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 2019" (IBC2019) in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan on 3rd-6th of October, 2019.

2019 Winners List (Gold/Silver/Bronze Medals)

2019 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 2018, 96 judges from 21 countries have evaluated 754 beers of eligible beer styles from 23 countries. You can find the result below.

2018 Winners List (Gold/Silver/Bronze Medals)

2018 Winners List (Category Champions)

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 111 beer styles.

In this year, the IBC2019 will be expected more than 900 beers from 25 countries and will be judged by more than 80 judges from 25 countries.

And IBC will be held in Matsumoto city which is the city in mountain side of central japan. (3 hours from Tokyo by train) as our new challenge. We organized the IBC in Yokohama or Tokyo in recent years. However, we have decided to organize in regional cities once in 2 - 3 years from this year to encourage local craft beer culture. We believe that it helps spreading craft beer culture all over Japan.

The winners will be announced on Sunday, 6th of October at at Shinmai Media Garden in Matsumoto City.

The Craft Beer Association, which was founded in 1994 by Ryouji Oda, is an independent organization based in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, with 25 years of experience in organizing successful beer competitions, events and seminars.

Competition Schedule

[Schedule]

* Beer Registration

24th of June - 11th of September, 2019

*Registration fee payment deadline : 13th of September, 2019

* Beer Arrival

18th - 25th of September, 2019

at CBA warehouse, Tokyo

* Judging

3rd - 5th of October, 2019

at Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre, Matsumoto City

* Award Ceremony

6th of October, 2019

at Shinmai Media Garden, Matumoto City

Competition Organizer

"The International Beer Cup 2019" 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 1804" 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.

The category list will be announced soon.

7. Entrants of the IBC2019 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)

Judges

　　　Please click here for judge list

Beer Registration and Shipping

　　　Please see this page.

　　　Registration is available online from 24th of June, 2019

Matsumoto City

Mastumoto is the Castle town of the National Treasure, Matsumoto Castle, with its over 400 years of history. Since old times, Matsumoto has thrived through economic and cultural exchange, and since the 19th century, with a progressive spirit, it has nurtured its rich culture as a "City of Learning". Embraced by the 3,000-meter-high Japan Alps mountain range, this natural treasure-chest is known as the "City of Mountaineering", and also as the "City of Music", with its atmosphere refined by the beauty of the four seasons it's popular among all kinds of music enthusiasts.