The International Beer Cup - The most historical annual beer competition in the world since 1996

The Craft Beer Association (CBA) will hold "The International Beer Cup 2021" (IBC2021) in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on 17th - 18th of September, 2021.

2021 Winners List (Gold/Silver/Bronze Medals)

2021 Winners List (Category Champions)

Mission

The mission of the IBC is to create greater consumer awareness around the world about the quality and diversity by the various beers of the world.

Traditionally, most of beers in the competition have been registered by Japanese breweries. As we see expansion of Asia/Japanese craft beer market by quality and diversity, we started to open doors to beers and breweries outside Japan in recent years.

In 2019, 90 judges from 25 countries/regions have evaluated 1000 beers of eligible beer styles from 24 countries. You can find the result below.

2019 Winners List (Gold/Silver/Bronze Medals)

2019 Winners List (Category Champions)

In 2020, 63 judges from Japan have evaluated 602 beers of eligible beer styles from 4 countries. It was reduced the scale due to the coronavirus pandemic. You can find the result below.

2020 Winners List (Gold/Silver/Bronze Medals)

2020 Winners List (Category Champions)

We hope that everything get back to normal soon.

With this global competition, we creates greater consumer awareness about differences and qualities by qualified judges to panel with gold, silver, and bronze awards in 122 beer styles.

In this year, the IBC2021 will be expected more than 800 beers. and will be judged by more than 70 judges overcoming the difficult situations with COVID-19.

The winners will be announced on Tuesday, 20th of September on this Web-site.

The Craft Beer Association, which was founded in 1994 by Ryouji Oda, is an independent organization based in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, with 26 years of experience in organizing successful beer competitions, events and seminars.

Competition Schedule

[Schedule]

* Beer Registration

12th of July - 27th of August, 2021

*Registration fee payment deadline : 3rd of September, 2021

* Beer Arrival

6th - 10th of September, 2021

at CBA warehouse, Tokyo

* Judging

~~17th - 18th of September, 2021~~Changed

~~at Osanbashi Hall, Yokohama City~~Changed

24th - 25th of September, 2021

at TKP Garden City Yokohama, Yokohama City

* Award Winner announce (with color of medals)

It will be announced on Monday, ~~20th~~27th of September on this Web-site

* Award Ceremony will not be held due to coronavirus pandemic.

Competition Organizer

"The International Beer Cup 2021" Exective Committee

The Craft Beer Association

　Chairperson : Yusuke Yamamoto (Director General, The Craft Beer Association)

　Competition Adviser : Isao Tamura

　Competition Manager : Satoshi Murabayashi

　Competition Manager : Tetsuya Kojima

　Chief Judge : Masa Kaji

　Chief Steward : Yuji Tsuji

Judging Method

1. A judge team is composed of 5 to 7 judges. The qualifications of judges of "The International Beer Cup" are one of following.

....a. Member of The Craftbeer Association who are certified as "Beer Judge".

....b. Brewer who is currently working for a brewery and have brewing experience for more than 3 years.(The brewer cannot judge the style which includes their beer.)

....c. International judge who have judging experience of WBC, IBA(formally BIIA), AIBA or EBS.

....d. Person who is certified as having similer skill of above "a", "b" or "c" by The Craftbeer Association.

2. The judges judge the beers using a blind test with only a number of the samples. The name and brand of the beers are hidden for the judges.

3. The judges taste the samples individually, then the judges have a discussion.

4. The judges use the "Beer Style Guideline 2004" as a standard of the competition. The beers which does not conform to the guideline, or has a off flavor for the style are excluded.

5. The judges make decisions of the color of the medals for each style with evaluating the appearance, flavor and balance of the beers which passes the 1st step using the standard. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals of a style is generally given only for 1 beer. The case of "not applicable" is possible. The standards for the color of the medals are following.

..."Gold". The beer which completely follows the Beer Style Guideline and has the world no.1 class appearance, aroma and flavor.

..."Silver". The beer which highly follows the Beer Style Guideline and has the outstanding appearance, aroma and flavor.

..."Bronze". The beer which follows the Beer Style Guideline and has the excellent appearance, aroma and flavor.

6. The judges make decisions of the "Category Champions" from "Gold" winning beers for 12 categories which is composed of several styles with the comprehensive evaluation such as balance, drinkability, overall impression and additional components.

7. Entrants of the IBC2021 will receive

　...Certification Sheet and Medal (Gold / Silver / Bronze medal winners only)

　...Certification Sheet (Category Champions only)

　...Judging report with summary of the result for each entries.

　...Comment sheets from each judges for each entries.

　　　(generally 5 or 6 judges, at least 3 judges)