Attention brewers! One of the world’s largest and most respected beer competitions, the European Beer Star (EBS), is just around the corner. Of note, this year the competition celebrates 20 years of recognizing the world’s finest European-style beers. Brewers have until July 12th to register. Medals of gold, silver, and bronze are awarded to worthy beers, and Japan typically performs well in this competition every year.

As noted above, the EBS focuses on European-style beer categories, like those that developed in Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and England, but also other beer cultures in the region. In more recent years, the competition has created categories for more experimental beers as well as reinterpretations of classics because of international influences.

This year, there are 73 categories. Interestingly, four categories are for non-alcoholic beers, which are growing wildly in popularity. To accommodate more contemporary beers, there are “New-Style” Pale Ale and India Pale Ale categories, as well as those for  Hazy India Pale Ale and Pastry Stout. But the primary attraction is the abundance of traditional categories. A few others that caught our eye for being traditional but not mainstream: Grodziskie, Austrian-style Märzen, Italian Grape Ale, and Honey Beer. If you’re a professional brewer, there’s surely a category that you feel some confidence in.

The competition itself is straightforward. Each category receives gold, silver, and bronze awards, though judges may refrain from awarding any medals if they think no entries are up to standard. Judging is conducted according to blind tasting and analysis against clear category descriptions listed on the EBS website. Please visit for more details and good luck! www.european-beer-star.com/