A party such as this requires advance planning, and attendees who will be travelling in the weeks leading up to the party.  The ticket for admission to the party is one six-pack (or more) of beer that cannot be easily purchased in the metro area where the party is held.  The beer must be a micro or regional craft beer.  Anheiser-Busch, SABMiller, and Molson-Coors products are not eligible.  Neither is Corona or Heineken.  Attendees are encouraged to be creative with their choices.  Many will come up with excuses to explain why they showed up with Killian's Irish Red (which is a Coors product and can be purchased in nearly every grocery store in the country).  These are the types of people who will kill this kind of party, and every attempt should be made to leave them off the invite list to begin with.

If a person will not be travelling out of the area before the party, they are encouraged to be resourceful in acquiring a beer for the party by contacting friends or family members who will ship beer to them, or having a travelling friend pick up a six-pack on their behalf.  If this is not possible, the attendee should acquire a growler full of a beer from a local brewpub and provide it for the party.  The attendee using this route should make every attempt to select a beer most attendees has not tried, such as a seasonal or special brew.

Any person showing up empty handed or with a macro brew will be considered a "poacher", and must wear a dunce-cap for the duration of the party, and will not be allowed to vote in any contest or try any beer but their own.

Each attendee must submit one bottle of each beer they bring to the host for use in the contests, then place the other five bottles in the fridge for all attendees to enjoy.

Beers in the fridge are open-season, meaning any attendee (excluding poachers) may drink them.
 

Proper attire shall include whatever beerwear you may have, be it hats, shirts, jackets, etc., or creative artsy wearables made from beer bottles, cans, or boxes.

The party host needs to have two maps, one world map and one US map, along with some little tags and some push pins. The attendees will write the full name of their beer on a tag, and stick it on the map where it was brewed.

3. The Contests

In order for the contests to work, at least one full bottle of each six-pack must be submitted to the host for judging purposes upon arrival at the party.  This bottle will first be put on display for the Best Label contest, then will be consumed as part of the Best and Worst tasting contests.
 

Best Label

Upon receipt of one bottle of each beer provided by the attendees, the host shall display all bottles on a shelf or mantle for the attendees, and place voting slips in the vicinity.  Each attendee shall view the labels and cast one vote for their favorite.  The host will announce a time when voting on the Best Label will end.  At that time, each bottle will be removed from the display area and iced down in preparation for the Best and Worst Tasting contests.

Best and Worst Tasting

When all beers are sufficiently chilled, the Best and Worst Tasting contests shall begin.  Unless there is enough of each beer for all party attendees to sample, a panel will have to be chosen to sample and judge the beer. 
The panel** can be chosen in many ways.  A random drawing of willing participants is an option that seems to work well.  The party host always has an automatic position on the beer tasting panel as a courtesy for opening his/her residence to such an event.  The host draws names from a hat until a full panel, generally six or seven people, is reached.  Each member of the panel must agree to sample at least one shot of each beer as part of the judging process.  Attendees that appear to drunk or who are known lightweights should not be on the panel. 
A "bartender" and a recorder should be selected from the crowd.  The bartender's duty is to randomly select and pour beers for the panel, while keeping the identity of the beer unknown to the panel.  The recorder will record the name and order of the beers for reference when the contest is complete.  Each panel member will consume a sample of each beer, then rate it on a provided score-sheet with rating scale of 0 to 5, 0 being the worst and 5 the best.   The panel is allowed to discuss each beer with other panel members before recording their score, if desired.  Any intentional inflation of a beer, such as a panel member recognizing his/her own beer and automatically giving it a 5, is frowned upon and can even lead to such horrible things as a blueberry-flavored beer winning "Best Tasting Beer".   The tasting process should be conducted in public, where all attendees can monitor the operation for fairness and quality assurance.*

When all beers have been sampled, a sober person should be found to tally the scores.

The evening's main event is the awards ceremony, where the attendees who brought the Best Labeled beer, the Best Tasting beer, and the Worst Tasting beer are announced and given the opportunity to give an acceptance speech.  Prizes for each award should be provided by the host. 

*It should be noted that this is definitely NOT the best way to sample and properly rate beer.  The ratings should be taken with a grain of salt.  However, this system works great for such a party, and allows each panel member to take their task as seriously as they wish.  It also guarantees unpredictable results, which we've found adds some spice to the award ceremony and acceptance speeches, particularly for the "winner" of the Worst Tasting Beer award.

**If selected to be a judge, you will have to meet several criteria:

A. You must agree to try one shot glass full of each beer that is entered. Unless there is a serious health-related issue that comes up in the middle of the contest, it is not cool to quit the panel.

B. You will not be driving home. In fact, nobody should be driving home from the local beer party. Arranging for a cab is much less difficult or expensive than the alternatives. Arrangements should be made beforehand to crash at someone's house if you need to. Designated drivers for the evening should volunteer to drive several drunkards home, and should arrange this beforehand.

C. YOU MUST BE OVER 21