At the first-ever USA Beer Ratings Competition, which took place in San Francisco on July 21, a high-profile panel of judges evaluated craft beers from around the world according to an innovative new 100-point ratings system. The final list of Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners will be released on September 5.

Beers were judged on the basis of three primary criteria – Quality, Value and Packaging – and then scored on a 100-point scale. Beers that score 90+ points will be awarded Gold medals, beers that score 80 to 89 points will be awarded Silver medals, and beers that score 70 to 79 points will be awarded Bronze medals.

The primary reason for using three criteria rather than just one was to focus on the overall drinkability of each beer. As a result, the judging panel ranked beers not just by how they taste, but also by their overall presentation and appearance in the bottle. In addition, judges assessed beers on their relative value in relation to their peers.

The USA Beer Ratings was launched in late 2017 by Beverage Trade Network, which organizes alcohol beverage industry events all over the world. The goal of the USA Beer Ratings competition was to award and celebrate the beers that beer drinkers actually want to buy, whether at a retail store or ordering off the menu at a restaurant.

Chief executive and founder of Beverage Trade Network Sid Patel said, “At all the major competitions, beers are judged solely on the quality of what’s in the bottle. We wanted to take a different approach, by asking our judges to look at beers the way beer drinkers do.”

At the judging session, judges tasted and scored beers on a blind basis before seeing bottles and marking them for on-shelf appeal as well as value for money. This enabled them to come up with an overall score that reflects their overall drinkability.

“We’re delighted with the first-ever USA Beer Ratings competition, which attracted entries from some of the best craft brewers in the world. Our high-profile judges, all with direct commercial buying responsibility, played a major role in reviewing and scoring the beers in competition, ensuring that all winners will be those that consumers actually want to buy.”

Based on the initial success of this year’s USA Beer Ratings competition, Beverage Trade Network plans to run the competition again in 2019 and will be opening up entries later in the summer.

Media sponsors for this year’s USA Beer Ratings competition included The Buyer, iSanté, Food & Beverage Magazine, and Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine.

About Beverage Trade Network

Beverage Trade Network (BTN) hosts events, competitions, expos, tastings and conferences for the alcohol beverage industry on a global basis. In addition to the USA Beer Ratings Competition, for example, BTN also hosts the London Beer Competition. In addition, BTN hosts the USA Trade Tasting event in New York, the International Bulk Wine & Spirits Show in San Francisco and London, and a number of other events in Asia, Europe and North America.

Beverage Trade Network is dedicated to helping beer producers and beer brand owners get closer to buyers, distributors and retailers. As part of this mission, Beverage Trade Network organizes events as part of a wider drinks initiative to introduce new brands, producers and manufacturers to the global marketplace.

For more information on Beverage Trade Network:

www.BeverageTradeNetwork.com