With the current global pandemic in hand, a lot of breweries and beer brands are facing trouble when it comes to sales, and being recognized by buyers. Breweries and beer brands are constantly looking for a way to sustain themselves - and the one solution for all of this is to be seen by industry experts.

Think about it this way, if your beer is tasted, and judged by an industry leader who buys and sells beer on a daily basis, you will be able to know where you stand in the market. This means that you will be able to know the demand for your type of beer currently and what people are looking for, and through this you can shift yourself accordingly.

In the days of social distancing and isolation, the best way to give credibility to your beer is by entering into competitions such as the USA Beer Ratings.

USA Beer Ratings is judged by a top-tier panel of judges with commercial buying expertise. Its selection of judging criteria is very effective in surfacing new trends, ideas, and concepts in the alcohol-beverage industry.

The 3rd edition of the USA Beer Ratings is on track & will take place in San Francisco, CA on October 25. The competition looks to recognize, reward and help promote beers that have successfully been created to identify and target a specific beer drinker.

Over the years, all beer competitions have been judged similarly, by having judges blind taste beers and score them based on the quality. However, USA Beer Ratings tends to take a different approach to this. After speaking to a plethora of industry leaders, Beverage Trade Network, organizers of USA Beer Ratings, found that the true selling point of a beer depends on three main things: Quality, Value, and Packaging.

For a customer, they buy with their eyes first, meaning the packaging matters. Second, comes the value - customers don’t want a beer that isn’t worth their money, and of course, quality always plays the most important role in all of this. What this basically means is that, it is a combined effect, and just one thing is not enough to judge.

This is exactly why USA Beer Ratings judges beers based on Quality, Value, and Packaging.

For breweries, the USA Beer Ratings competition represents the perfect opportunity to get in front of influential judges, tastemakers and commercial buyers. An award from the USA Beer Ratings competition is a prestigious mark of approval that is highly valued by consumers when they are making the choice of which beer to buy.

Avail the early bird discount before July 31

USA Beer Ratings Judging Process

The USA Beer Ratings competition has created a 100-point rating system that takes into account three different criteria (Quality, Value and Packaging) rather than just the brewing technique or overall taste.

 The USA Beer Ratings will be decided based on the following judging formula:

Q (Quality Score) + Value Score (V) + Package Score (P) = USA Beer Ratings Score.

A separate weighted score will be given for each of the three parts of the judging process. The scores will be added up to give a final score from which individual prizes will be awarded.

Quality Score: will be marked out of 50

Value Score: will be marked out of 25

Package Score: will be marked out of 25

USA Beer Ratings Judging Panel

The judging panel at the USA Beer Ratings consists of top-level buyers who are directly involved with current commercial buying, beer consultants, cicerones, and other industry experts who are also directly involved in the development of new beer brands and buying beer for commercial resale.

Judges at the 2020 USA Beer Ratings are drawn from leading retail chains, wholesalers, distributors and on-trade groups across a variety of channels and disciplines including multiple retailing, convenience stores, cash and carries, specialist retailers, casual and fine dining, hospitality and travel industry.

2020 USA Beer Ratings Awards

To receive a

● Gold: you need to score 90 or over.

● Silver: you need to score between 80-89.

● Bronze: you need to score between 70-79.

Along with Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals, USA Beer Ratings also offers a plethora of ‘Special Category’ awards which include :

● Best In Show By Country

● Beer Of The Year

● Brewery Of The Year

● Best Beer of The Year by Quality

● Best Beer of The Year by Value

● Best Beer of The Year by Packaging

Check out 2019’s Winning Beers

Benefits of winning a USA Beer Ratings Medal:

● Commercial Relevance

A medal from USA Beer Ratings will give future trade beer buyers, be they for a supermarket, specialist retailer, casual dining or upmarket restaurant, the re-assurance that these are beers that their customers want to buy.

● Cross-Industry Recognition

The USA Beer Ratings will also give recognition to award winners within the industry, through the entire supply chain. As a beer brand, being recognized by importers, distributors, as well as retailers and restaurants is very important, and that’s exactly what UBR offers winning beers.

● Build Consumer Awareness

 Winners in the USA Beer Ratings will be supported by a strong consumer awareness campaign, particularly through social media channels and alcohol-beverage comparison apps, to promote this new global rating.

Key Dates:

Early Bird Registration: Ends July 31, 2020

International Registration Closes: Aug 31, 2020

Domestic Registration Closes: Sept 15, 2020

Warehouse Closes For Samples: Sept 30, 2020

Judging: October 25, 2020

Winners Announced: November 09, 2020

2020 USA Beer Ratings Fee:

$75 Early Bird Pricing - Till July 31, 2020, Register Now

$90 Regular Pricing - From Aug 1, 2020, Onwards

Click here to enter your beers in the 2020 USA Beer Ratings and avail the early bird offer before July 31