Bière de Rock is organized and run by the Rock Hoppers Brew Club, founded in Castle Rock, Colorado in 2008.

Virtual Only For 2026

Due to various scheduling venue difficulties and the uncertain future of the Brew Hut in Aurora, our planned judging location, we are pivoting this year to virtual-only initial judging sessions with a single, in-person Best of Show round at Alidade Brewing in Castle Rock. This is for 2026 only.

Distributed Judging

This year, we’re implementing a 100% “distributed” judging model that will take place over a period of two weeks instead of a single judging day.

Judges will be assigned to tables and paired up as usual, but actual judging will not take place in a central location on a designated date. Instead, judge pairs will decide amongst themselves when they will meet to evaluate the entries they are assigned. This can take place over a few sessions during the two-week judging window.

We recommend that judging sessions be virtual (via Zoom, Google Meet, WebEx, Facebook Messenger Rooms, Facetime, etc.).

The judging window begins January 19 and will continue through January 31, 2026.

Centralized Pick-up of Entries to Judge

Judges will be responsible to pick up their assigned entry bottles at a centralized location at designated days and times. The Brew Hut has again graciously agreed to serve as our distribution center this year.

Entries assigned to each judge will be available for pick-up on January 19-23, 2026 during regular business hours. Judges that aren’t able to pick up during these times should arrange for another party to pick up the entries in their stead.

So, instead of committing to judge at a central location on a single day for a number of hours, judges only need commit to getting to a central location for a few minutes to grab their entries.

Once judging assignments have been determined, the Judge Coordinator will provide further details.

Unfortunately, due to cost and time, entries cannot be shipped to judges.

Electronic Scoresheets

As we have for the past few years, Bière de Rock will use electronic scoresheets exclusively for 2026. Each judge will submit an electronic scoresheet for each entry they are assigned to evaluate via the Bière de Rock website’s Judging Dashboard. Therefore, it is essential that all judges have access to an electronic device with a reliable internet connection and up-to-date browser to record their evaluations.

See below for some virtual judging info and tips.

General

All tables will have a single person designated as Head Judge, the ranking judge at the table. The Head Judge will:

• Verify that all consensus scores entered by judges match.
• Sign off on all consensus scores.
• Input the placing entries at the table via their Judging Dashboard.

Judges will work in pairs. Unranked or “pending rank” judges at the table will be paired with a ranked judge to conform to BJCP rules. The ranking judge in each pair is the lead judge.

For virtual sessions, judges will have their own bottle of each entry for evaluation purposes. However, please note that two different bottles may mean two entirely different overall sensory impressions. Judges must keep this in mind when discussing their entry's contents vs. their judging partner's.

• In the case that one judge is unable to evaluate an entry due to packaging issues, contamination, mishandling, etc., the consensus score should default to the judge who was able to evaluate the beer as normal (since, unfortunately, opening of another bottle is not possible in these instances).
• If both bottles are not able to be evaluated, the Head Judge at the table must inform the Judge Coordinator and/or the Organizer.

Placing Entries

Judges will determine first, second, or third places for each table. There will be no fourth place awards. Honorable Mention can be awarded at the judges' collective discretion. Medals are awarded for first, second, or third places only.

Best of Show

The first place beers from each table will advance to the Best of Show round. If judges feel strongly that more than one of the placing entries move on to the Best of Show round, they must notify the competition organizer and Judge Coordinator. The same procedure applies if judges feel that they do not wish to advance any entries to the BOS round.

A panel of at least three judges, who have attained the BJCP rank of Certified or higher or Certified Cicerone or higher, will evaluate each beer to determine the best of show winner, the first runner-up, and the second runner-up. If you have attained such a rank and do not have any first place entries, you may be asked to serve on the panel.

Pro-Am or Scale-up Judging

The professional brewer(s) or brewery representative(s) from participating breweries will have access to all of the Best of Show round entries to evaluate. For those choosing a Pro-Am, they will select one beer based upon their own criteria for their entry into the Great American Beer Festival.

Judging virtually has both advantages and disadvantages over traditional in-person judging. Virtual judging allows for one or more sessions where a team judges evaluate their assigned entries at a time that suits their schedule during the judging session window. This allows for maximum flexibility – judge teams decide when (and in some cases where) they will evaluate the set of entries they've been assigned.

Virtual is the Way to Go

Bière de Rock's organizers and the Rock Hoppers Brew Club recommend that all judging sessions take place virtually using one or more of the readily available video-based web conferencing solutions available (Zoom, Google Meet, WebEx, Facebook Messenger Rooms, Facetime, etc.).

There may be some technological hurdles to overcome, so judges should plan extra time to get used to whichever platform they decide to use.

Synchronous is the Other Way to Go

Bière de Rock's organizers are also requiring that judges evaluate each entry synchronously as is practiced in traditional judging. This allows for real-time discussion of the entry's strengths and weaknesses to arrive at a consensus score before moving on to the next.

Opt for Video

It is highly recommended that judge teams opt for a communication tool that incorporates video into the equation. Video helps to soften the distance barrier by providing judges simulated face-to-face communication and much of its associated nuances. Synchronous judging can be accomplished via an audio-only medium, but video more effectively promotes the team-based approach that judging is based upon.

The Familiar in the New Methodology

Once judges get acclimated to judging in a virtual environment, the procedures and practices are very much the same as traditional, in-person judging. Judges inspect their respective bottles, open them, pour a 1-3 oz sample, and proceed the evaluation as normal, either discussing along the way or taking notes and discussing at the end.