Coal Country Brewers Cup coming up soon

Coming up on March 28, 2026, in Charleston, WV, is the area’s largest homebrew competition: Coal Country Brewers Cup 2026. The event will recognize the region’s best porters and stouts made by amateur homebrewers.

Are you a Coal Country region homebrewer who brews a good stout or porter? You should enter enter the Coal Country Brewers Cup competition. You still have time to brew a beer if you get moving. Entries are accepted through Saturday, March 21, 2026. Follow this link to find entry instructions.

This year, the Kanawha Valley Homebrew Club (KVHC) is hosting the competition. KVHC President Chris Butler says, “Coal Country Cup allows brewers across the region to interact and exchange ideas. I think that’s one of the key pieces of it.”

The event’s competition coordinator, Eric Weiss, says he expects somewhere around 45 entries, maybe more, to compete for medals in three competition categories. The three categories include Porter, Stout, and Specialty. Entered beers must be labeled with their official beer style according to Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) 2021 guidelines.

Brewers must choose from a list of certain beer styles in submitting their entries. Each brewer is limited to two entries. Entries are accepted from homebrewers who reside in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia who are also members of a West Virginia-based homebrew club. Participants must be at least 21 years of age to enter. 

The judging process

Since this is a BJCP competition, it will follow their guidelines strictly and use BJCP certified judges, Weiss explains. Bottles submitted by the homebrewers are sorted into one of the three competition categories and then sent out to judge’s tables one-by-one for judging. The competition organizer ensures the beers are blindly tasted to make sure the judges will not be able to identify who the beer belongs to.

Each judge pours and tastes the beer one at a time, then scores it on BJCP scoresheet — judging the beer against the style guidelines for the style declared by the homebrewer. Next, judges compare their scores with the other judges at their table, then tally the overall score for each beer they judge.

Beers are judged based on Aroma, Appearance, Flavor, Mouthfeel and Overall Impression. The judging is not based on judges’ personal preference but rather on how closely the brewer executed the declared style. The process repeats for each beer in the category until all are entries are judged.

All the judging activity takes place at Fife Street Brewing. The judging activity is not open to the public.

Awards ceremony

Following the completion of the judging, brewers will gather at Bad Shepherd Beer Company (3:00 P.M.) for the awards ceremony. The ceremony will recognize the winning beers and their brewers. Awards will be given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places for Porter, Stout, and Specialty (9 total awards). Additionally, the top beer in the overall competition will be awarded the Best of Show medal. The awards ceremony is open to the public.

Butler explains that the competition is also a competition among the state’s local homebrew clubs. Club members who medal in the competition, get points added to that club’s total score, and the club with the highest score gets to host the next year’s competition. KVHC is hosting this year because they won the club award last year.

Meet the homebrewers

If you are a homebrew fan or are just homebrew curious, plan to stop by the public portions of the Coal Country event. From 1:00 – 3:00 P.M. on Saturday afternoon, March 28, homebrewers will gather in the private event room at Bad Shepherd Beer Company in Charleston for socializing and discussions of the homebrewers art. If you are a fan of dark and flavorful ales, you’ll want to drop by. You must be 21 years of age or older to join in the homebrewer gathering.

Butler says the Coal Country competition events “give us an opportunity to make friends and exchange ideas with other homebrewers across the state and region. It allows you to establish a network where you can learn. Homebrewing is all about learning”