Thank you for your interest in the Gold Coast Amateur Brewing Competition organized by GoldCLUB, Judging held at Hound & Stag Brewing Co.

You only need to register your information once and can return to this site to enter more brews or edit the brews you've entered. You can even pay your entry fees online if you wish.

Entry Registration is Open

86 entries have been added to the system as of 7:07 AM, AEST, Monday 7 July, 2025.

34 paid entries are in the system as of 7:07 AM, AEST, Monday 7 July, 2025.

To add your entries into the system, please proceed through the registration process or log in if you already have an account.

Judge and Steward Registration is Open

If you have not registered and are willing to be a volunteer, please register.

If you have registered, log in and then choose Edit Account from the My Account menu indicated by the icon on the top menu.

Rules

The Gold Coast Amateur Brewing Competition is BJCP sanctioned and open to any amateur homebrewer age 18 or older.

All mailed entries must be received at the mailing location by the shipping deadline - please allow for shipping time.

All entries will be picked up from drop-off locations the day of the drop-off deadline.

All entries must be handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public, and made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers (i.e., no use of commercial facilities or Brew on Premises operations, supplies, etc.).

Each entrant is limited to 6 beers in total.

Bottles will not be returned to entrants.   Entry fee is $8 / entry + PayPal fees.  Fees must be paid before the entry close off time or entries will be disqualified.

The competition organizers are not responsible for mis-categorized entries, mailed entries that are not received by the entry deadline, or entries that arrived damaged.

Qualified judging of all entries is the primary goal of our event. Judges will evaluate and score each entry. The average of the scores will rank each entry in its category. Each flight will have at least one BJCP judge.

Brewers are not limited to one entry in each category but may only enter each style once, limited to 6 total entries.

The competition committee reserves the right to combine categories based on number of entries. All possible effort will be made to combine similar styles. All brews in combined categories will be judged according to the style they were originally entered in.

The Best of Show judging will be determined by a Best of Show panel based on a second judging of the top winners.

2025 Prizes

Champion Brewer
Collaboration Brew with Hound & Stag

Champion Beer
Ss Brewtech Brew Bucket 2.0 courtesy of Newera Brewing

Category/Table Winners
Lots of prizes up for grabs, including:

• Sack of Grain - Donated by Cryer
• INKBIRD Temperature Controllers
• Yeast from Bluestone Yeast Co.
• HPA Hop Packs
• Merch Packs

About the Competition

The GoldCLUB are the proud organisers of the Gold Coast Amateur Brewing Competition (GCABC) which first ran in 2017.  In 2019, the competition received over 220 entries from local and regional home brewers.  The GoldCLUB is a local group of passionate home brewers (and some professional brewers) that have been meeting since 2012 to share our love of home brewing and quality beer.

The GoldCLUB meets on the second Friday of every month to share home brew beers, starting from 6PM.  We also hold several social events, camping trips, and education nights throughout the year.  Please join our Facebook group for further details on our upcoming events.

Please share our GCABC flyer on social media to spread the word about the competition. Download - GCABC Flyer

Results and Scoresheets

Competition results and score sheets will be available online at the conclusion of the competition.  Previous year's results are available on the GCABC Results page.  Score sheets are NOT sent to entrants via. postal mail, these are available online only.

Categories

The following categories are eligible for entry as shown within the Judging Styles.  This is a subset of the BJCP 2021 style guideline categories and styles.  Please follow the latest BJCP 2021 guidelines.

Drop-off Locations

If you wish to ship your entries via. postal mail then please contact the competition organiser. Details for dropping beers off are available within the Drop-off Locations section.  Date and times for drop-off and shipping beers are strict and can not be received before or after the stated times for each location.  Please note that dates and times may vary depending on each location.

FAQ - Common Questions

Reference: http://dev.bjcp.org/newsletter/faqs-1-sour-fruit-beers-specialty-ipas-gruit-and-english-brown/

Q: Should I enter a fruited Berliner Weisse into Wild Specialty Beer or as a Fruit Beer?
A: A fruited Berliner Weisse should be entered as a Fruit Beer because it is a classic style with fruit added. Some brewers and judges have been confused by language in the guidelines, but BJCP President Gordon Strong clarified the intent of the Fruit Beer and American Wild Ale guidelines in a post on the BJCP Members Forum. His post can also be accessed here.

Q: If I add fruit or another special ingredient to an IPA, should I enter it as a Specialty IPA?
A: No. Your entry should go into one of the appropriate specialty beer categories. An IPA with fruit would be a Fruit Beer. An IPA with chilies should be entered as Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer. Specialty IPA entries should be reserved for widely accepted IPA modifications that usually involve more than just adding one specialty ingredient.

One way to think about this would is to think about what a competition entry write-up for a Grapefruit IPA would look like. It would be something like “American IPA with Grapefruit.” That’s not a new style, it’s a classic style with fruit added, so it should be entered as a Fruit Beer (this is the same logic used for the fruited Berliner Weiss example above). Most of the currently declared Specialty IPAs are style hybrids that generally go beyond taking a classic style IPA and adding a single special ingredient. Rye IPA is an exception, but Rye IPA is a clearly defined Specialty IPA style that is brewed frequently by both commercial and home brewers.

Entry Acceptance Rules

Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 1

Each entry will be required to submit one (1) x 500mL or 750mL capped bottle or corked bottle that are void of all identifying information, including labels and embossing. Printed caps are allowed, but must be blacked out completely.  Entry fee is $8 / entry + PayPal fees.

Total entry numbers are determined by the competition organiser and on a first in best dressed policy.  The competition organiser reserves the right to close off category and sub-styles if too many entries for a practical judging day are submitted.  Entry limits are a maximum of 1 entry per entrant per sub-style, for a total of 6 maximum entries.

750mL brown PET bottles are preferred; however, brown and green glass will be accepted. Swing top bottles will likewise be accepted as well as corked bottles and aluminium cans.  Bottles smaller than 500mL will not be accepted and judged, entry fees will be forfeited for such entries.

Bottles will not be returned to contest entrants.

All requisite paperwork must be submitted with each entry and can be printed directly from this website. Entry paperwork should be attached to bottles using an elastic band.

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

Competition Official

You can send an email to any of the following individuals via Contact.

• Gold Coast Amateur Brewing Competition — -

Sponsors

GoldCLUB is proud to have the following sponsors for the Gold Coast Amateur Brewing Competition.

Hound And Stag Brewing Co

13 Wrights Pl, Arundel QLD

INKBIRD

 

Bluestone Yeast

 

Border Brewing Supplies

 

Cryer Malt

 

Hop Products Australia

 

Newera Brewing