270,00 EUR

240,00 EUR

The prices are net prices excluding VAT.

How does the payment work?

  • Register quickly and conveniently online and pay immediately with Paypal or credit card.
  • Payment by bank transfer to: Private Brauereien Bayern e.V., Münchner Bank eG, IBAN: DE 36 7019 0000 0004 5057 35
  • Foreign bank transfer by EU standard transfer
  • The remitter bears all charges and expenses at his bank

Shipment

What is the process for packaging and shipping my beers for expert tasting?

  • The labels for the bottles must be created by yourself
  • Each bottle must be visibly marked with an adhesive label with the following data:
      • Participation number of the beer (see registration confirmation)
      • Beer category of the beer being labeled (see Categories).
  • Each bottle must have the beer label with which it is sold commercially.
  • IMPORTANT! You receive for each entry a QR code which needs to be attached to the shipping carton.
  • Beer shipment/reception is from 12 August - 06 September 2024.
  • A detailed description of the shipment, contact and delivery address can be found here.

What quantities of beer/bottles do I have to send in for expert tasting?

  • The following quantities are required for the expert tasting:
      • Bottle/can content from 0.5l - 10 bottles
      • Bottle / can content smaller than 0.5l - 15 bottles

What happens between the beer delivery and the tasting?

The delivered samples will be directly taken to refrigerated storage containers and stored according to the tasting schedule at 9 °C. In this way, we ensure optimal storage of the beers from the moment they are received.


Expert tasting

When and where will the expert tasting take place?

  • 19/20 September 2024 at the area of the Nuremberg trade fair.
  • Important! New address for shipping!

    Schenker Deutschland AG
    Messezentrum 1
    90471 Nürnberg

Who judges the beers?

  • A top-class and independent international committee of well-known and experienced beer experts, brewmasters, trade journalists and beer sommeliers from all over the world forms the expert jury of the European Beer Star.
  • You will find a description of the tasting jury under "Our Stars".

According to which criteria are my beers judged?

  • From the consumer's point of view, only sensory criteria, no laboratory analysis.
  • In the special "Free-Style Beer" category the brewer's creativity is additionally acknowledged by a description of the brewer's history, method of production, etc. is also recognized.

How to become a member of the expert jury?

  • Our expert jury for 2024 is already completely occupied.
  • If you are interested in participating in the following years, please send us your application documents and the recommendation of at least 3 members of our expert jury via the contact form under "Become a Judge".

How and when will I be informed about a possible success at EBS?

  • Immediately after the expert tasting, the winner and all participants will be informed by email.
  • Important: Check whether the email address you entered during registration is still valid after the tasting.

What will I receive after the contest?

  • All participants receive an expert evaluation for each submitted beer, as well as a benchmark of the winning beers.
  • In addition, each submitted beer will receive its own flavour profile from the European beer Star tasting jury.
  • Learn more about the the flavour profile.
  • The winners also receive a high-quality award and a certificate for each winning beer, as well as extensive press material.
  • The winners are entitled to use the European Beer Star brand. You can find more details in the conditions of the competition.
  • Find out why you should take part in the European Beer Star here.

Future Award

What is the Future Award?

The Future Award is a special category of the European Beer Star in which, in addition to beer quality, the sustainable commitment of companies - based on the three pillars of ecology, economy and social issues - is also evaluated.

How can I apply for the Future Award?

All breweries that register for the European Beer Star 2024 can participate in the Future Award at no additional cost. Participation in the Future Award is voluntary. A general interest for participation can be stated during the registration process.

More information about the Future Award can be found here.

What are the evaluation criteria?

Based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, a questionnaire was developed together with sustainability experts from the Bochum University of Applied Sciences, experts from the brewing industry and brewery surveys. The following categories are asked of participating breweries:

  • Energy
  • Water
  • Climate protection
  • Soil
  • Regional value creation
  • Quality management
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Employees
  • Packaging
  • Product

How does the awarding process work?

From the questionnaires that come back from the breweries, a team of sustainability experts determines the 8 best applications according to a recognized evaluation sheet. As with the classic European Beer Star categories, this is also a "blind tasting", which means the brewery is not disclosed to the team of experts.

The 8 finalists are then re-evaluated by an interdisciplinary team of sustainability and beer experts, as well as media representatives and will be subjected to a European Beer Star tasting. The sensory evaluation criteria of a regular EBS tasting are applied.

The award ceremony for the winners of the Future Award will take place during BrauBeviale.


Award Ceremony

When will the European Beer Star 2024 award ceremony take place?

  • The awards ceremony and Winners' Night will take place on November 27, 2024 during BrauBeviale.
  • The winners will receive separate invitations with their winner's notification.
  • The award ceremony is open to fair visitors free of charge.
  • More information and impressions of the award ceremony can be found here.

What is the Winners' Night?

  • An event unique in the industry with probably the most exclusive beer counter in the world.
  • Awarded beers (gold, silver, bronze) will be available for tasting.
  • It takes place directly after the European Beer Star awards ceremony on November 27, 2024.
  • This is an exclusive event.
  • The winners of the European Beer Star 2024 will receive free tickets to this event. The number of free tickets will be announced with the winner's notification.
  • More information and impressions of the award ceremony can be found here.

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