Thank you for your interest in the Dominion Cup 2025 organized by James River Homebrewers, Richmond, VA.

You only need to register your information once and can return to this site to enter more brews or edit the brews you've entered. You can even pay your entry fees online if you wish.

If you are willing to judge or steward, please return to register on or after Saturday, June 28, 2025 12:00 PM, EDT.

Rules

The Dominion Cup is the homebrew competition hosted by the James River Homebrewers every year. This is our 32nd (or maybe 33rd - we lost count!) year putting on what we hope is one of the best homebrew competitions in the region.  Please read carefully to the rules for this year.

We plan to do in-person judging again for both First Round and Best of Show this year. We will continue to take precautions and ask that those volunteering abide by all safe precautions as specified by the competition coordinator.

We are limiting the total entries to 450. We will return to requiring 2 bottles per entry. The cost per entry is $12. Note that you must pay for your entry in order to reserve your spot.  We will not be issuing refunds for entries that are paid for but not received. As our competition fills up quickly, you are taking someone else's spot if you don't get your entries in, so it is important to enter what you plan to send.  For extraordinary circumstances, contact the competition organizer.

** NEW THIS YEAR - READ CAREFULLY **
We will limit the number of entries per brewer during the first week of registration (6/28- 7/5) to 4 entries.  The limit will increase at noon EDT on 7/5 to 6 entries at the competition coordinator's discretion.  If there are only a few remaining spots, we will not increase the limit as it would be an unfair advantage to a very small number of people.  We are doing this to help ensure as many folks can register as possible as we have often filled up in only a couple of hours.

All entries should be in 12 oz brown glass bottles, however green and clear glass will be accepted. We cannot accept larger bottles or swing-type caps due to the need to have uniform storage for the beers. We will also accept cans this year as long as there are no identifying marks on the cans and they take up the same space as a 12 oz bottle.

Exception: Mead and Cider ONLY may also use up to 750mL wine bottles in addition to the above.

The competition will be open to all Beer Styles, as well as Mead and Cider from the 2021 BJCP Guidelines.

Winners will be announced on the website and through social media after the Best of Show round is complete. Score sheets will be scanned into the website (or filled out electronically), but will not be delivered in person unless picked up during the competition final round.

Entry Acceptance Rules

Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 2

Online registration is required this year. Please create an account here and use this system to pay for your entries and print your labels. Be sure to include all information needed to properly judge your beers. We have reset the database this year, so everyone will need to create a new account.

A total of 2 (TWO) bottles per entry will be required.

All entries should be in 12 oz brown glass bottles, however green and clear glass will be accepted. We cannot accept larger bottles or swing-type caps due to the need to have uniform storage for the beers. We will also accept cans this year as long as there are no identifying marks on the cans and they take up the same space as a 12 oz bottle.

Exception: Mead and Cider ONLY may also use up to 750mL wine bottles in addition to the above.

Entries must have all labels and identifying markings removed. It is okay to black out the caps of bottles with a sharpie.

Bottles will not be returned to contest entrants.

Refunds will not be given to entries that fail to arrive or are disqualified due to violation of the above requirements.

Be sure to include all supplementary information required for each style, but avoid putting any information that could identify the brewer. For example, "Orange Peel" is acceptable, but not "Freshly peeled orange from my buddy Dave's Orange Trees in Midlothian". Keep it relevant to what is needed for judging, not marketing.

Entries must be received by the drop off locations or shipping locations by the due date (July 26). Due to the logistics surrounding sorting, relabeling, and delivering the entries to the judges for online judging, we cannot accept late entries.

Competition Officials

You can send an email to any of the following individuals via Contact.

• William Spiesberger — Judge And Sponsor Coordinator
• John Van Itallie — Website Coordinator

Sponsors

James River Homebrewers is proud to have the following sponsors for the Dominion Cup 2025.

Final Gravity Brewing Company

 

Original Gravity

 

Drop Off Location