The 10th Annual New York International Beer Competition is Going Virtual!

Due to the current conditions in New York, we have made the decision to hold the 10th Annual New York International Beer Competition in a virtual format.

For the past decade, the NYIBC has been a day for some of the top minds in the New York area beverage industry to gather together and take a deep dive into the world of beer. Although we (and our judges) look forward to this day every year, we do not believe it is safe to execute the competition in the same way that it has been done in the past. Transitioning to a virtual tasting format is the best way to keep our judges safe while they enjoy this year’s crop of excellent beer entries. The judges will miss being around their fellow beer trade buyers and “geeking out” over an all-day tasting of beer, ciders and mead, but we are all grateful that we can still proceed with the competition in this new format. 

How Does a Virtual Beer Competition Work?

• Producers, Importers and Distributors will still ship the samples to the Western Carriers Location listed on our website and submission forms.
• Our staff will work in two-person teams in our warehouse to sort the submissions into their proper categories, panels, and sequences.
• We will apply a generic label to your submission samples that displays only the 4-digit randomized SKU assigned upon submission. This ensures that our blind tasting rules are preserved in this new virtual format.
• Our staff will personally deliver the samples to our trade buyer judges’ homes or businesses over the weekend of February 20-21st.
• The judges will have several days to blind taste the samples at their own pace and then submit their notes and ratings to Head Judge Adam Levy.

We Have Experience With Virtual Competitions

The NYIBC is part of the International Beverage Competitions Group. After the first quarter of 2020, we transitioned all of our competitions to a virtual format, starting with the 11th Annual New York International Spirits Competition. See how we did it:

Meet Our Judges: 

Our judges are at the heart of what makes our competition so unique. We work with real trade buyers from the NYC Metro Area because we believe that trade buyers have the best knowledge of what consumers actually want. Their day to day experiences of buying and selling beer, mead, and cider, mean that their expertise is truly valuable to both industry pros and consumers alike. Hear what our judges have to say about our competition:

Enter the Competition

We are still excited to be holding the New York International Beer Competition virtually and are looking forward to judging your beer, cider and mead in 2021!