I was there and I still missed a lot. While I did get to meet Vicky, I missed meeting Oskaar, Wayne, and Alan. But that said, the food pairing event was incredible, well worth the cost of flying to Colorado. I have never had that many different meads before, my knowledge grew immensely. At the awards banquet there were many more different types of meads than I could sample (I was driving). The chocolate was far better than I could have imagined.
I entered two meads, even though I didn't think I was ready for prime time. While I didn't do as well as I would have liked (I got blasted – in a very nice way), I learned a lot from the judges. Implementing the suggestions will make me a far better mead maker.
I would have liked to see much more detail on the Winners Circle pairings. Also, I would kill to have a taste of the best of show winners mead. One comment I heard from one of the judges was how much better the armatures mead was than the pro's. Given how good the commercial stuff was, I cannot even imagine what Best of ( amateur ) Show was.
I am hoping next years venue will be bigger, Saturday night was very crowded. But with access to several hundred meads … :-D
Already starting some new batches for next years contest based on the judges input. Hope to see all of you there, it is more than worth it.
dan
I entered two meads, even though I didn't think I was ready for prime time. While I didn't do as well as I would have liked (I got blasted – in a very nice way), I learned a lot from the judges. Implementing the suggestions will make me a far better mead maker.
I would have liked to see much more detail on the Winners Circle pairings. Also, I would kill to have a taste of the best of show winners mead. One comment I heard from one of the judges was how much better the armatures mead was than the pro's. Given how good the commercial stuff was, I cannot even imagine what Best of ( amateur ) Show was.
I am hoping next years venue will be bigger, Saturday night was very crowded. But with access to several hundred meads … :-D
Already starting some new batches for next years contest based on the judges input. Hope to see all of you there, it is more than worth it.
dan