In early July, the BESTMALZ showroom in Heidelberg was all about sensory beer evaluation: At the official tasting for the BestBrewChallenge 2026, a high-caliber jury sampled the beers submitted to this year’s brewing competition. The focus was on the dark wheat beer style, this year’s challenge for the international BestBrewChallenge.
Following the global brewing week in April and the submission deadline in mid-June, the submitted beers were evaluated according to sensory criteria during a blind tasting. For years, the BestBrewChallenge has brought together brewers from all over the world and is considered one of the largest simultaneous collaborative brewing events globally. The competition is organized by Palatia Malz GmbH, owner of the BESTMALZ brand.
The jury consisted of experienced beer sommeliers:
- Jutta Knoll (biertasting-bonn.de)
- Meinhard Wicht (probierkult.de)
- Brian Schlede (brewcraft.de)
- Helga Bäuerle (spitzbuckel.beer)
- Maik Schneckenberger (instagram.com/wasser_und_biersommelier)
Using their trained senses, they evaluated the beers in terms of appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and stylistic characteristics. Since the tasting was conducted as a blind tasting, the focus was exclusively on quality and sensory impressions. The overall impression was positive, but there were also numerous “Brett” beers. This refers to the beer flaw known as “Brett,” which relates to a typical brewing problem caused by the yeast Brettanomyces. This yeast can produce odors reminiscent of horse or leather. In addition, many beers lacked the aroma of wheat.
This year’s BestBrewChallenge challenged participants to develop and brew a dark Hefeweizen using BEST Wheat Malts and BEST Roasted Malts. This resulted in numerous individual interpretations of the traditional beer style—ranging from classic to creative—that impressively reflect the diversity and innovative spirit of the international brewing scene.
“BESTMALZ sends a great thanks to all participants for their beer submissions, as well as to the jury for their professional and meticulous evaluation of the beers submitted. I also extend a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to the team that made the tasting possible,” says Katharina Stiller, who coordinated and organized the BestBrewChallenge. “The winners of the competition will be announced in a few weeks. But we can already reveal this much: They come from Slovakia, Lithuania, and Germany.” The beer from the first-place winner will be brewed on a larger scale.
Recap: Mashing-in for BestBrewChallenge 2026