The BURP Real Ale competition is a celebration of traditional British, Irish, and Scottish cask conditioned beers. The currently accepted styles of beer for the competition are based on the latest 2021 BJCP style guidelines:

Cat 11 (British Bitter) - all substyles
Cat 12 (Pale Commonwealth Beer) - substyles 12A (British Golden Ale) and 12C (English IPA)
Cat 13 (Brown British Beer) - all substyles
Cat 14 (Scottish Ale) – all substyles
Cat 15 (Irish Beer) - substyles 15B (Irish Stout) and 15C (Irish Extra Stout)
Cat 16 (Dark British Beer) - all substyles
Cat 17 (Strong British Ale) - all substyles (including strong mild, winter warmer, etc)
Cat 27 (Historical Beer) - substyle London Brown Ale

Following CAMRA guidelines, only naturally-carbonated beers are accepted – no force carbonation using extraneous CO2 is allowed.

The event is registered with the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and is open to all homebrewers, regardless of club affiliation. There is no cost to enter the competition and no limit to the number of beers a brewer can enter. The competition itself is held on Friday evening (Nov 1) and is open to invited judges and stewards only. Entries are accepted in either corny kegs (3 gal or 5 gal) or traditional casks (5 gal pins preferred, but 10 gal firkins are accepted if appropriate stillage is provided). Current protocol calls for all beers entered in corny kegs to be served using beer engines and all those entered in casks to be served through gravity dispense.