Rules & Scoring

Who Can Participate

Any homebrewer who places in a competition that’s part of the American Specialty Homebrew Cup (ASHC) circuit automatically earns points toward the season leaderboard. You don’t need to register first to start earning points—we’ll import results from circuit events as they’re posted.

Season Awards

• Season window: January 1 – December 31.
• End-of-season medals: We award ASHC medals to the Top 10 finishers each season.
• Free account required to receive medals: To ship your medal, you’ll need a free ASHC account so we have your shipping address on file. You can create it any time during the season.

Optional Paid Membership ($15/year)

Paid membership is completely optional—but it helps fund the circuit (servers, maintenance, medals, admin) and unlocks valuable perks. For the 2026 season, membership is $15.00.

Member Benefits

• Prize eligibility: Only paid members qualify for sponsored prizes.
• Grand Prize: A $300 gift certificate from our title sponsor, SoCal Brewing Supply, awarded to the top paid member at season’s end.
• More prizes for the Top 10 paid leaders: Brewing gear, premium ingredients, supplies, and more from our sponsors.
• Everyday savings: 5% off ingredients at SoCal Brewing Supply (plus periodic deals from other sponsors). These savings alone can offset your membership fee quickly.

Bottom line: If you’re brewing regularly—or aiming for the podium—the membership pays for itself while supporting the circuit that recognizes your achievements.

Accounts & Shipping

• Free account: Needed to ship medals (we collect your contact details and shipping address during signup).
• Paid membership: Required for prize eligibility; not required to earn points or medals.

Scoring Overview

ASHC rewards performance in larger, more competitive categories without discouraging participation in smaller or niche events. Points are awarded per category placement, with an additional bonus for Best of Show (BOS).

Base Medal Points

• Gold: 3
• Silver: 2
• Bronze: 1

Field-Size Weight (Band by Entries)

Let E be the number of entries in the category/table.

• E = 1–4 → 0.80
• E = 5–9 → 0.90
• E = 10–19 → 1.00
• E = 20–29 → 1.10
• E ≥ 30 → 1.20

Placement Percentile Factor

Let P be the place (1, 2, or 3). We apply a gentle curve and a small-field floor:

R = ((E - P + 1) / E) ^ 0.5
R_final = max(0.60, R)   // floor prevents tiny-table penalties

Category Points

Points_category = Base × Band(E) × R_final

Best of Show (BOS) Bonus

• BOS Gold: +1.0
• BOS Silver: +0.6
• BOS Bronze: +0.3

Note: Since some platforms don’t publish BOS field sizes consistently, BOS bonuses are fixed (not scaled). If BOS field size is available, we may display it for context, but the bonus remains fixed for fairness across systems.

Unknown Entry Counts

If a competition doesn’t publish per-category entry counts, we use a default of E = 9 (band 5–9 → 0.90). If counts are posted later, standings will be updated.

Counting & Season Rules

• Per-competition cap: Only your top three placements per competition count toward circuit points (the highest three by points).
• Ties: If a competition declares a tie for a medal, tied entries receive the same points; the next lower place is skipped per the organizer’s results.
• Team entries: Points are attributed to names as published. Co-brewers each receive credit unless the organizer credits a team name only.
• Honorable Mention: No points.
• Merged categories: Use the final published entry count and placements of the merged table.
• Vacated awards: If an organizer later vacates an award, the result is removed; lower places don’t automatically move up unless a revised order is published.
• Late results: Results posted up to 30 days after Dec 31 are accepted if the competition date falls within the season.
• Name normalization: We consolidate variants (e.g., “Matt Young” / “Matthew Young”). Send corrections via the contact form.

Examples

• Gold, E=12: Base 3 × Band 1.00 × R=((12−1+1)/12)^0.5=1 → 3.0 pts
• Silver, E=8: Base 2 × Band 0.90 × R=((8−2+1)/8)^0.5≈0.936 → ~1.7 pts
• Bronze, E=3: Base 1 × Band 0.80 × R=((3−3+1)/3)^0.5≈0.577 → floor 0.60 → 0.48 pts
• + BOS Gold: add +1.0 to that brewer’s competition total.