Tasting Awards

Judges for the International Beer Challenge are drawn from across the beer industry and include brewers, flavour analysts, experienced beer journalists, independent retailers and buyers from supermarkets, with judging taking place over two rounds.

For the first round, judges are combined into teams to judge beers known only to them by a code number and presented in flights of the same style and/or similar flavour profile. They assess, individually and in silence, each beer according to appearance, aroma, taste and finish, and then the team captain leads a discussion of each beer in turn so that the team can agree which medal should be awarded to the beer: Gold, Silver, Bronze or No Medal.

There is no individual scoring of beers: everything is decided through discussion and agreement, which can lead to some heated debates but also ensures that each beer is fully considered and judged fairly. There is no limit to the number of Gold medals – or Silver or Bronze medals – that may be awarded for each flight. This competition is based on standards rather than podium finishes.

For the second round, only the Gold medal-winning beers are considered as we work to find our trophy winners (Best Ale, Best Lager, Best Wheat Beer, etc.). The same process is followed as in the first round, with discussion and agreement deciding the winners. All the trophy winners are then judged against each other, through the same process, to find the overall Supreme Champion Beer.