The Colorado Brewers Cup is a professional beer competition run and organized by the Colorado Brewers Guild. This annual event showcases the exceptional quality of craft beer in Colorado and celebrates the amazing brewing community that surrounds us!

Step 1: Read through the Judging Handbook.

Step 2: Complete the application, taking care to include a short bio, your BJCP rank and ID number (if applicable), and any other relevant certifications, past judging experience, sensory experience, or formal brewing education details.

The window to apply is September 4, 2026 – November 6, 2026.

We will notify you in mid-November if you were selected.

Anyone working in the craft beer industry or with judging experience is allowed to apply. A strong priority will be given to current industry professionals with experience judging in local, national, or international competitions and individuals who hold BJCP and/or Cicerone certification.

As an applicant, please take care to include a short bio on your application to share your industry experience and qualifications. We also ask that you share your current BJCP rank and ID number (if applicable) as well as any other certifications (Cicerone, Doemens, etc.) and your past judging experience.

If you have additional experience (such as overseeing the sensory/quality program at your brewery, a formal brewing education, etc.) that’s not reflected in your bio, please make sure to share that on your application as well.

Judging will take place January 8th – 10th, 2027.

We ask that judges commit to a full day of judging, as will not be able to accommodate judges who can only commit to a half day of judging. Additionally, when choosing judges, priority will be given to those individuals who can commit to the entire weekend.

Due to the complexities involved in ensuring judges are assigned to categories they are not entered in, organizing over 100+ flights to be judged over the weekend, and ensuring the logistical considerations of first-round vs. second-round judging, we ask for the judges’ patience with us as we keep things flowing through the weekend.

All judging will occur at the RahrBSG Warehouse in Denver.

– Friday, January 8, 5pm – 7pm
– Saturday, January 9, 9am – 5pm
– Sunday, January 10, 9am – 12pm
**times are subject to change**

Friday evening will include an orientation, calibration round, and likely two judging rounds. Saturday will be broken up into a morning and an afternoon session, where each panel will be asked to judge several flights per session (likely, three flights per session). Friday and Saturday judging will be dedicated to completing first and second round judging. Sunday will be focused in finishing second rounds and all of the medal rounds.

In the Colorado Brewers Cup beers are judged electronically using the Beer Awards Platform (BAP). As such, we ask that judges bring a laptop, tablet, or smartphone with up-to-date software and a charging device.

If you have never used BAP, and would like to judge a practice beer at home ahead of the competition to gain experience with the platform, follow these instructions:

Sign up for an account at getbap.com
Go to ”My personal scoresheets”
Click on ”New personal evaluation”
Set up the tasting session information
Start tasting your samples

In additional to the camaraderie, recognition, and industry experience that will come with being a judge for the Colorado Brewers Guild’s statewide beer competition, the following will be provided to Colorado Brewers Cup judges:

Judging Experience: The Colorado Brewers Cup is a sanctioned BJCP competition, so in addition to building your resume for other national and international judging opportunities, BJCP certified judges will have the opportunity to earn judging points (.5 points for each of the competition’s judging sessions you participate in) by judging at Colorado Brewers Cup.

On-Site Perks: Judges will be fed and watered during their time, including dinner and beers on Friday evening, and a breakfast and lunch during Saturday and Sunday judging. 

Hotel Accommodation: The Guild will cover the cost of rooms at a nearby hotel for judges traveling in from outside of the Metro Denver Area. We will try to accommodate all hotel requests, but will prioritize those traveling from the furthest away first. If we have a lot of requests, we may ask judges to share a room.

Awards Ceremony: Judges will each receive one free ticket to the Awards Ceremony.

You will be notified in mid-November.

The size and make-up of the judging roster will be based on the number of entries in the competition and the number of judge applications received. As such, judges may be approved in earlier waves based on experience and application date. We recommend going ahead and blocking off the competition dates on your calendar to ensure availability, should you be selected.

If you are not selected this year to judge (based on not quite having the experience or qualifications necessary, etc.) you may be offered the option to serve as a steward in the competition or volunteer in a different capacity. As a BJCP sanctioned competition, Colorado Brewers Cup volunteers will be eligible to earn non-judging experience points.