The Mazer Cup International - Home Competition

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Thank you for all your hard work! We know it's a lot to do, it's just impossible not to be eager to hear the results :) You all have done a fabulous job getting this thing organized.;D
 
Just to tease every one. I wanted to say that I had a great time, being a Steward was great fun and a learning expirence. Meeting everyone from the site and many others at this competition was more fun than I can actually put into words. (if i could just keep my foot out of my mouth)

Being able to taste the Meads made by our site mentors was a treat just by itself.

And the star of the competition was the Meads I have never tasted so many or seen so many excellent Meads in my life and I'm still recovering.

I dont want to say anything else until the results are posted but to all that entered I would say congratulations for all of your hard work. (My truck was full to the top of meads I wish I had a picture of our Mead caravan to Boulder)

To the team that ran the competition fantastic job I cant believe what a massive ammount of work went into the entire event.

I'm looking forwared to stewarding and working with this team this again and again.

Have a great day all and please enjoy a glass of Mead.

Steve
 
BTW - Steve now knows firsthand how much fun you can have with about a hundred other meadmakers... and 1000+ bottles of commercial and home mead! ;D

I also won't spoil the surprise -- can't actually, since although I hand-packed most of the award mazers for shipment myself, after sampling so much mead I can't honestly remember who all the award winners are.... :icon_shaking2: :offtheair: I will however, say that it was my privilege to have an opportunity to judge so many fine meads -- we had the best overall quality of entries ever!

Anyway, Pete's got the winner's list compiled and just has to post it to the website. He's on his way back to LA this morning, so I expect that the suspense will be over by this evening.

BTW - Some Gotmeaders will be very pleased with the outcome, I think! ;D
 
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Okay Leonora,
Now that you're rubbing our noses in it, all of us poor schnooks who can't be there are expecting you to make it up to us. You can give some play by play on the competition. Things like,

What mead has come from farthest away? Corpo Meads from Poland and two of the meadmakers came as well! They supported us with gifts and mead as well as very enthusiastic conversation! We were so honored with their presence!
What mead has the prettiest color? The roasted homegrown beet mead that medalled in the Other Fruit melomel. I got to judge it in the first round and medal round. It was an incredible red that was more flouresent than the red of rasberries. We should be getting some pix up soon for you to see!
What is the weirdest weirdomel in the competition? See above (hee hee!) There were a lot of creative choices in the metheglins and melomels. It makes it a couple of interesting classes to judge! I'll let some of the rest of the team chime in on this one.
What mead has the most creative name? hmm, somebody else will have to answer this one.
Which meadery has the most entries? I believe the Meadery of the Rockies/Talon Winery was the winner with something around 15 entries. A number of the professionals sent a lot of entries. We are very happy with the turnout in both home and commercial.

And anything else you think would be interesting. Inquiring minds want to know!

We're counting on you.

Medsen

You missed a great time.

The Outlook Hotel treated us so well. They have a new restaurant called "Greens and Blues" with amazing healthy and delicious food that brings in amazing blues bands. We were treated to some hot blues while we were munching on sweet potato fries with chipotle mayo! It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!

A number of folks from the commercial meaderies attended and hung out. There were so many learning oportunities talking to so many talented meadmakers.

Friday night all the open bottles from the day's competition were brought into the Crown Rock Room where the judging had been during the day. We hung out and chatted and sampled until the wee hours.

Both competitons ran smoothly due to our amazing team and volunteers. I can't say enough good about our staff and volunteers. I could just go on raving and raving, but I think you get the picture. It is the volunteers that make this possible. And I hope the volunteers felt happy as they got to sample and listen in to the judges as well as walk away with some bottles of mead.

The PJ party and Award Ceremony on Saturday was a hoot. I hope somebody got a picture of Vicky's leopard slippers! The Mazers awarded to the Home Competition winners were quite spectacular. You really want one of these! The medals awarded to the commercial winners were also so beautiful. They were made with little ribbons so the winners can slip the award over the neck of the bottle and show it off at their facility. Ken Schramm was awarded with a special recognition Mazer, but I'll let WayneB tell more about that!

Sunday we cleaned up and had a summit to start planning next year!

We'll post up the date and info as soon as we can so you can start your plans to attend!

Big thanks go out to some great GotMeaders: Steve - cam07ds and Michael - BrewinNColorado. Steve helped gather up the entries from their mail in locations on Thursday as well as helping out both days of the competition! Michael helped with the competiton both days as well. You guys were wonderful and terrific help! And for the terrific team who put this on - Vicky, Pete, Glen, Dani, and Wayne (with special assistance from Ken Schramm). It was hard work but it's always easier when you have a terrific team!

We hope to see more of you next year! :cool:

All the best,
Leonora
 
Mazer Cup Results are IN!!!

Well, I'm home, whipped, voiceless and dealing with a nasty cold I think I caught from someone in Boulder, but WOW, did the competition go well!!

We worked like dogs somewhere around 18 hours a day, but managed to squeeze in a lot of tasting of some seriously excellent meads, mainly by giving up sleeping, LOL.

I couldn't have asked for a better team to run this competition, and we had a *blast*. If you didn't come this year, you really should consider coming next year when we do it all again, 'cause dudes, you missed a *really* good time, and the chance to sample over 300 meads, most of them *excellent*.

Our support team was unbelievable, the judges were great, and the staff of the Boulder Outlook treated us like visiting royalty. The entire event was fantastic!

The main page of Gotmead has the results up now, so head on over to http://www.gotmead.com to view them (look for the article about the Mazer Cup).

Pete will have them up on the Mazer Cup site at http://www.mazercup.com in a bit, he's airborne and headed home from Boulder as I write this.

We're already planning the 2010 Mazer Cup International, which will again be in Boulder.

I'll put up some play-by-play on my blog tomorrow after I get some sleep (I got maybe 9 hours of sleep since Wednesday, LOL), but ***CONGRATS*** to all who medaled this year!!

Oh, and one more thing: Ken Schramm took me aside this weekend after the awards. This year, our BOS winner of the Home Competition was Jennifer Moody. Jennifer, you were the FIRST EVER woman to take the Mazer Cup Best in Show. You *go*, girl. Your mead was *divine*, keep up the good work!

Vicky - exhausted, but happy as can be.....
 
Congratulations !!!

Well done Vicky !!!

Well done everybody !!!

I will like to congratulate all winers and hope that the next year I will have the chance to be fisically there.

I live very far from the metropoly, so it is difficult to me to obtain and objective feedback of my meads, so I have a question: Is it possible to obtain a feedback and the score of my sample?

Thank you,

Noe
 
I just want to add my thanks to all who put on this event. I have been to a couple of brewing contests in Texas and was amazed at what all it takes to get through one of these. Of course getting to taste all of those wonderfull meads was worth it I am sure. I placed and am pleasantly suprised. My wife loves my mead, all my friends love my mead, and most that get a taste of it at local Ren Faires love it as well. This means a lot and keeps me producing more all the time. To have it validated by some of the top judges in the mead world is overwhelming. Thank all of you and I will try to improve with each batch. It is a craft of love along with my beers.
 
Okay - How about a rundown on Gotmead forum members who won this year? I believe Medsen Fey was a winner but user names weren't used for the entries. Anyone willing to fess up?
 
Okay - How about a rundown on Gotmead forum members who won this year? I believe Medsen Fey was a winner but user names weren't used for the entries. Anyone willing to fess up?

I'm super excited over our win at B. Nektar Meadery. I know that this forum and a whole lot of the individuals here had a lot to do with the development of our meadmaking skills.

I also noticed that Fox Hill Meadery won a couple medals. Great job, Jason!
 
Okay - How about a rundown on Gotmead forum members who won this year? I believe Medsen Fey was a winner but user names weren't used for the entries. Anyone willing to fess up?

If you promise not to give away my secret identity, I confess to winning a couple of Mazers! :icon_jokercolor:

Seriously, hats off to the MCI Crew for your hard work in raising the Mazer Cup from the ashes. Here's to you guys!

:cheers:
 
Congratulations to all who medalled and to all who entered. By entering you get feedback to make your next mead better!


Anybody want to share their winning recipe and procedures?!

You can post it in the Patron section as a proven recipe!

Leonora
 
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I'm super excited over our win at B. Nektar Meadery. I know that this forum and a whole lot of the individuals here had a lot to do with the development of our meadmaking skills.

I also noticed that Fox Hill Meadery won a couple medals. Great job, Jason!


Thanks Brad! And congrats to you too. I cannot wait to taste your Bourbon Barrel winner - please bring one with you when you come to visit!!

Congrats to all the winners and thank you judges and stewards for all of your hard work.

Like many, I'm looking forward to getting out to CO someday for the competition...maybe next year. It would be great to meet some Gotmead folks!
 
Congrats to all the winners and thank you judges and stewards for all of your hard work.

+1

Congratulations Medsen, Brad, Jason, and Beertracker! I'd like to see some recipes too. I understand at least one winner was an experiment that was, to say the least, made with a process not generally regarded as conducive to successful meadmaking through "commonly accepted fermentation techniques"!
 
Congrats to all for your wins!! And thanks to everyone who entered and made the Mazer Cup International a great competition. Never have I tasted so many great meads! I can honestly say that over the 8 years I've been judging mead, the quality of both the home and commercial entries has improved a great deal.

I guess that means that new recipes and techniques are working, LOL.....

Anyway, Brad, if you get down to NC, I'll try to work a trip to the mountains to see you and Jason. I missed your Bourbon Barrel, the leftovers disappeared pretty quick after the judging was over, LOL.

Vicky - curled up miserable in a chair with a nasty Colorado cold.....
 
I started feeling icky Sunday afternoon, thought it was allergies until I got home Monday and was really sick....my head is full of glue!

Vicky - icky :eek:
 
After reading all of this, I am most definitely perfecting at least 1 recipe over the coming year and submitting it next year.

Also, I'm just getting over being really really sick, hope you feel better!