ACB Presents Brewers of the Realm Homebrew Competition

Thank you for your interest in the ACB Presents Brewers of the Realm Homebrew Competition organized by Anglian Craft Brewers.

You only need to register your information once and can return to this site to enter more brews or edit the brews you've entered. You can even pay your entry fees online if you wish.

If you are willing to judge or steward, please return to register on or after Sunday 1 November, 2026 00:00, GMT.

Rules

Welcome to the 2026 Anglain Craft Brewers Presents "Brewers of the Realm" homebrew competition. 

With a rich history, ACB are proud to offer their 7th competiton overall and 5th BJCP sanctioned homebrew competition.

This years focus is on European and Commonwealth beer styles. Please refer to the list of permitted styles before deciding which category to enter your beer(s) under.

The event is open to all competitors aged 18 or over. 

You can use this site to register for the competition, pay your entry fees and submit details of your beers. Once registered you can log in anytime to enter additional brews, or edit details of those you've already entered up until the cut-off times/dates.

Detailed and constructive feedback is provided by BJCP qualified or experienced judges. This is a key goal of the event. Judges will evaluate and score each entry. Score sheets and written feedback is provided for each entry received.

Beers will be assessed against the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines: https://www.bjcp.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2021_Guidelines_Beer_1.25.pdf 

See the Award Structure and Best of Show sections for how final placings are decided.   

The competition organizers reserve the right to combine styles for judging and to restructure awards as needed depending upon the quantity and quality of entries. All possible effort will be made to combine similar styles. All brews in combined categories will be judged according to the style they were originally entered in. The competition organizers are not responsible for mis-categorized entries. 

Eligibility

This competition is open to any amateur homebrewer aged 18 or over. Shipping of larger prizes, outside of the UK, are be at the competition organisers discretion. All entries must be handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public, The product must be made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers at home. Those made by professional brewers, or in commercial establishments, including brew-on-premise establishments, are not eligible. 

Competition Organizers, staff, judges and stewards may enter the competition. Measures are in place to ensure fair, anonymous, judging. Judges and stewards will not be assigned to categories that they have entered. 

Where

The Victoria Inn, North Station Road, Colchester, CO1 1RB.

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When

Main judging commences - approx. 10am Saturday 21st November 2026

Awards Ceremony - approx. 6pm.

RESULTS LIVE STREAM LINK - You Tube Link (TBA)

Important Deadlines
Register online and pay for all entries by 31st October 2026 11:59 PM

Finalise your entries by 1st November 2026 11:59 PM

Delivery of entries by Friday 13th November 2026 05:00 PM

Entry Cost 
Entry fee is £10 for the first entry. Further entries may be made available at a later date for a discounted cost.

Entry Acceptance Rules

Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 2

Each entry will consist of two bottles, or cans, of between 330-500mL

330mL or 500mL brown glass bottles are preferred. Green and clear glass, PET and swing top bottles will also be accepted.

Bottles will not be returned to contest entrants.

One bottle/can will be judged in the first round. A second, fresh, bottle/can will be judged if the beer progresses to Best of Show.

Labelling Bottles and Cans: Print out an entry label from this site and then attach to each bottle/can WITH CLEAR PACKING TAPE or SELLOTAPE covering the entire label.

No other label or identifiable information should be present. All requisite paperwork must be submitted with each entry and can be printed directly from this website. 

Be meticulous about noting any special ingredients that must be specified on the entry system where required. Failure to note such ingredients may impact the judges' scoring of your entry.

Entries not recieved by the shipping deadline date will not be entered into the competition. However we will endeavour to judge them at a later date and provided written feedback.

Competition Officials

You can send an email to any of the following individuals via Contact.

• Steve Plampton — Head Judge
• Richard Swindells — Competition Organiser
• Tony Tilbury — Competition Staff
• Kevin Warnes — Competition Staff