One of the most renowned Beer Competitions in the World
Since 2004, the European Beer Star awards as beer competition the world's best beers. Breweries and judges from Europe and the whole world come together once a year in order to hold the world championship of beer. Let our judges and participants inspire you on the following page.
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Impressions and statements about the beer world championship
Competition mode
The following picture illustrates the competition mode of the European Beer Star with an examplary category with 32 entries.
Development of the beer competition
Submitted beers
| Spalte 1 | Spalte 2 | Spalte 3 | Spalte 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spalte 1 | Spalte 2 | Spalte 3 | Spalte 4 |
| 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
Since its inception in 2004, the European Beer Star competition's entry numbers have grown steadily.
Year after year, submissions increased, reaching an all-time high of 2,483 beers in 2019. The Corona pandemic briefly dampened this momentum—even in that challenging year for breweries, the EBS organizers were pleased with 2,036 entries—but in recent years, numbers have stabilized at a very high level.
In 2025, 2,202 beers were tasted at the competition.
Expert jury
| Spalte 1 | Spalte 2 | Spalte 3 | Spalte 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
An increasing number of beers to be evaluated requires an equally expanding panel of experts.
While there were 23 judges in the founding year, the tasting jury has grown to 147 beer experts from 33 different countries in 2025. For the competition, it is crucial to have an international tasting team; we also place great emphasis on ensuring that diverse international beer styles are evaluated by judges from the respective nationalities.
Country distribution of the European Beer Star 2024
The European Beer Star has become increasingly international in its history. While the submitted beers in the first year came from 13 European countries and the USA, the first entries from Africa, Asia and Central America followed as early as 2005. In 2007, beers from Australia and South America entered the competition.
In 2021, most of the entries - just over a third - came from Germany. The organizers received record entries from Italy, Austria, China, France and Japan. All in all, almost two-thirds of the beers entered came from abroad - a clear sign of how highly regarded the European Beer Star is in the international brewing industry!
In 2025, 34% of the entries again came from Germany. The positive trend in China and the USA continues.