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Lager Than Life Homebrewing Competition is a BCJP-sanctioned competition where your lager beers are assessed by qualified judges against current BJCP 2021 style guidelines. Score sheets and written feedback will be provided for each entry. Prizes are awarded for Best of Show places.

The competition is open to all lagered beers which were fermented using only lager (bottom-fermenting) yeast - those intended to be in the 2021 BJCP Guidelines - lagers, pilsners, bocks etc. Additionally, we welcome entries for Kölsch and Altbier. These styles are eligible due to their traditional cold-conditioning (lagering) process. Any other beer made with a lager yeast should be entered in one of the special or "other beer" categories, and be fully described by the entrant. Pressure fermentation is allowed as long as you use bottom-fermenting yeast.

If you need some advice on how to brew great lagers, this presentation by Graeme Coates, who is an excellent brewer and a prolific homebrew award winner, should help you understand how to brew a winning lager.

After judging, the remaining portions of the entries will be available for sampling on Saturday 21st March 2026 in the afternoon at the Pillars Brewery Taproom. Pillars will also have exciting craft lagers available for purchase on the day. Entrants may bring further examples of their entries to share.

It's always a great day where you can sample homebrew and commercial beers, as well as learn from experts and fellow homebrewers.

Style Guidelines & Eligibility

Entries will be assessed against the BJCP Style Guidelines 2021 available via this link (PDF).

Eligibility: This competition is open to everyone, worldwide. Competition organisers, staff, judges and stewards may enter the competition. Measures are in place to ensure fair, anonymous, judging. Judges and stewards will not be assigned to categories that they have entered. Entries must have been made at home. Those made in commercial establishments, including brew-on-premise establishments, are not eligible. 

Where

Pillars Brewery, London

When

Saturday 20th March 2027

• Open to entrants/friends from 2 PM. Entrants' homebrew samples available as soon as judging is complete.
• Best of Show judging session - around 12 PM. 
• Awards Ceremony - sometime after 5 PM

Important Deadlines

• Register online and pay for all entries - no later than 20th February 2027
• Delivery of entries to Pillars Brewery in person or by delivery service - to arrive no earlier than 12th March 2027 and no later than 19th March 2027 at 6 PM. Due to organisational reasons, we won't be accepting entries on the day of the competition.

Pillars Brewery drop-off times during the shipping window:

Monday - Thursday 10 AM - 5 PM

Friday 10 AM - 10 PM

Saturday 2 PM - 11 PM

Sunday 2 PM - 8 PM

Entry Cost & Essentials

The entry fee is £11 (plus any PayPal handling fees) per entry.

PayPal handling fees are beyond our control.

Competitors are encouraged to come along to the event, sample the entries and share their beers with their friends and fellow competitors.

Important information for overseas entrants: Due to potential limitations, we may be unable to ship certain prizes internationally if the associated costs exceed our budget. In such cases, we will work with the entrant to find a suitable alternative, or the entrant may choose to cover the additional expenses.

How to Enter

1. Register yourself on this site via the Home page, Enter your beer(s) into the correct category and pay the fee via PayPal using the My Info and Entries Info page of this site. For help selecting a category see the BJCP Style Guidelines 2021.  The Judges and organisers will not reclassify entries so please choose styles carefully. Contact Competition Organisers if you need guidance.
2. We reserve the right to limit the number of entries to a single sub-style to 15
3. The last date for payment is 20th February 2027
4. The last date for entry editing is 7th March 2027.
5. The last date for judge/steward registration is 19th March 2027.
6. Label each of your beers as per the Bottle Acceptance Rules on the Entry Info page of this site.
7. Package your entries and then drop off or ship your entry to the drop-off location at Pillars Brewery.
8. Make sure the parcel is clearly marked as "FAO LAGER THAN LIFE", even if dropping off in person. If possible please use some red tape on the corners of the parcel to make an identification easier.
9. Drop at, or ship to, the designated site to arrive NO EARLIER than 12th March 2027 and NO LATER than 19th March 2027 at 6 PM. Due to organisational reasons, we won't be accepting entries on the day of the competition.
10. Come along in person on Saturday 20th March 2027 from 2 pm to sample beers with your fellow homebrewers and friends. 

Style and Award Categories

Styles will be grouped to form judging flights of similar styles or strengths of beers and to form roughly equal numbers on each table where possible. Beers will be judged against the style guideline under which they were entered. The best beers withing each flight will be judged against eachother to establish top 3 on the table (Judges can decide to reduce number of placing beers or add honourable mentions).

The 1st place entry in each group will advance to the Best of Show (BOS) round.

The overall winner prize will be announced shortly.

The competitions are non-profit. Funds from the competition are used to run the competition itself, including food provision for volunteers at the event. A small amount may be used to support the training of judges (for example to purchase off-flavour kits). Everything else is fed back as prizes or used to pay for up-front costs for the next competition. All the organisers and judges volunteer their time freely to support the homebrewing community.

Massive thanks to Alex Allen who prepared our fantastic competition poster!

Follow us

Facebook: London Amateur Brewers & LAB Competitions

Instagram: London Amateur Brewers & LAB Competitions

We will only use your personal data for the purpose of running the competition and will delete all personal data 12 months after the competition ends. A list of winners will be available on social media in perpetuity.

Entry Acceptance Rules

Beers fermented using lager yeast exclusively (bottom-fermenting) are accepted.

Additionally, we welcome entries for Kölsch and Altbier. These styles are eligible due to their traditional cold-conditioning (lagering) process.

Pressure fermentation is allowed as long as you use bottom-fermenting yeast.

The volume required (per entry) for judging and festival: 3 or 4 bottles/cans with volume at least 330ml and no bigger than 500ml.

One bottle/can will be judged in the first round. The second bottle/can will be used during mini-BOS judging and the the third fresh bottle will be judged if the beer progresses to Best of Show.

If you want to make sure that youe beer is available for tasting during the festival we recommend sending 4 bottles.

All remaining bottles will be available for sampling after the event. If attending, please feel free to bring further samples for sampling and/or swapping with other attendees. Any extra bottles may be labelled as you wish.

Empty or unopened bottles will not be returned. They can be collected at the end of the event, from 5 PM. If not collected or consumed at the event, they become organiser-rewards.

Beer labels (IMPORTANT!)

Print out an entry label from this site and then attach it to each bottle WITH CLEAR SELLOTAPE only. 

No other label or identifiable information should be present anywhere on the bottle/can, including the cap. All requisite paperwork must be submitted with each entry and can be printed directly from this website. Any entry not fulfilling these criteria will be disqualified and won't be judged.

Be meticulous about noting any special ingredients that must be specified on the entry system. Failure to note such ingredients may impact the judges' scoring of your entry.

For any queries, in the first instance contact the Competition Organisers

BJCP 2021 / 2025 / 2026 Judging Styles

Indicates that the style's entry limit has been reached and no more entries of that style will be accepted.

Entry Delivery

Entry bottles accepted at our drop-off locations Friday 12 March, 2027 10:00, GMT — Friday 19 March, 2027 19:00, GMT.

Please pay attention to the notes provided for each drop-off location. There could be earlier deadlines for some drop-off locations listed, particular hours when entries are accepted, certain individuals to leave your entries with, etc. All entrants are responsible for reading the information provided by the organizers for each drop-off location.

Pillars Brewery, FAO Lager Than Life
Unit 2 Ravenswood Industrial Estate, Shernhall Street, Walthamstow, E17 9HQ
+44 (0) 20 8521 5552

Shipping Info

Entry bottles accepted at our shipping location Friday 12 March, 2027 10:00, GMT — Friday 19 March, 2027 19:00, GMT.

Ship entries to:

FAO: Lager Than Life, Pillars Brewery
Unit 2, Ravenswood Industrial Estate, Walthamstow, E17 9HQ

Packing and Shipping

Carefully pack your entries in a sturdy box. Line the inside of your carton with a plastic bin liner. Partition and pack each bottle with adequate, if possible, sustainable packaging material. Please do not over pack!

Make sure the parcel is clearly marked as "FAO LAGER THAN LIFE", even if dropping off in person. If possible please use some red tape on the corners of the parcel to make an identification easier.

Write clearly: Fragile. This Side Up. on the package.

Every reasonable effort will be made to contact entrants whose bottles have broken in transit to make arrangements for sending replacement bottles.

Judging Sessions

Lager Than Life
Saturday 20 March, 2027 09:30, GMT

Best of Show

The overall winner prize will be announced shortly.

BEST OF SHOW Prizes
(On top of the Table winner prizes)

Overall LTL winner:
The overall winner of LTL 2027 will get a ...TBC

A beautiful, engraved tankard sponsored by London Amateur Brewers.

2nd Place in BOS
TBC

3rd Place in BOS
TBC

Awards

The awards ceremony will take place once judging is completed.

Places will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd beer in each category/table with a rosette and a prize.

Important information for overseas entrants:

Due to potential limitations, we may be unable to ship certain prizes internationally if the associated costs exceed our budget. In such cases, we will work with the entrant to find a suitable alternative, or the entrant may choose to cover the additional expenses.

When shipping abroad we don't have a control over duty and tax regulations or courier rules in the destination country, so any additional costs imposed locally are responsibility of the entrant.

Table/Category top 3 prizes:

1st Place
TBC

2nd Place
TBC

3rd Place
TBC

Results will be posted to the competition website after the ceremony concludes.

Feedback sheets will be uploaded to the competition website within a few days after the competition.

Awards Ceremony

Pillars Brewery
Unit 2, Ravenswood Industrial Estate, Walthamstow, E17 9HQ
Saturday 20 March, 2027 18:00, GMT