Category Archives: Brew Slam

Brew Slam 2025 – Award Ceremony Photos

Brew Slam

As promised here are the medal winner photos we took at this year’s Brew Slam Awards Party! A full wrap up post is still in the pipeline, but hopefully these will stave off those that are getting antsy!

You can also relive the magic by watching the YouTube recording of the Brew Slam 2025 presentation.

Big thanks to David Chang-Sang for taking these photos of our winners as they are awarded their medals!

  • Winners Photo
  • Crew Photo
  • Master of Ceremonies (Zack Weinberg of Toronto Brewing)
  • 1 – Light Lager
  • 2 – Pale Malty Lager
  • 3 – Pale Bitter Lager
  • 5 – Dark Lager
  • 6 – Bock
  • 10 – Amber & Brown British Ale
  • 11 – Amber & Brown American Ale
  • 12 – Porter
  • 13 – Stout
  • 16 – Hazy IPA
  • 18 – Wheat & Rye Beer
  • 19 – Belgian & French Ale
  • 24 – Specialty Wild & Sour Beer
  • 26 – Spice / Herb / Vegetable Beer
  • 28 – Specialty Beer
  • 29 – Traditional Cider
  • 30 – Specialty Cider
  • 31 – Traditional Mead
  • 31 – Traditional Mead
  • 32 – Specialty Mead
  • Best of Show Winners
  • Toronto Brewer of the Year (Shane Schlesinger)
  • Jon Mains Award for Top Brewer Winner (Matt McNair) – Presented by Roslynne Mains
  • Medals
  • Banner
  • Prize Bags
  • Bob (Eric) & Doug (Dave) McKenzie

Brew Slam 2025 – Results Are Posted on torontobrewing.ca

Brew Slam, Competitions

The Award Ceremony has concluded for 2025, and the results have been announced! If you weren’t able to attend, your medal(s)/prizes will be shipped. If you are a local that couldn’t attend, please arrange to pick up your prizes directly from us.

Results

Click Here to view the Brew Slam 2025 Results

Scoresheets

Scoresheets have been uploaded to the entry software, all you need to do is login, go to your Account page, and look for the “scoresheet” icon next to each entry. You might also notice a miniBOS checkmark next to your entry, this means it was in contention for a medal. This will allow you to download the scoresheets for that entry. Direct link to profile

Scoresheet Icon: 

I will follow up with a more complete wrap up post, but for now, congrats to all the winners!

Cheers,
Eric Cousineau
Organizer, Brew Slam 2025

Brew Slam 2025 – Entry Registration Open!

BJCP, Brew Slam, Competitions, News, , , ,

Entry registration is now open for Brew Slam 2025! Register and pay for your entries ASAP to avoid missing your chance to enter this once per year homebrew competition!

Go to the Brew Slam 2025 page

The entry registration and submission deadline is Saturday Oct. 18th. The fee to enter is $15/entry, or $12/entry for GTA Brews Members (see below). Visit our Rules and Submission Instructions page for all the details about submitting your entry.

GTA Brews Discount Code: ($3 discount per entry, must be logged-in to see)

As of today, we have over $10,500 in prizes up for grabs, and more prizes being secured by our Brew Slam Crew every day!

Here’s some highlights to help grab your attention!

We have some incredible medals designed by James Kennedy for 2025, and we can’t wait to award them to the winners!

In addition to an incredible prize pool for winners, here’s some other reasons you should enter your homebrew in Brew Slam 2025!

  • Quality feedback!
    • Canada’s largest BJCP judge pool
    • Including multiple National and high level ranked judges
    • Low flight size per judge to reinforce quality feedback
    • Long form scoresheets to reinforce meaningful and specific feedback
  • Award Categories announced in advance (Brew Slam 2025 Award Categories)
  • Toronto Brewer of the Year title awarded to GTA Brews member with most medal points
  • Jon Mains Award awarded to the top overall entrant with most medal points
  • Medal Categories sponsored by local breweries with expertise in that style of beer
    • Many of them also supplying Pro Brewer guest judge(s) to supplement BJCP judges for those categories
  • Entrant support available through our BJCP Competition Guide and over email at comp@gtabrews.ca when deciding how to register your entry!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Eric Cousineau
Competition Organizer, Brew Slam 2025

Inquiries about Brew Slam 2025 should be sent to: comp@gtabrews.ca

Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Announcing Brew Slam 2025 – Homebrew Competition

BJCP, Brew Slam, Competitions, News, , , ,
Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Press Release

August 12th, 2025 – Toronto, ON

Inquiries about Brew Slam 2025 should be sent to: comp@gtabrews.ca

GTA Brews is excited to announce our eight annual nation-wide homebrew competition for beer, mead, and cider: Brew Slam 2025 (#BrewSlam)!

#BrewSlam is Canada’s largest homebrew competition, with hundreds of entrants from Canada and the USA. We can’t wait to build on 2024’s massive success. That competition saw 552 entries from 140 entrants representing 8/10 provinces, judged by 60 judges over just 3 days, which made it the largest homebrew competition in Canada!

As of Aug 12th, we have already secured over $8,700 in prizes from our fabulous sponsors. We expect this will increase significantly over the next few weeks leading up to the competition. We also have a brand new medal design to present to the winners!

To make this competition a success we need as many judges and stewards as possible. Please visit our Volunteer page to learn what is involved and for instructions on how to sign up.

Continue reading Announcing Brew Slam 2025 – Homebrew Competition →

Brew Slam 2024 – Award Ceremony Photos

Brew Slam

As promised here are the medal winner photos we took at this year’s Brew Slam Awards Party! A full wrap up post is still in the pipeline, but hopefully these will stave off those that are getting antsy!

Big thanks to David Chang-Sang for taking these photos of our winners as they are awarded their medals!

  • Winners Photo
  • Crew Photo
  • Intro – Competition Organizer (Eric Cousineau)
  • Eric and Zack
  • Master of Ceremonies (Zack Weinberg of Toronto Brewing)
  • 1 – Light Lager
  • 2 – Pale Malty Beer
  • 3 – Pale Bitter Beer
  • 4 – Amber Lager
  • 5 – Dark Lager
  • 8 – Scottish & Irish Ale
  • 9 – Pale American Ale
  • 10 – Amber & Brown American Ale
  • 11 – English Brown Ale
  • Jim Bruce (longtime Brew Slam Crew) with Eric & Zack
  • 12 – Porter
  • 13 – Stout
  • 14 – Strong Stout
  • 15 – Classic IPA
  • 16 – Hazy IPA
  • 17 – Specialty IPA
  • 18 – Wheat & Rye Beer
  • 19 – Belgian & French Ale
  • 20 – Belgian Strong Ale
  • 21 – Strong Ale
  • 22 – Brett Beer
  • 24 – Specialty Wild & Sour Beer
  • 26 – Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer
  • 27 – Smoke-Flavoured & Wood-Aged Beer
  • 29 – Traditional Cider
  • 30 – Specialty Cider
  • 31 – Traditional Mead
  • 32 – Specialty Mead
  • Best of Show Winners
  • Toronto Brewer of the Year (Josh Davis)
  • TBOY #2
  • Jon Mains Award for Top Brewer Winner (Josh Davis)
  • Wrap Up with Eric & Zack
  • Eric Cousineau (Competition Organizer) & David Chang-Sang (Assistant Organizer)

Brew Slam 2024 – Entry Cap Raised

BJCP, Brew Slam, Competitions, News, , , ,

Effective immediately, the per-entrant cap for Brew Slam 2024 has been raised 10 entries per person!

There are just over 4 weeks left until the entry deadline for Brew Slam 2024! Get your entries registered today to avoid missing out!

As of today, we have over $16,390 in prizes up for grabs, and more prizes being secured by our Brew Slam Crew every day!

Here’s some highlights to help grab your attention!

  • Spike CF-5 Fermenter (Sponsored by Toronto Brewing for TBOY)
    • Toronto Brewer Of The Year (GTA Brews member with most points in competition)
  • 6 Gallon Oak Barrel from County Cooperage
  • Tilt Pro hydrometer
  • Boel iTap
  • LOTS of yeast from Escarpment and Lallemand for all medal winners!
  • RAPT hydrometers / thermometers from Kegland
  • Stainless steel kettles!
  • Lots more! Visit Brew Slam 2024 Sponsors, Awards, & Prizes for the full list!

We have some incredible medals designed by James Kennedy for 2024, and we can’t wait to award them to the winners!

In addition to an incredible prize pool for winners, here’s some other reasons you should enter your homebrew in Brew Slam 2024!

  • Quality feedback!
    • Canada’s largest BJCP judge pool
    • Including multiple National and high level ranked judges
    • Low flight size per judge to reinforce quality feedback
    • Long form scoresheets to reinforce meaningful and specific feedback
  • Get your beer judged by our guest Fred Mullner
    • BJCP Grandmaster III and Mid-Atlantic Regional Rep!
  • Award Categories announced in advance (Brew Slam 2024 Award Categories)
  • Toronto Brewer of the Year title awarded to GTA Brews member with most medal points
  • Jon Mains Award awarded to the top overall entrant with most medal points
  • Medal Categories sponsored by local breweries with expertise in that style of beer
    • Many of them also supplying Pro Brewer guest judge(s) to supplement BJCP judges for those categories
  • Entrant support available through our BJCP Competition Guide and over email at comp@gtabrews.ca when deciding how to register your entry!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Eric Cousineau
Competition Organizer, Brew Slam 2024

Inquiries about Brew Slam 2024 should be sent to: comp@gtabrews.ca

Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Announcing Brew Slam 2024 – Homebrew Competition

BJCP, Brew Slam, Competitions, News, , , ,
Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Press Release

August 18th, 2024 – Toronto, ON

Inquiries about Brew Slam 2024 should be sent to: comp@gtabrews.ca

GTA Brews is excited to announce our seventh annual nation-wide homebrew competition for beer, mead, and cider: Brew Slam 2024 (#BrewSlam)!

#BrewSlam is Canada’s largest homebrew competition, with hundreds of entrants from Canada and the USA. We can’t wait to build on 2023’s massive success. That competition saw 502 entries from 159 entrants representing 9/10 provinces, judged by 55 judges over just 3 days, which made it the largest homebrew competition in Canada!

We are excited to announce that our special guest judge for 2024 is Fred Mullner! He is a highly skilled BJCP Grandmaster III judge hailing from Pennsylvania, as well as BJCP rep for the Mid-Atlantic region.

As of Aug 18th, we have already secured over $10,740 in prizes from our fabulous sponsors. We expect this will increase significantly over the next few weeks leading up to the competition. We also have a brand new medal design to present to the winners!

To make this competition a success we need as many judges and stewards as possible. Please visit our Volunteer page to learn what is involved and for instructions on how to sign up.

Continue reading Announcing Brew Slam 2024 – Homebrew Competition →

Brew Slam 2023 – Results Are Posted on torontobrewing.ca

Brew Slam, Competitions

The Award Ceremony has concluded for 2023, and the results have been announced! If you weren’t able to attend, your medal(s)/prizes will be shipped. If you are a local that couldn’t attend, please arrange to pick up your prizes directly from us.

Results

Click Here to view the Brew Slam 2023 Results

Scoresheets

Scoresheets have been uploaded to the entry software, all you need to do is login, go to your Account page, and look for the “gavel” icon next to each entry. You might also notice a miniBOS checkmark next to your entry, this means it was in contention for a medal. This will allow you to download the scoresheets for that entry. Direct link to profile

Gavel Icon: 

image.png

Scoresheets From Annie Johnson

This year our special guest for the judging weekend was Annie Johnson, and our volunteers had a blast hanging out with her all weekend. Lucky entrants will notice a 3rd scoresheet in their PDF file, completed by Annie herself while our judge pairs took turns judging a beer with her.

I will follow up with a more complete wrap up post, but for now, congrats to all the winners!

Cheers,
Eric Cousineau
Organizer, Brew Slam 2023

Announcing Brew Slam 2023 – Homebrew Competition

BJCP, Brew Slam, Competitions, News, , , ,
Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Press Release

September 1st, 2023 – Toronto, ON

Inquiries about Brew Slam 2023 should be sent to: comp@gtabrews.ca

GTA Brews is excited to announce our sixth annual nation-wide homebrew competition for beer, mead, and cider: Brew Slam 2023 (#BrewSlam)!

The competition has been on hiatus since 2019 due to the global pandemic and the club is so excited to finally bring the competition back for 2023! We are so thankful for the entrants and judges that reached out to us the past few years to express their desire to see the competition come back, and we can’t wait to return to building on 2019’s massive success. That competition saw 819 entries from 281 entrants representing 9/10 provinces, judged by 77 judges over just 3 days, which made it the largest homebrew competition in Canada!

We are ecstatic to have homebrewing luminary Annie Johnson attending as our guest judge of honour (Oct 27-29) to help ring in our 6th year!

Continue reading Announcing Brew Slam 2023 – Homebrew Competition →

Brew Slam 2020 Cancelled Due to COVID-19

Brew Slam, News

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, GTA Brews has decided to cancel this year’s iteration of our annual Brew Slam homebrew competition.

As soon as we went into lockdown back in the spring, we started getting questions from homebrewers across Canada asking us what our plans were for Brew Slam 2020. We held off making any firm decision as long as we could, with the hope that the situation would improve and we could continue as planned.

After months of waiting and internal discussion, the club has decided not to proceed with a competition this year. We are aware of the virtual homebrew competition trend that some clubs in the US have been championing, but we didn’t feel this would be appropriate for Brew Slam. We also considered a smaller virtual only competition, but didn’t feel this was something we wanted to pursue at this time.

We are looking forward to coming back with Brew Slam 2021, and can’t wait to make it better than ever before. For now, we are sending out best wishes to all Canadian homebrewers and their families, and hope you are honing your recipes with plenty of homebrewing. The competition is sure to be fiercer than ever in 2021 when we, and the rest of the BOTY circuit, return!

Cheers from the Brew Slam Crew!

Brew Slam 2019 – Wrap Up

Brew Slam, Competitions, Wrap Up

Brew Slam is wrapped up for another year, and what a year it was! All prizes were shipped out to our winners before the holidays, and I finally have time to write my annual wrap up post. With 819 entries judged, we were Canada’s largest homebrew competition again in 2019!

Saturday Afternoon: 49 BJCP judges seated in ONE session!

Competition Stats 2019:

  • Largest Canadian homebrew competition of the year!
    • 819 entries judged
    • 850 paid entries
    • 880 registered entries
    • 9/10 provinces, NY
      • Missing PEI still!
  • 281 participants with entries
    • A new record!
  • 134 volunteers: 77 judges, 52 stewards, 24 sorters, 14 crew
    • Most BJCP judges in any Canadian beer competition, ever!
  • 32 award categories
  • 7 judging sessions, avg 6.7 entries/pair per session
  • Over $23,800 in sponsored prizes and volunteer perks
Continue reading Brew Slam 2019 – Wrap Up →

Brew Slam 2019 – Award Ceremony Photos

Brew Slam

As promised here are the medal winner photos we took at this year’s Brew Slam Awards Party! A full wrap up post is still in the pipeline, but hopefully these will stave off those that are getting antsy!

Big thanks to David Chang-Sang for taking these photos of our winners as they are awarded their medals!

  • Welcome to Junction Craft Brewing Co
  • Medals Waiting to Be Awarded
  • TBOY Trophy
  • Prize Table
  • Big Prizes
  • Party Filling In!
  • Party Filling In!
  • Draft Table
  • Brew Slam Crew
  • MC Zack Weinberg of Toronto Brewing
  • Competition Organizer Eric Cousineau
  • 1 – Light Lager
  • 2 – Pale European Lager
  • 3 – Pilsner
  • 4 – Amber Lager
  • 5 – Dark Lager
  • 6 – Bock
  • 7 – English Pale Ale
  • 8 – Scottish & Irish Ale
  • 9 – American Pale Alee
  • 10 – Other Pale American Ale
  • 11 – Amber & Brown American Ale
  • 12 – English Brown Ale
  • 13 – Porter
  • 14 – Stout
  • 15 – Strong Stout
  • 15 – Strong Stout (Iron Rings Brewing Co)
  • 16 – Standard IPA
  • 17 – Other IPA
  • 18 – German Wheat & Rye Beer
  • 20 – Belgian Strong Ale
  • 21 – Strong Ale
  • 22 – Brett Beer
  • 23 – Sour Beer
  • 25 – Fruit Beer
  • 27 – Smoke-Flavoured & Wood-Aged Beer
  • 28 – Specialty Beer
  • 30 – Specialty Mead
  • 31 – Traditional Cider
  • 32 – Specialty Cider
  • Best of Show
  • TBOY (Toronto Brewer of the Year) Trophy
  • TBOY Winners
  • Jon Mains Award Winners
  • Henderson Cup Winner – Chris Hughes
  • Winners Photo

Brew Slam 2019 – Results Are Posted on torontobrewing.ca

Brew Slam, Competitions

(Dec 4th, 2019) Edit: They are are also now available on gtabrews.ca

The Award Ceremony has concluded for 2019, and the results have been announced! If you weren’t able to attend, your medal(s)/prizes will be shipped. If you are a local that couldn’t attend, please arrange to pick up your prizes directly from us.

Results

Click Here to view the Brew Slam 2019 Results

Scoresheets

Scoresheets have been uploaded to the entry software, all you need to do is login, go to your Account page, and look for the “gavel” icon next to each entry. You might also notice a miniBOS checkmark next to your entry, this means it was in contention for a medal. This will allow you to download the scoresheets for that entry. Direct link to profile
Gavel Icon: 

image.png

Scoresheets From John Palmer

This year our special guest for the judging weekend was John Palmer, and our volunteers had a blast hanging out with him all weekend. A lucky 34 entrants will notice a 3rd scoresheet in their PDF file, completed by Palmer himself while our judge pairs took turns judging a beer with the king of homebrewing.

I will follow up with a more complete wrap up post, but for now, congrats to all the winners!

Cheers,
Eric Cousineau
Organizer, Brew Slam 2019

image.png

Brew Slam 2019 – Entry Registration is 7 Days Away!

BJCP, Brew Slam, Competitions

Visit this page for the full details: gtabrews.ca/brew-slam/

[BREW SLAM 2019 – Toronto, ON]

Entry Registration Opens: Sept 25th, 2019
Entry Deadline: Nov 2nd, 2019
Judging Dates: Nov 8th – 10th, 2019

Entry Limits:

  • Total cap of 850 PAID entries
  • Per-entrant caps: 2 pp for Sept 25 – Oct 2, then up to 6 pp starting Oct 3

ENTRY REGISTRATION FOR BREW SLAM 2019 (#BREWSLAM) IS 7 DAYS AWAY, SO IT’S TIME TO SHIFT GEARS AND GET READY!

GTA Brews is excited is excited to build on last year’s massive success which saw 826 entries, from 191 entrants, in 8/10 provinces, judged by 75 judges, over just 3 days, making this the largest homebrew competition in Canada! We are ecstatic to have John Palmer attending as our guest of honour (Nov 8-10) to help ring in our 5th year!

This is a BJCP sanctioned competition, and also part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year (BOTY) circuit. The judging will take place at Amsterdam Brewery (Leaside) from Nov 8th to 10th. Judging will be performed by BJCP ranked judges and pro brewers, using the BJCP 2015 Guidelines and Provisional Styles.

OUR COMPETITION RULES HAVE BEEN UPDATED TO ALLOW MORE PEOPLE TO ENTER

This year we have implemented a few changes to the structure of the competition in order to encourage more entrants:

  • The total cap has been moved to PAID entries, rather than registered entries
  • The per-entrant cap is staggered to allow prospective entrants a full week opportunity to register at the lower cap

Announcing Brew Slam 2019 – Homebrew Competition

BJCP, Brew Slam, Competitions, News, , , ,
Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Press Release

August 26th, 2019 – Toronto, ON

Inquiries about Brew Slam 2019 should be sent to: comp@gtabrews.ca

GTA Brews is excited to announce our fifth annual, nation-wide, homebrew competition for beer, mead, and cider; Brew Slam 2019 (#BrewSlam)! We are excited to build on last year’s massive success which saw 826 entries, from 191 entrants, in 8/10 provinces, judged by 75 judges, over just 3 days, making this the largest homebrew competition in Canada! We are ecstatic to have John Palmer attending as our guest of honour (Nov 8-10) to help ring in our 5th year!

This is a BJCP sanctioned competition, and also part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year (BOTY) circuit. The judging will take place at Amsterdam Brewery (Leaside) from Nov 8th to 10th. Judging will be performed by BJCP ranked judges and pro brewers, using the BJCP 2015 Guidelines and Provisional Styles.

Continue reading Announcing Brew Slam 2019 – Homebrew Competition →

Brew Slam 2018 – Wrap Up

Brew Slam, Competitions, Wrap Up

Brew Slam is wrapped up for another year, and what a year it was! Most prizes were shipped out to our winners before the holidays, and I finally have time to write my annual wrap up post. With 826 entries judged, were were Canada’s largest homebrew competition again for 2018!

The judging and awards for Brew Slam happened back in November, but we’ve been hard at work since then working on all the wrap up tasks to be able to mark the competition complete for another year. Don’t stop reading now because some pretty amazing things happened this year that I want to share.

  • Full house at the Saturday afternoon judging session

Competition Stats 2018:

  • Largest Canadian homebrew competition, ever!
    • 826 entries judged
    • 847 registered entries
    • 8/10 provinces, Yukon, CT/PA, and ISRAEL!
  • 191 participants with entries
  • 135 volunteers: 75 judges, 54 stewards, 22 sorters, 10 crew
    • Likely the most judges in any Canadian beer competition, ever!
  • 31 award categories
  • 7 judging sessions, avg 7.5 entries/pair per session
  • Over $16,000 in prizes!!
Continue reading Brew Slam 2018 – Wrap Up →

Brew Slam 2018 – Entry Registration Now Open!

Brew Slam, Competitions, , ,

Entry registration is now open, and spots are already filling up quickly! Visit the Brew Slam 2018 page to learn more, and register your entries.

Entry Registration and Drop Off

Registration will close on Nov 3rd, or when the 850 entry cap is hit. Entries will be accepted at drop off and shipping locations beginning on Oct 11th. If you need to drop off earlier for any reason, please email us.

If the cap is hit, the site won’t allow any more entries to be registered. In this case we will do our best to follow up on unpaid entries, and verify if the entrants still need the spot(s).

Please do everyone (especially our Registrar) a favour, and only register entries you actually plan to submit, then pay for them right away. We will provide regular entry registration updates on social media.

Volunteering

Brew Slam is a volunteer driven competition, so please consider donating a bit of your time to help this competition happen. The Brew Slam 2018 comittee has been hard at work for months laying the groundwork for another fantastic year, please help us out by registering as a volunteer.

We need help with Bottle Sorting (Nov 4th), and Stewarding/Judging (Nov 9-11th), learn more on our Brew Slam Volunteer page. If you have a friend that is a BJCP judge, please encourage them to attend!

Brew Slam 2017 – Wrap Up

BJCP, Brew Slam, Community, Competitions, Event, , , , ,
Brew Slam 2017 is finally wrapped up after almost a whole year of planning, and a ton of execution. What a year! The last of the prizes made their way into the hands of our winners this week, so it’s finally time to write my annual wrap up post. With 806 entries judged, I’m very proud to say that we met and exceeded our goal for 2017 of becoming Canada’s largest homebrew competition (by almost 300 entries)!

Saturday morning judging

The judging and awards for Brew Slam 2017 happened back in November, but we’ve been hard at work since then making sure that everyone got their prizes as fast as we could. Don’t stop reading now because some pretty amazing things happened this year that I want to share.
Continue reading Brew Slam 2017 – Wrap Up →