English

Moravian Homebrewers Meeting – a homebrewing comepetition held annualy in Brno, Czech Republic. Running since 2013 makes it the oldest still operational homebrewing competition in Czechia. Since 2015 first Czech competition registered at BJCP and fully judged according the BJCP guidelines.

In the recent years, we usually had around 140 samples in the competition, with Czech lager usually taking about half of that. The tasting panel had about 20 judges, mostly from Czechia and Slovakia, but some judges from other countries, western or eastern, were always present too.

BJCP judges: We’re open to hosting judges from abroad, let us know if you’re interested!

Participants from foreign countries: The samples may be also mailed to the competition, no need to participate in person. Read below.

Below you’ll find a compressed version of  the competition rules and categories for the year 2023 which was held on 2023-11-25 at the Kos Brewery, Kotlarska 51a, 60200 Brno, CZ. Please note the official rules are in Czech and this is for your information only. We however try to do our best to keep the English version updated.

Organizers contact: David Janda, +420 776 486 945; Jan Grmela +420 608 110 686 (BJCP judge)

Timeline

The competition begins at 10am. The U Drevaka pub opens at 11. You may taste each others beer there, but please at least have meanwhile a commerical one or a lunch there to support the pub and not just drink your friend’s free beer the whole day 🙂 The event is open to everyone, even if you’re not a homebrewer and just would like to learn more about homebrewing or taste homebrewed beers.

Please note the competition (samples handover, tasting) itself is held in a different place than the public get-drunk-from-your-pal’s-homebrew part. The eat & drink part is held at U Drevaka Beer & Grill at Drevarska 806/22 (about 7 minutes walk from the competition place).

Schedule at the Kos Brewery, Kotlarska 51a

  • 10:00am the samples handover begin (please note the category rules)
  • 12:00am handover deadline
  • 12:30am-5:30pm tasting panel
  • 6:00pm tasting results & winners presentation
  • 9:00pm official competition day end

Samples delivered after the handover deadline (12:00am) will not be allowed to the competition! Please, transport your beer in time and do not forget to register online.

There will be draft commercial beer from local craft breweries available on tap. Due to legal reasons, we’re unable to sell/give away draft homebrew beer but there is no limit for bottled homebrew beer consumption.

Prizes

The category winners will be awarded prizes from our sponsors — hops, malts, etc. Also, the score from Czech Premium Pale lager will count towards the Czech Homebrewers Guild Bohemian yearly lager competiton.

Competition rules

  1. The minimal amount of submitted beer is 1.4 liters.
  2. The allowed list of bottles follow. Beers submitted in a different packaging may not be allowed in the competition.
    1. 5×0.33L; at homebrewer’s own risk*
    2. 3×0.5L; at homebrewer’s own risk*
    3. 2×0.7L glass
    4. 2×0.75L glass
    5. 2×1.0L glass
    6. 2×1.0L plastic
    7. 1×1.5L plastic
    8. 1×2.0L plastic
  3. Each participant may submit up to 4 samples in total (even in the same category).
  4. The beer is handed over in the competition location.
  5. The samples have to be registered online (the web is Czech only, Google Translate recommended). You may also register the samples directly before the handover but the registration fee is 30 CZK higher than when registering online.
  6. The beer is handed over on the day of the competition. You may also deliver the samples in person the week before the competition (Mon-Thu 9am-1pm), online payment is however required.
  7. The samples might be also shipped by post to the Kos Craft Brewery. The participant has to provide their name, email addreses, beer names and categories. It’s mandatory to register & pay the fees for the samples before shipping the samples. Delivery address: Pivovar KOS, Kotlarska 989/51a, 60200 Brno, Czechia, email: kolman@pivokos.cz, phone: +420 728 853 535.
  8. A recommended way to ship your beer is to use the Zaslat.cz logistics portal service that will handle import from the whole Europe (and US) for you easily and hassle free.
  9. We cannot unfortunately accept parcels shipped to a ParcelShop, Zasilkovna, Balikovna or other similar services that deliver to a pickup point instead of directly to the recipient’s address.
  10. The categories follow:
    1. BJCP 3B, Czech Premium Pale Lager;
    2. BJCP 18B, American Pale Ale;
    3. BJCP 24B, Mixed Style Beer: Cold IPA (style description in Czech);
    4. Pale Bottom Fermented German-style Beer:
      • Beer has to brewed in one of the following styles:
        • BJCP 4A, Munich Helles.
        • BJCP 4B, Festbier.
        • BCJP 4C, Helles Bock.
        • BJCP 5A, German Leichtbier.
        • BJCP 5C, German Helles Exportbier.
        • BJCP 5D, German Pils.
        • BJCP 6A, Märzen.
        • BJCP 9A, Doppelbock.
      • The brewer has to state the base beer style (a Classic BJCP style according to the Guidelines). This style is then used by the panel to correctly judge the beer.
      • The beer color may be up to 20 EBC / 10 SRM.
      • The beer has to be bottom fermented.
      • The other parameters have to follow the particular style guidelines.
  11. The beers are judged using the 2021 Guidelines, please check your version.
  12. Each homebrewer is responsible for the correct samples categorisation. Samples entered in a wrong category may be removed from the tasting, even though they e.g. do not have any off-flavors.
  13. The samples remains not used by the tasting panel will be given away once the tasting is completed for everyone to try.
  14. The registration fee is 120 CZK per sample registered online no later than 1 day before the competition is held. Samples registered later or directly when handed over cost +30 CZK/sample. The event entry itself is free.
  15. Beers handed over later than allowed by the schedule may not be allowed to the competition.
  16. The total maximum samples count is 150 (all categories together). Should the count be higher than the maximum, the competition president will decide whether to allow the samples in based on the available judges count and their tasting capacity.
  17. Professional brewers are welcome, the beer however has to brewed in a homebrewery and not a in a commercial brewery (not even a pilot brewery).

*This rule was added based on our experience from 2015 and 2016 tasting panels with samples with a large amount of yeast/sediment, especially in different bottles of the same sample. This means you’re free to submit beer in 0.33L or 0.5L bottle but the beer is better to be clear without any particles, sediment or haze which might affect the judging  (except for the styles with allowed haze, e.g. Weizenbier). Too cloudy bottles may be penalised or removed from the competition. We also recommend to hand over the bottles in the week before the competition as the beers will stay in the walk-in cooler the whole week without any movement so any particles/haze may settle down.

Samples evaluation

  1. The tasting is held using the American-style tables – one head judge + 2-5 judges.
  2. The table head is responsible for the correct results entry and correct samples order evaluation.
  3. The sample scores are assigned using by agreement of the table judges. In case of inability to reach a consensus, the table head decides.
  4. One or more samples are recommended, based on their score compared to other samples in the category, from the base round to the finals. Picking no samples for the finals is also allowed.
  5. The category finals winner is the category winner.
  6. The panel is not required to assign score to a damaged or wrongly categorises sample, the panel is however required to mark such sample.
  7. The tasting is blind, judges are not informed of the beers they taste, they’re only informed of the category tasted and, if required by the category, a special parameter of the judged sample (e.g. fruit type when judging fruit beers).

The rules are subject to change. Last change: 2023-07-27.