Does your beer have what it takes to be crowned best in Africa?

The African Beer Cup is the largest beer competition on the continent. Entries are welcomed from breweries small and large operating in any African country. Beers will be double-judged by a handpicked panel of qualified beer judges and industry experts from around the globe. Winners are announced at the annual BeerEx Africa, held in Cape Town.

How to Enter

The African Beer Cup is open to licenced, commercial breweries large and small.
Beer entered in the competition must have been brewed in Africa.

Beers will be judged according to the 2021 BJCP Guidelines. Before completing the entry form, please familiarise yourself with the guidelines and be sure to enter your beer in the correct category. Beers will be judged to the guidelines of the category in which they are entered. If you have any questions or are not sure which category to use, please contact us.

If you're entering a lager and are not sure which category it best fits into, check out our handy Infographic.

The cost to enter is ZAR880 per beer (inclusive of VAT). This does not include shipping costs.

To enter, complete the form here and make payment online. Once registered, you will receive a document with all the details on how to ship your beers to us.

Every beer is judged twice by a hand-picked team of industry experts

The judging panels will be made up of BJCP-qualified judges and industry experts. Beers will be judged using the 2021 BJCP guidelines. Although BJCP judging is designed to remove subjectivity, it is not a fool-proof way to judge. Sometimes judges have an off day, are unfamiliar with a style or are influenced by someone else on their panel. To try and remove this risk, every beer in the African Beer Cup will be judged twice, by two different panels. Scores will then be compared and an average taken. Should there be a difference of more than seven points between the two sets of scores, a third panel will be called upon to re-evaluate and an overall average of the three scores will determine the final score.

If you are interested in judging at the African Beer Cup, please get in touch detailing your judging, sensory and/or brewing experience.

Key Dates

Online registration opens
13
Monday
February 2023
Online registration closes
24
Friday
March 2023
Beer submissions
open
28
Tuesday
March 2023
Final day
for submissions
06
Thursday
April 2023
Judging
begins
15
Saturday
April 2023
Judging
ends
18
Tuesday
April 2023
Winners announced at BeerEx Africa
22
Saturday
April 2023

Meet the Team

The African Beer Cup was born out of a love for beer and a desire to nurture a stronger beer culture across the African continent. Drawing on experience judging in numerous other competitions both local and international, the organisers of the African Beer Cup aim to offer a fair and in-depth judging process, as well as detailed, considered feedback for brewers.

Lucy Corne

Co-founder and Competition Director

Editor of On Tap Magazine and founder of Brewmistress.co.za, Lucy is an advanced Cicerone® and experienced beer judge having judged at the World Beer Cup, Concurso Brasileiro de Cervejas and numerous South African competitions.

Shawn Duthie

Co-founder

Brewer and former president of the Southyeasters Homebrewers Club, Shawn judged his first competition in 2009 in South Korea. He has been instrumental in setting up BJCP competitions and judging exams in Cape Town.


Anaia Dos Santos

Front of house and admin queen

Kim Turton

Marketing & Design

Sandy Pollock

Logistics and support

Romina Gaggero Delicio

Finance manager

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