27th Annual Drunk Monk Challenge

Thank you for your interest in the 27th Annual Drunk Monk Challenge organized by Urban Knaves Of Grain (UKG), Two Brothers Roundhouse, Aurora, Illinois.

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.

Thanks and Good Luck To All Who Entered the 27th Annual Drunk Monk Challenge!

There are 584 registered entries and 268 registered participants, judges, and stewards.

As of 3:04 AM, CST, there are 0 received and processed entries (this number will update as entries are picked up from drop-off locations and organized for judging).

Rules

As of today, we are planning to do in-person judging which will require 2 bottles per entry. To ensure we have enough judges, we will be limiting the total entries in this year's comp to 550

Per Brewer Entry Limits

To ensure that everyone who wants to enter has a chance to, we will be setting per-brewer entry limits in stages this year. The schedule is as follows:

• 1/10/2024 - 3 entries per brewer
• 1/24/2024 (if not full) - 6 entries per brewer until competition entry limit is reached

Eligibility

Open to all amateur homebrewers 21 years of age and older. Beers must be entered under the name of all brewers who helped. Beers brewed in commercial facilities are ineligible.

Entry Fees

Drunk Monk Challenge and Menace of the Monastery entries are $12 each. Entry fees are paid via PayPal.

NOTE: After paying entry fees on the Paypal website, be sure to click the link to "Return to the Drunk Monk Challenge" website to make sure your entries are noted as "paid" in the sysytem.

Categories

• The 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines will be followed.
• One entry per subcategory per brewer or co-brewer/brewing team.  This is strictly enforced. Multiple entries in the same subcategory for a given brewer or brewing team (regardless of name order) will be disqualified.
• The competition committee reserves the right to combine categories based on number of entries. All possible efforts will be made to combine similar styles. All beers in combined categories will be judged according to the style entered.

Menace of the Monastery (MoM) Sub-Competition

The Menace of the Monastery celebrates beer styles which can be traced to the monastic brewing traditions of Belgium and Germany. This unique competition is judged separately within the Drunk Monk Challenge. Menace of the Monastery beers do not make the Best of Show competition for the Drunk Monk Challenge, although an equivalent award will be given to the winner of the MoM competition!

We will judge MoM similar to a Best of Style round where the judges will simultaneously sample all entries. The judges will award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medals. If we can can get enough judges, you may receive feedback that will reflect the judges assessment of the beer  but is intentionally irreverent in nature. To be guaranteed feedback, please consider entering the regular category instead of MoM.

Special brew categories are assigned in the software for Menace of the Monastery (MoM) entries and subcategorization. Register MoM entries using these special categories and, if necessary, please specify in the comments section what style of beer you are entering. 

MoM entries do not need to count against your maximum entry count. If you would like to enter the maximum number of entries, you can still enter the MoM. Here are the steps:

- Pay your $12 entry fee via Zeffy at Pay here.

- Send an email to drunkmonkchallenge@knaves.org

- We will confirm your payment and add your entry manually

Only 1 bottle/can will be required for MoM entries, while 2 bottles will be required for the regular categories.

Deadlines

Ship or deliver your entries so as to arrive between February 12th and February 28th.

No walk-in entries allowed.

Giving Back to the Community

 

Each year, the Urban Knaves of Grain Homebrew Club likes to give back to the community by donating a portion of the competition proceeds to the Northern Illinois Food Bank. 

The vision at Northern Illinois Food Bank is for everyone in Northern Illinois to have the food they need to thrive. A nonprofit organization and proud member of Feeding America, Northern Illinois Food Bank serves our neighbors in 13 counties with dignity, equity and convenience, providing 250,000 meals a day. They bring together manufacturers, local and corporate grocers, area farmers, corporations, foundations, and individuals who donate food and funding, and each week nearly 1,000 volunteers help them evaluate, repack, and distribute food. They also proudly partner with more than 900 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and youth and senior feeding programs to provide nutritious food and resources. Their distribution centers are located in Geneva, Park City, Rockford and Joliet.

Response from the Northern Illinois Food Bank to our donation. Read it here.

Judging Sessions

Entry Sorting
Sunday, March 2, 2025 10:00 AM, CST

Tuesday Session - Church Street
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 6:30 PM, CST

Wednesday Session - Two Brothers Roundhouse
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 6:30 PM, CST

Thursday Session - Church Street
Thursday, March 6, 2025 6:30 PM, CST

Friday Early Afternoon (if needed)
Friday, March 7, 2025 2:00 PM, CST

Friday Late Afternoon
Friday, March 7, 2025 4:00 PM, CST

Friday Evening
Friday, March 7, 2025 6:30 PM, CST

Saturday Session 1
Saturday, March 8, 2025 9:30 AM, CST

Saturday Session 2
Saturday, March 8, 2025 12:00 PM, CST

Menace of the Monastery
Saturday, March 8, 2025 2:30 PM, CST

Competition Officials

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

• Friar Dan Acheson — Competition Organizer
• Tech Team — Competition Site Technical Issues

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