Who can participate as a judge?

What are the prerequisites to participate?

Appllication for the Austrian Beer Challenge as a judge

What is the procedure of the tasting/judging?

Is the judging process in the preliminary rounds and the final rounds similar?

Who can participate as a judge?
Any person that meets the minimum requirements to judge (see below) for the competition may apply.

What are the prerequisites to participate?
It is air aim to improve the quality continuously. This also means that the requirements for the judges also are raised. Beer evaluation and sensoric experience is more and more required. Every home brewer and brewery expects that their entries are evaluated by expert judges.
Therefore we have decided that for judges the mininum levels of education are required to participate as a judge for the Austrian Beer Challenge:

  • Diplom Bier Sommelier
  • Bier Sommelier
  • Beer Keeper Gold Level
  • Beer Keeper Master Level
  • Brauer (Lehr- Akademischer Abschluss)
  • Braumeister (Ausbildungsgrad )

At least one of the above mentioned levels of education is required.
We are aware that by doing this we limit the range of potential judges, but we aim by doing this we improve the quality of the evaluation substantially.

Eventually we will check the level of education of the applying judges. 
We reserve the right to personally invite persons who don’t meet the formal requirements, but who bring the essential knowledge and experience.

Appllication for the Austrian Beer Challenge as a judge
The registration will be available beginning 16.02.2024

What is the procedure of the tasting/judging?
In one Session 6 judges taste multiple samples parallel, and they evaluate these beers using the defined judging forms, and the judges award points. A „Table Captain“ leads the Session and is for the other 5 judges the first communication partner. For the personal evaluation the beers will be tasted by the judges individually without discussing, and subsequently they will be discussed by th judges at the table. When the evaluation of the beers has been finalized, the next flight will be served. The beers will be evaluated according to the following aspects:

  • Aroma
  • Appearance
  • Flavour
  • Mouthfeel
  • Overall Impression

After each session with some flight of beers we’ll attempt to offer the judges a break to clean their palates and refresh themselves. We’ll be planning breaks between the sessions. The duration of the breaks will be decided by the assignment of the judges.

Is the judging process in the preliminary rounds and the final rounds similar?
The way of judging in the preliminary rounds (Saturday) is a bit different from the procedure in the final rounds on the Sunday. From the preliminary rounds the best 3 beers from each flight will be forwarded to the final round. These best beers from the preliminary rounds will in the final round be evaluated parallel, still separated for commercial beers and beers produced by homebrewers. The Ranking of the 5 best beers will be decided in a discussion between the judges.
For the Final round on Sunday the best knowledge of beer styles is essential. A good reference for this might be the BJCP Beer Judgement Styleguidelines. BJCP Beer Judgement Styleguidelines.