The BJCP has officially updated its Competition Handbook. The handbook is known as being the competition “organizer’s Bible” due to its extensive nature, and the sheer number of considerations that come into play when organizing a homebrew competition.

In recent years, competitions have grown both in size, number, and complexity. Since its last update, additional factors have become considerations when organizing, and are covered in the completely re-written handbook:

• Competition software
• Different types of scoresheets
• Online registration and reporting
• Competing craft beer events
• Marketing
• Entry Caps
• Mead Judge and Cider Judge accreditation
• Multiple sessions and multiple days
• Queued Judging
• The desire for instant results and feedback

The updated handbook is the work of a committee of Luann Fitzpatrick, Gordon Strong, David Houseman, Mike Dixon. Luann Fitzpatrick lead the effort over several months.

As the updated handbook states in its introduction:

“Homebrewing has grown and changed over the years. It has gone from a necessary chore back in pioneering days to a hobby and even an obsession in current times. Mankind has the tendency to be competitive, so it is not a big surprise that homebrewing and competition go hand-in-hand. Since 2006, the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) and the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) have combined to sponsor the AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competition Program (SCP) and have been responsible for sanctioning and overseeing homebrew competitions. With increasing interest in homebrewing, there has also been an increase in the number of competitions that are available to enter. Although there may be many ways to organize and run a competition, there are some strategies and techniques that have proven to produce an efficient and smooth running competition.”

The updated Competition Handbook may be downloaded for free on the BJCP web site at /docs/SCPCompHdbk.pdf.

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