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Rules

11/30/2022 IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Please note the entry limits have been changed for the amateur mead/beer sites to 12 total entries across mead and beer.  This will be manually cross checked to confirm no single entrant exceeds this maximum.   If you exceed this limit you will be asked to reduce your entry count to 12 total or have entries randomly removed to the 12 limit by the competition organizers. 

Competition total maximums for Beer will remain 500 entries, and meads will be increased to 200 total entries to allow for similar table entry counts across both sites.  

This is the Operation Fermentation Amateur Mead Entry Site only. 

To Enter your Beers into Operation Fermentation See Below
Amateur Beer: CLICK HERE
Professional Meadmakers: CLICK HERE

Operation Fermentation is rated as the 3rd best competition in the USA by the Master Homebrewer Program.  Entry into this competition as competitive as the event itself due to the highly coveted Gold Medal Goblets.  Entry typically fills in less than 2 hours after registration open so mark your calendars, set an alarm and do not delay registering.  You registration is not complete and your slots not held until your have paid for your entries.  

  • This competition is open to all homebrewers.
  • The competition is restricted to non-commercial and home-brewed beers and meads. "Homebrewed" means that entrants cannot brew the beer using any equipment from a production brewery/meadery or produced using ingredients provided by a professional brewer/brewery/meadery/cidery/winery.
  • Homebrewers who have applied for a business license for a brewery/meadery, or currently own a license for production of beer/wine/cider/mead are not qualified to enter as a homebrewer. The organizers encourage those who are disqualified to enter as Homebrewers to enter the Professional competition.
  • 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.
  • The competition organizers reserve the right to restructure awards as needed depending upon the quantity and quality of entries.
  • Minimum score requirements for medalling:
    • 27 for bronze, 30 for silver, 33 for gold minimum
  • See additional Rules in the "Info" Link above

Every first place winner from every category will receive a custom goblet with the Operation Fermentation IX and Texas Mead Cup 2023 logos embossed and the description of the beer/mead category.

Opferm Goblet Award

 

The competition will be organized into the following medaling tables

Table 1 - Dry Traditional Mead

Table 2 - Semi Sweet Traditional Mead

Table 3 - Sweet Traditional Mead

Table 4 - Cyser

Table 5 - Pyment

Table 6 - Berry Mead

Table 7 - Stone Fruit Mead

Table 8 - Melomel

Table 9 - Fruit and Spice Mead

Table 10 - Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Mead

Table 11 - Braggot

Table 12 - Historical Mead

Table 13 - Experimental Mead

Table 14 - Texas Themed Mead (CLICK HERE for style Guidelines)

Note: Table 14 does not qualify for Best of Show consideration

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BJCP 2015 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.

M1A Dry Mead M1B Semi-Sweet Mead M1C Sweet Mead
M2A Cyser M2B Pyment M2C Berry Mead
M2D Stone Fruit Mead M2E Melomel M3A Fruit and Spice Mead
M3B Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Mead M4A Braggot M4B Historical Mead
M4C Experimental Mead M5A Texas Inspired Mead (Custom Style)  

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Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 4

Judging Sessions and Dates

Entry Modification Deadline
Wednesday, January 4, 2023 12:00 AM, CST

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Best of Show

Best of Show will be awarded for best beer, and best mead.

The winner of the following categories will earn the right to brew with the sponsoring breweries/meaderies (Pro-Am):

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Awards

Homebrewing Conference and Awards Ceremony is February 25th.  Link for attending as a Temporary Member is forthcoming

AWARD CEREMONY TIME IS TBD

The awards ceremony will take place once judging is completed.

Places will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category/table.

The 1st place entry in each category will advance to the Best of Show (BOS) round with a single, overall Best of Show beer selected.  The same philosophy applies for all Mead categories

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Awards Ceremony

Aloft Houston Katy Mills
25330 Kingsland Blvd, Katy, TX 77494
Saturday, February 25, 2023 10:00 PM, CST

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Circuit Qualification

This competition earns medalling brewers points towards the 2023 Circuit of America

 

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This competition is the first competition within the Lone Star Circuit

 

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