Breweries/Cideries must meet each of the following conditions at the time of registration:

Your brewery or cidery must be commercially operating and hold all licenses and permits required to produce beer or cider for sale in your country or jurisdiction.

Your brewery or cidery currently has at least one beer or cider that is commercially available for sale at retail at the time of application.

Businesses in planning, homebrewers and/or others not meeting these criteria are not eligible to enter.

U.S. Breweries and Cidermakers Only: Your company must have current approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to produce beer or cider, as applicable.

Entrants who register for World Beer or Cider Cup and do not meet all the criteria above are subject to disqualification without further notice or refund of registration/entry fees.*

*Brewers Association retains sole discretion to determine eligibility for competition at the World Beer Cup.

The World Cider Cup Champion Cidery awards honor the top-performing cidery from each qualifying country, based on awards earned during that year’s World Cider Cup competition. By recognizing exceptional performance on a national level, the awards highlight the international presence of quality and diversity across the global cider community.

To qualify for a Champion Cidery award, the following criteria must be met:

Country Eligibility: A country must have at least 40 entries in that year’s World Cider Cup competition.

Cidery Eligibility: A cidery must earn at least two World Cider Cup awards (gold, silver, or bronze).

Award Determination: Eligible cideries are ranked using a points-based system, with six (6) points awarded for gold, five (5) for silver, and four (4) for bronze. The cidery earning the highest total points within each qualifying country is named its Champion Cidery.

Tiebreakers: In the event of a tie, established competition tiebreaker criteria will determine the winner.

In order for an entry to be eligible, your company must first meet all of the above brewery or cidermaker eligibility requirements. If your business does not meet all of the requirements, your entries are not eligible for entry.

All entries must be commercially available for sale at retail on or before February 16, 2027 and possess the characteristics generally attributed to and conforming to the consumer understanding of “beer” or “cider”.

Eligible

For beers, At least 51% of the fermentable carbohydrates must be derived from malted grains. Beverages made with malt substitutes, honey, fruit or fruit juices, or anything other than malted grains as the majority of fermentable sugars are not eligible to participate.

Beer entries must contain hops. Exceptions to this include gruit or other historical beer styles that traditionally use other herbs or spices (such as heather, myrtle, etc).

For cider, the base product must be apples, pears, or a combination of the two. Products made from the fermentation of any other fruits would not be eligible. 

U.S.-based producers: must comply with all U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau regulations, including formula/ingredient approval requirements (as stated in Title 27, Chapter 1, Part 25, Subpart F, §25.55 of the Federal Code of Regulations).

Entries must comply with the Brewers Association Advertising & Marketing Code. Entries not in compliance will be disqualified immediately. The entry will not be judged, and no refund will be given.

Not eligible

Mead, spirits, seltzers, hard soda, RTD, and flavored malt beverages (see first and second bullet point in “eligible” section) are not eligible to be entered in the World Beer Cup.

Any entries that contain any substances not authorized for use in human food, or which are made with ingredients that contain such substances, or which are made in contact with materials not authorized as food contact materials, all in accordance with the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act as interpreted and administered by FDA. Common examples of these ingredients include, but are not limited to: Tonka Beans (Coumarin), Amburana Wood (Coumarin), Motherwort, Sassafras (Safrole), Wormwood/Yarrow/Mugwort (Thujone), Cannabis. Very rare exceptions may occasionally be made and must get explicit competition approval to be eligible.

Many other ingredients are not considered safe for food and beverage contact by FDA. Brewers are responsible for ensuring their entries comply with all food safety requirements. When asked, brewers must be able to provide an approved Statement of Process from TTB showing the use of any ingredient is approved and possible lab analysis showing beer does not contain any trace of unauthorized compounds

Entries must comply with the Brewers Association Advertising & Marketing Code. Entries not in compliance will be disqualified immediately. The entry will not be judged, and no refund will be given.

There is currently no limit on the number of entries a producer may enter

Beverages may not be “double-entered” into the competition – each individual beverage may only be entered and judged in one competition category.

The same product may not be renamed and entered in multiple categories

Brands produced at multiple locations may only be entered by ONE location. This includes brands made at various locations within a chain of stores or breweries/cidermakers, by producers with related names or aligned marketing strategies, or by multiple producers that have collaborated on a brand.

Please note: Our goal is to accommodate as many breweries/ cideries as possible in an effort to host a robust competition; if demand for the competition exceeds capacity, breweries and cideries with a higher number of entries may be asked to reduce their entry count. Alternatively, if there is additional available competition space after registration closes, we may allow breweries and cideries to enter more beverages, beyond the original entry cap.