Competition Rules

1.       Each entrant must be 21 years of age & must not be a professional brewer.

2.      Special ingredients must be disclosed on the Entry/Recipe Form.

3.       You can enter multiple beers, but only one per subcategory.

4.       All entrants (or teams) must pay the fee of $7.  Even if the entrant does not wish to have their beer brewed in the Ska Local Series or go on to the GABF Pro-Am.  If the participants are a team there is only one fee per team, per entry.

5.       In order to win the overall competition a homebrewer MUST be a member of the American Homebrewing Association (AHA) by the time of the competition and at the time of the 2011 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) judging.  For teams, all of the brewers must be AHA members.  If the brewer does not intend to join the AHA they can still compete for a place (to know how their beer stands up against others) but cannot go on to the GABF Pro-Am competition.

6.      Every bottle must have a Bottle ID Form attached to it WITH A RUBBER BAND.  An Entry/Recipe Form must accompany each submission and include AHA number and expiration date in order to qualify for a Pro-Am entry.

7.       Due to the brewing challenges presented by Sour Ale styles and Wood Aged Beers, Ska Brewing has excluded these from winning the overall GABF Pro-Am preliminary.  These beers can of course be entered for a brewer to get judges' opinions of them, but cannot win the Pro-Am preliminary.

8.       The competition will be judged best in show style because that is how the Pro-Am is judged.  The judges will be BJCP-qualified judges and brew masters from the local area.

9.      Anyone already associated with a brewery for the 2011 GABF Pro-Am competition is not eligible to win the overall competition.  This is an AHA rule: “Individual AHA members may be associated with no more than one entry submitted into the GABF Pro-Am competition judging at the GABF.”

10.   The GABF style guidelines will be used for judging both the preliminary and the GABF competition.  These guidelines can be found at http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/styles.htm.  The brewer must supply the proper GABF category name and number.

11.   You must have a typed copy of your recipe at the judging, with detailed instructions on how to brew the beer, in case you win the competition.

12.   Categories may be consolidated into manageable flights to facilitate judging. 

13.   The winning beer selected becomes the property of Ska Brewing Co., which reserves the right to change the winning recipe as necessary to accommodate their brewing equipment. Ska Brewing Co. reserves the right to choose the Pro-Am category winner based on any criteria, including balance to existing line of offerings, ability to participate in the GABF Pro-Am Competition, marketability, etc.