JUDGING OCCURS OCTOBER 24th THRU OCTOBER 26th
Within 48 hours (2 business days) after registering, you’ll receive a PayPal invoice which will include your contest registration number on it. PLEASE INCLUDE THAT REGISTRATION NUMBER WHEN YOU SHIP YOUR ENTRIES TO US.
(here is an example of the scoresheet we’ll be using and sending back to participants)
Alt-Pokal 2024 Rules & Guidelines
Entry Fee
The entry fee in 2023 will be $50 per entry. Your entry fee is to cover our costs for the shirt you will receive, and the Grand Champion trophy along with the two runner up medals, and shipping this stuff back out to you after the competition. Current members of our Trub Club only have to pay $30 for their entry fee.
How to enter the Alt-Pokal
Step 1: Competition Application/Payment: June 6th – August 31st
Step 2: Entry Registration & Payment
CONFIRMATION EMAIL: Confirmation emails are all sent by me, Joshua, within 48 hours (2 business days) after you submit your registration form. A $50 per entry charge is due via the PayPal invoice (or $30 if you’re a member of our Patreon Trub Club). Once you pay for your entries, you are officially entered in the competition. Payments are due by October 1st, 2024.
Disclaimer: Failure to pay within the deadline window will result in dismissal from the competition.
Getting your altbier to us!
You need to deliver two 12oz bottles (or cans) of your altbier to:
Alt-Pokal 2024
ATTENTION: Joshua Steubing
1800 EDC Parkway
Comanche, TX 76442
and they must be delivered to us on or before Friday, October 18th. Please do your best to make sure your altbier gets to us by the deadline!
When I send you your PayPal invoice email, it includes your unique entry number. PLEASE INCLUDE THIS NUMBER either on a piece paper inside your shipment packaging or tape it to the bottles or somehow make sure it’s included with your bottles/cans.
UNITED STATES SHIPPING DETAILS
It is the entrant’s responsibility to make sure entries arrive on time and are labeled correctly.
Package MUST have “Alt-Pokal” listed on package when delivered. Preferably, you can address the package like this:
Alt-Pokal 2024
ATTENTION: Joshua Steubing
1800 EDC Parkway
Comanche, TX 76442
Deliver Direct (drop-off): If you’re near us, feel free to drop off your entry!
Arrange for a return receipt or tracking number.
Pack it well (make it unbreakable). I, personally, recommend using https://www.craftyshipping.com/ products. We use them all the time and they’re great!
Create a packing list/inventory each box in case of an incident
JUDGING & AWARDS
Alt-Pokal will rate every beer on a similar scale used by the American Homebrewer’s Association (scoring the beer overall from 1-50) and we will be awarding ONE Grand Champion trophy and TWO Runner Ups.
Judging Process
First and foremost, NONE of us are accredited BJCP judges. Please do not go into this expecting us to replicate the incredible judging that REAL judges do. Obviously, we will do our best to provide thorough and meaningful feedback on your scorecard! As of right now, the plan is to begin the first day of judging half of the entries on Thursday, October 24th. We’ll continue judging the second half of entries on Friday (October 25th) and then the top 10 entries from Day 1 and Day 2 will be judged on the final day, Saturday October 26th. This is why we ask for two bottles or cans, so that we can have that second bottle/can to drink if your entry is in the final running!
We want to live stream this but, worst case, we’ll be recording and publish the videos immediately after. The only thing keeping us from potentially live streaming is Todd’s awful internet at the ranch. The livestreaming/recording component is another reason why it’s important to include your entry number (given to you by me via email AFTER you pay for your entry) so that you’ll know if we’re judging your beer at that time.
WARNING: Todd is brutally honest and will, undoubtedly, say harsh things if he feels it’s warranted while drinking your altbier. I can promise you that I’ve been called the worst of the worst by him and you get used to it after a while. I’m anticipating only really good things being said during Alt-Pokal though because, well, we’ll be drinking your alt!
HAVE FUN!
Competitions are fun already but the last thing we want is for anyone to stress over this. Brewing and drinking alt or kölsch is already my favorite thing to do and our community (YOU) are awesome and I can’t wait to try your brews.
Refund Policy
When your payment and registration is processed, we spend that money on ordering your shirt. If you want to cancel your registration, we cannot offer a refund but you will still receive your shirt.
JUDGING BEGINS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24th for DAY 1 and then DAY 2 is OCTOBER 25th, and then FINAL DAY + CROWNING OF THE GRAND CHAMPION WILL BE ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26th