The Drunk Monk Challenge sponsored by Urban Knaves of Grain

Urban Knaves of Grain Homebrew Club
presents
The 26th Annual Drunk Monk Challenge

An AHA Sanctioned Homebrew Competition

A leg of The Midwest Homebrewer of the Year (MWHBOTY)

The Illinois qualifying event in the Master Homebrewer's Circuit of America

Featuring: The Menace of the Monastery Competition...
a fun competition celebrating beer styles traced back to the monastic brewing traditions of Belgium and Germany.
 

 

Competition Information

For the latest results and past winners, please see Past Competition Results.

The 2024 Drunk Monk Challenge Competition Medals
The 2024 DMC Medals (artist rendering)

Not every category earns them but, in 2017, we introduced Honorable Mention Ribbons to recognize everyone who earns a spot on the results board.

DMC Honorable Mention Ribbons - View in a new tab

When: March 9, 2024 –
In-person judging for the 2024 DMC

Tuesday Judging – March 5, 2024 (Small group)
Wednesday Judging – March 6, 2024 (Small group)
Thursday Judging – March 7, 2024 (Small group)
Friday Judging – March 8, 2024 (Small group)
Main Judging – March 9, 2024

See the UKG Club Calendar for the full schedule.
Where: Two Brothers Roundhouse
205 North Broadway
Aurora, IL 60505
630-264-BREW (2739) or 630-393-BEER (2337)
View Map
Entry Fee: Drunk Monk Challenge (2 bottles req.) – $12.00 per entry

Menace of the Monastery (1 bottle req.) – $12.00 per entry

All entries must be pre-submitted online. No paper entries will be accepted. Payment for entries will be accepted with your entries by Paypal online only.
Entries:

SPECIAL NEWS FOR THE 2024 COMPETITION. PLEASE READ...

We will be having our public Awards ceremony and Raffle this year. We will also announce winners on Facebook as we have in the past during the awards ceremony and aim to have a live broadcast of the ceremony.

Important Dates

  • Jan 27 – Judge and entry registration opens.
     
  • Feb 12 – Entry shipping and drop-off window opens
     
  • March 1 – last day to ship and make changes to entries
     
  • March 1 – last day to drop off at local homebrew stores (See entry website for drop-off cutoffs for each location)
     
  • March 5 – Judging begins
     
  • March 9 – Main in-person judging day... Raffle and Awards Ceremony – tentatively scheduled for 6 pm CST

Click DMC registration page or the Register button in the menu.

Shipping location:
Two Brothers Roundhouse
c/o DMC
205 North Broadway
Aurora, IL 60505

drunkmonkchallenge@knaves.org

No walk-in entries allowed.

Drop-Off Locations
(Support your local homebrew stores while you're there):

  • Brew & Grow - Bolingbrook:
    181 W Crossroads Pkwy, Bolingbrook
    (630) 771-1410
     
  • Brew & Grow - Roselle:
    359 W. Irving Park Rd, Roselle
    (630) 894-4885
     
  • Chicagoland Beer & Wine Makers:
    11 Park Blvd, Villa Park
    (630) 834-0507
     
  • Perfect Brewing Supply:
    619 E. Park Ave, Libertyville
    (847) 816-7055
     
  • Broken Brix Home Brew Shop:
    225 W. Main St., St. Charles
    (630) 377-1338
     
  • What's Brewing? Supply:
    335 W. Northwest Highway, Palatine
    (847) 359-BREW
    [Closed Mondays and Wednesdays]
     
  • Gnome Brew:
    2026 W. Montrose Ave., Chicago
    (773) 961-7750
    [Closed Mondays]

Several homebrew stores have changing hours and days they are open. Please check with the individual stores to make sure they are open when you want to drop off your entries.

Competition Results: We will be having a public Raffle this year and our Awards ceremony will follow the judging on March 11th, if conditions permit. Doors will open after about 5:30 p.m. for entrants to join us for the Raffle and Awards ceremony.

Join us on the Drunk Monk Challenge Facebook page for the virtual presentation of awards. As winners are announced in each category live at the Two Brother's Roundhouse, we'll post those results on Facebook.

Check our Competition Results page after the competition for the full listing of winners from this year's Drunk Monk Challenge and past years.
Categories: Beer, Mead, & Cider entries will be judged in classes and subcategories listed in the 2015 or 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines - TBD.
How to Enter: Bottles must be free of labels or other identifying marks. Two (2) 10-14 oz. brown or green bottles with crown caps are required for each entry. Swing top bottles are NOT allowed. We will be accepting cans this year in 12 oz. or 16 oz. sizes (preferably standard silver, unmarked cans). No Crowler cans will be accepted. A printed competition label must be attached to each bottle with a rubber band. Do not tape the labels.

Entries for meads and ciders will be the exception for bottle sizes. For meads and ciders only, we will accept two (2) 375 ml bottles, corked bottles, or some of the taller thinner wine-type bottles.

Failure to follow these guidelines may result in your beer being judged for score only but not qualifying for a place / award.

All entries become the property of the Urban Knaves of Grain (UKG) and will not be returned to the brewer.

When registering online at http://www.knaves.org/DMC/challenge, you will be able to print your bottle labels only after entries are marked paid in the system.

Menace of the Monastery (MoM) Entries:

Judging will be done using hedonic methods rather than BJCP style guidelines. Scoresheets and feedback from MoM may be filled out in an honest but irreverant, punchy, tongue-in-cheek manner. Please do not be offended by some of the comments you may receive. It may be a competition but this part of the competition is also meant to be a little more lighthearted and fun.

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

Registration for the Drunk Monk Challenge is via Beer Competition Software. 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. More information...

Judges/Stewards: Your assistance is needed to ensure the quality of our competition. Please check the Judge/Steward checkbox on the entry form when registering and join us for a great time.

All stewards, judges and volunteers will receive breakfast (...think bagels and coffee), a full lunch, Two Brothers beer, a good time, our appreciation and a gift!
Sponsors: If you would like to assist in the success of our competition, please contact our sponsor coordinator, .
Questions: For all other questions, please contact the Drunk Monk Challenge Competition Coordinator, Dan Acheson at drunkmonkchallenge@knaves.org - .

 

Get Your Own Drunk Monk Challenge T-Shirt

Visit our Drunk Monk Challenge store
to purchase genuine DMC clothing and glassware.
Get Shirts as low as $10.00