Japan has traditionally performed well on the world’s stage when it comes to beer competitions. That has been the case especially with the World Beer Awards, which has been giving out best-of-category awards since 2007. Many consumers in Japan may even recognize the award seals that more than a few Japanese breweries proudly display on their winning beer labels, social media posts, and marketing materials. This year’s competition is open for entries and we encourage breweries to take the challenge. Why? Read on…
This is a blind tasting competition with rigorous standards. In the first round (which takes place at the country level), judges choose Japan’s best for each style in ten different categories. For example, there are categories like “Dark Beer”, “IPA”, “Lager”, and “Specialty Beer”. Each of these categories is further divided into styles; for the IPA, they include the Imperial/Double-IPA, Session, American-style, English-style, etc. Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded. From there, country style winners compete to become the “World’s Best Style”. Then, in a fun but high-stakes free-for-all, all the best style winners in each category compete for the title of “World’s Best”.
Brewers of course receive evaluations from a panel of global judges. Winners of course receive the recognition they are due, which includes a listing on the worldbeerawards.com website and the right to proudly bear the award seal on beers and marketing material. As for the latte, WBA provides custom promotional materials for the breweries. A few of Japan’s nationally recognized breweries that have fared well in this competition for over a decade include Minoh Beer and Swan Lake, though there have been many others in recent years.
The deadline for submitting the entry paperwork is coming up on May 26th. The shipping deadline is June 9th, with winners announced in August. If you’re a brewer or brewery with questions or interest, there is on-the-ground-support in Japan via Whisky Magazine Japan, which can be reached at: info@whiskymag.jp For more general information (in English), please visit: worldbeerawards.com And for information on last year’s competition (in Japanese), please visit: https://whiskymag.jp/wba2025/
Good luck, brewers of Japan!
Hideki Iwata of Daisen-G beer, a frequent winner of WBA
