Rules

You qualify for the MCAB championship competition in a given year by placing first – and only first – in any of the eligible BJCP style categories in a Qualifying Event. Note that not all BJCP style categories are eligible for MCAB; only categories 1 – 19 and category 22 are eligible. Qualifying events are held throughout the year, and the championship for that year occurs in the following year, typically (but not always) in February or March.

You can only qualify for the MCAB once per style category per year. That is to say, if you place first in one Qualifying Event with a Dry Stout and first in another with an Imperial Stout, you can only send one Stout entry to the MCAB championship, in any Stout subcategory you want. Additional first place finishes in other Qualifying Events in the same style category would reduce your competition in the MCAB championship, but you would still only be allowed one entry in that style category.

To summarize:

  • You must take a first place in an MCAB qualifying event to qualify
  • You may only send one entry to the finals for each category in which you qualify
  • That entry may be in any one of the subcategories of the category(ies) in which you qualify
  • MCAB eligible categories include:
    • BJCP 2008 categories 1 – 19 and 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28
    • BJCP 2015 categories 1 through 26, 28, 32, 33, M1 – 4, C1, and C2
  • The MCAB championship competition will follow the BJCP 2015 guidelines. 2008 Qualifying Event winners will be converted to 2015 categories.

Brewers may qualify in as many MCAB style categories as they can win in the year’s Qualifying Events. A running list of Qualifying Brewers will be kept on the qualifying brewers pages.

The list will be updated as the information is supplied by each Qualifying Event. Only the brewers/teams listed may enter the finals event, and they may enter only those style categories for which they have specifically qualified. No style category substitutions are allowed; only the style subcategory is flexible.

Aside from the American Homebrewers Association’s National Homebrew Competition, almost all competitions combine or split categories. This is done for a variety of reasons – usually it is to ensure that no category has an insufficient number of entries, and in some cases it is to ensure that no category has so many entries as to overwhelm the judges. In the past, MCAB had some complex rules for split and combined categories, but we have decided to simplify the process by taking only the first place winners in all (MCAB-relevant) categories. Thus, if American Pale Ale is split out into its own category and American Amber and Brown are left in another category, there would be two qualifiers in American Ale – one Pale and one Amber or Brown. There can also be instances in which there is no qualifier in a category: if European Amber and Dark Lagers are combined and an Oktoberfest wins that category, then it would qualify for MCAB and there would be no qualifier from the Dark Lager category.

For the annual championship event:

  • You may enter more of the original qualifying beer or you may re-brew it. Or, as mentioned above, you may enter another beer as long as it is in the same base style category.
  • Two bottles will be required for each entry in order to be eligible for category and Grand Master/Best of Show judging (should your beer take first place in its category).
  • Standard brown 12-ounce long-neck beer bottles are required. Common brown long neck bottles with raised lettering are acceptable.
  • Plain caps, either gold or silver in color are required.
  • Team entries will be treated as a single entry. Only one medal will be awarded to each team.
  • The entry fee will be $10.00 per entry.
  • Barring unforeseen circumstances, the event will take place on the third Saturday in April.
  • The entry deadline is the deadline by which the entries must arrive at the destination. It is not flexible; you must send your entries sufficiently early to ensure that they arrive by the deadline. The entry deadline date is the Friday a week before the competition date. Entries are accepted starting on Monday, two weeks (19 days) before the competition date.