Account Registration
You can create your account today through Sunday 9 March, 2025 18:00, GMT.
Judges and stewards may register now through Saturday 22 March, 2025 06:00, GMT.
Entry Registration
Entry registration is closed.
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BJCP 2021 Judging Styles
If a style's name is hyperlinked, it has specific entry requirements. Select or tap on the name to view the subcategory's requirements.
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Entry Acceptance Rules
Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 3
Only beers fermented using lager yeast exclusively (bottom-fermenting) are accepted.
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. A second, fresh, bottle will be judged if the beer progresses to Best of Show.
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
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Entry Delivery
Entry bottles accepted at our drop-off locations Friday 14 March, 2025 10:00, GMT — Friday 21 March, 2025 18:00, 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
Unit 2 Ravenswood Industrial Estate, Shernhall Street, Walthamstow, E17 9HQ
+44 (0) 20 8521 5552
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Shipping Info
Entry bottles accepted at our shipping location Friday 14 March, 2025 10:00, GMT — Friday 21 March, 2025 18:00, 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!
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.
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Judging Sessions
Lager Than Life 2025
Saturday 22 March, 2025 09:00, GMT
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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 2025 will get a fantastic opportunity to experience and help during a brewday at The Home of Lager in Walthamstow.
2nd Place in BOS
2nd prize is a brewery tour and tasting
3rd Place in BOS
3rd prize is a 24 pack of brewery fresh Pillars beers
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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.
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.
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Awards Ceremony
Pillars Brewery
Unit 2, Ravenswood Industrial Estate, Walthamstow, E17 9HQ
Saturday 22 March, 2025 17:00, GMT
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A strong, rich, and very malty German lager that can have both pale and dark variants. The darker versions have more richly-developed, deeper malt flavors, while the paler versions have slightly more hops and dryness.
Entry Info: The entrant select specify whether the entry is a pale or a dark variant.
An unfiltered, unpasteurized, fully-attenuated German lager traditionally served from lagering vessels. May be a little richer, more robust, and rustic than the base styles. A fresh beer without fermentation defects associated with young, green (unfinished) beer.
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the base style: German Pils, Munich Helles, Märzen, or Munich Dunkel.
A pleasant integration of fruit with beer, but still recognizable as beer. The fruit character should be evident but in balance with the beer, not so forward as to suggest an artificial product.
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the type(s) of fruit used. Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items. Fruit Beers based on a Classic Style should be entered in this style, except Lambic
A tasteful union of fruit, spice, and beer, but still recognizable as beer. The fruit and spice character should each be evident but in balance with the beer, not so forward as to suggest an artificial product. Use the definitions of Fruit in the preamble to Category 29 and Spice in the preamble to Category 30; any combination of ingredients valid in Styles 29A and 30A are allowable in this category. For this style, the word
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the type of fruit, and the type of SHV used; individual SHV ingredients do not need to be specified if a well-known blend of spices is used (e.g., apple pie spice). Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
A appealing combination of fruit, sugar, and beer, but still recognizable as a beer. The fruit and sugar character should both be evident but in balance with the beer, not so forward as to suggest an artificial product. A Specialty Fruit Beer is a Fruit Beer with some additional ingredients, such as fermentable sugars (e.g., honey, brown sugar, invert sugar), sweeteners (e.g., lactose), adjuncts, alternative grains, or other special ingredients added, or some additional process applied. A Specialty Fruit Beer can use any style within the Fruit Beer category as a base style (currently, 29A, 29B, or 29D).
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the type of fruit used. The entrant MUST specify the type of additional ingredient (per the introduction) or special process employed. Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
An appealing fusion of spices, herbs, or vegetables (SHVs) and beer, but still recognizable as beer. The SHV character should be evident but in balance with the beer, not so forward as to suggest an artificial product. Often called Spice Beer, regardless of whether spices, herbs, or vegetables are used.
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the type of spices, herbs, or vegetables used, but individual ingredients do not need to be specified if a well-known spice blend is used (e.g., apple pie spice, curry powder, chili powder). Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
A stronger, darker, spiced beer that often has a rich body and warming finish suggesting a good accompaniment for the cold winter season. Winter Seasonal Beers are beers that suggest cold weather and the Christmas holiday season, and may include holiday spices, specialty sugars, and other products that are reminiscent of the festive season.
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the type of spices, sugars, fruits, or additional fermentables used; individual ingredients do not need to be specified if a well-known blend of spices is used (e.g., mulling spice). Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
An appealing combination of spices, herbs, or vegetables (SHVs), sugars, and beer, but still recognizable as beer. The SHV and sugar character should both be evident but in balance with the beer, not so forward as to suggest an artificial product. A Specialty Spice Beer is a 30A Spice, Herb, or Vegetable (SHV) Beer with some additional ingredients, such as fermentable sugars (e.g., honey, brown sugar, invert sugar, maple syrup), sweeteners (e.g., lactose), adjuncts, alternative grains, or other special ingredients added, or some additional process applied. 30B Autumn and 30C Winter Seasonal Beers already allow additional ingredients, and should not be used as a base in this style.
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the type of SHVs used, but individual ingredients do not need to be specified if a well-known spice blend is used (e.g., apple pie spice, curry powder, chili powder). The entrant MUST specify the type of additional ingredient (per the introduction) or special process employed. Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
A base beer enhanced by or featuring the character of additional grains. The specific character depends greatly on the added grains. An Alternative Grain Beer is a standard beer (Classic Style or not) with additional or non-standard brewing grains (e.g., rye, oats, buckwheat, spelt, millet, sorghum, rice) added or used exclusively. Gluten-free (GF) beers made from completely gluten-free ingredients may be entered here, while GF beers using process-based gluten removal should be entered in their respective base style categories.
Entry Info: he entrant MUST specify the type of alternative grain used. Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
A well-balanced fusion of the malt and hops of the base beer style with a pleasant and agreeable smoke character. Intended for smoked versions of Classic Style beers, except if the Classic Style beer has smoke as an inherent part of its definition (of course, that beer should be entered in its base style, such as Rauchbier).
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify a Base Style. The entrant MUST specify the type of wood or smoke if a varietal smoke character is noticeable.
A well-balanced fusion of the malt and hops of the base specialty beer style with a pleasant and agreeable smoke character. A Specialty Smoked Beer is either a smoked beer based on something other than a Classic Style (a Specialty-Type style, or a broad style family such as Porter rather than a specific style), OR any type of smoked beer with additional specialty ingredients (fruits, vegetables, spices) or processes employed that transform the beer into something more unique.
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the type of wood or smoke if a varietal smoke character is noticeable. The entrant MUST specify the additional ingredients or processes that make this a specialty smoked beer. Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a base style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
A pleasant enhancement of the base beer style with the characteristics from aging in contact with wood. The best examples will be smooth, flavorful, well-balanced, and well-aged. This style is intended for beer aged in wood without added alcohol character from previous use of the barrel. Bourbon-barrel or other beers with an added alcohol character should be entered as 33B Specialty Wood-Aged Beer. This category should not be used for base styles where wood-aging is a fundamental requirement for the style (e.g., Flanders Red, Lambic). Beers made using either limited wood aging or products that only provide a subtle background character may be entered in the base beer style categories as long as the wood character isn
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the type of wood used and the toast or char level (if used). If an unusual varietal wood is used, the entrant MUST supply a brief description of the sensory aspects the wood adds to beer. Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
An elevation of the base beer style with characteristics from aging in contact with wood, including alcoholic products previously in contact with the wood. The best examples will be smooth, flavorful, well-balanced, and well-aged. This style is intended for beer aged in wood with added alcohol character from previous use of the barrel. Bourbon-barrel or other similar beers should be entered here.
Entry Info: The entrant MUST specify the additional alcohol character, with information about the barrel if relevant to the finished flavor profile. If an unusual wood or ingredient has been used, the entrant MUST supply a brief description of the sensory aspects the ingredients add to the beer. Entrant MUST specify a description of the beer, identifying either a Base Style or the ingredients, specs, or target character of the beer. A general description of the special nature of the beer can cover all the required items.
Entry Info: Entries must state the base BJCP style, strength, alternative sugar/grain (if used), any additional ingredients or character (if used, eg. spice, herb, vegetable, fruit, wood, smoke).