Thank you for your interest in the 9th Manitowoc County Fair Blue Ribbon Brew Competition organized by Manitowoc County Fair, Manitowoc County Expo Center.

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.

Entry Registration is Open

27 entries have been added to the system as of 4:26 PM, CDT, Monday, June 30, 2025. There is a limit of 115 entries for this competition.

6 paid entries are in the system as of 4:26 PM, CDT, Monday, June 30, 2025.

To add your entries into the system, please proceed through the registration process or log in if you already have an account.

Judge and Steward Registration is Open

If you have not registered and are willing to be a volunteer, please register.

If you have registered, log in and then choose Edit Account from the My Account menu indicated by the icon on the top menu.

Rules

This competition is AHA sanctioned and open to any amateur homebrewer age 21 or older.

All mailed entries must be received at the mailing location by the entry deadline – please allow for shipping time.

All entries must be handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public and made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers. (i.e. no use of commercial facilities or Brew on Premises operations, supplies, etc.)

The competition organizers are not responsible for mis-categorized entries, mailed entries that are not received by the entry deadline, or entries arrived damaged.

Brewers are not limited to one entry in each category but may only enter one entry in each subcategory. 

Each participant may submit a maximum of six (6) entries. The contest will be limited to one hundred (100) entries.

Entry Fee is $10.00 per entry. Payable via PayPal.

Qualified judging of all entries is our primary goal of our event.  Judges will evaluate and score each entry.  The judges will determine an overall score based on their individual scores and will rank each entry in its category.  Each flight will have at least one BJCP judge.

Both the first and final round of judging will use a check-list style evaluation method for beer entries which was developed by the BJCP.  Review the beer checklist score sheet, score sheet instructions and beer fault list to be familiar with the judging process for beer.

The competition organizers reserves the right to combine categories for judging and restructure awards as needed based on the number of entries.  All brews in combined categories will be judged according to the style they were originally entered in.

The Grand Champion Best of Show and Reserve Grand Champion Best of Show judging will be determined by a Best of Show Panel based on a second judging of the top winners. 

Submitting Your Entry

Each entry will consist two (2) 10 to 12 ounce capped bottles that are void of all identifying information, including labels and embossing - but raised lettering is ok. Caps must be blank or blacked out completely.

Bottle labels (which the online registration tool creates for entrants when they enter their beers) must be printed and placed in a plastic bag.  Attach plastic bag with label inside to each bottle with a rubber band. Do not use tape or glue, since these will be disqualified.

An entry form will also be created for each beer as it is registered in the software. Please fill out the entry forms completely. Be meticulous about noting any special ingredients that must be specified per the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines. Failure to note such ingredients may impact the judges’ scoring of your entry.

Bottles will not be returned to the entrants.

Entry Acceptance Rules

Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 2

Each entry will consist two (2) 10 to 12 ounce capped bottles that are void of all identifying information, including labels and embossing - but raised lettering is ok.  Caps must be blank or blacked out completely.

Bottle labels (which the online registration tool creates for entrants when they enter their beers) must be printed and placed in a plastic bag.  Attach plastic bag with label inside to each bottle with a rubber band.  Do not use tape or glue, since these will be disqualified.

An entry form will also be created for each beer as it is registered in the software.  Please fill out the entry forms completely.  Be meticulous about noting any special ingredients that must be specified per the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines.  Failure to note such ingredients may impact the judges’ scoring of your entry.

Bottles will not be returned to the entrants.

Competition Officials

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

• Tonya Dvorak — Competition Coordinator
• Brian Lesperance — Judge Coordinator
• Russ Olp — Competition Coordinator

Sponsors

Manitowoc County Fair is proud to have the following sponsors for the 9th Manitowoc County Fair Blue Ribbon Brew Competition.

Action Realty

1001 South 35th Street, Manitowoc, WI 54220

Manty Malters

Manitowoc

Petskull Brewing Company

220 N 9th St, Manitowoc, WI 54220

The Cellar

Oshkosh, WI

TRUEBRU Homebrew Supplies

New Berlin, WI

Briess Industries, Inc.

Manitowoc