I received my judges' score and comment sheets in the mail today. Great job on being so prompt in getting them back!
The Mazer Cup International - Home Competition
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Glad to hear you're doing better! Get that mead perfected, I suspect you'll have a bit of competition next year, LOL.
We had just under 170 entries this year, and a *lot* of them were pretty good. The Best in Show Round was brutal, and we had a hard time deciding which was the best....
Vicky - hopped up on Dayquil in hopes of knocking this gluey ick out of my head...
We had just under 170 entries this year, and a *lot* of them were pretty good. The Best in Show Round was brutal, and we had a hard time deciding which was the best....
Vicky - hopped up on Dayquil in hopes of knocking this gluey ick out of my head...
Wayne and Vicky, you not the only ones I have that cold now also. Guess its a late gift....
Brad - I do have to say that that Bourbon Barrel Mead was great who knew Buckwheat Honey would taste so good. (apparently you did)
I wish I could get that shipped here to CO.
Even though I did not win my recipe is here in the brew log the Saffron Metheglin. I will be looking for some others however, the Cranberry Claret Mead was great and another hard one to get a taste of. I hope that recipe ends up here some time soon.
The Midnight Braggot was great also. I'm glad I was just a steward for the final round. I would not have wanted to pick any of the final winners they were all great.
I'm already looking forward to next year and even have a couple of entries that should find their way to the tasting.
And one thing I forgot. It was great to meet all of you. Vicky, Leonora, Wayne, Petar, Danni, Glen and to many others to name and to much mead to remember all of you. Your not forgotten and hope to see all of you next year!
Steve
Brad - I do have to say that that Bourbon Barrel Mead was great who knew Buckwheat Honey would taste so good. (apparently you did)
I wish I could get that shipped here to CO.Even though I did not win my recipe is here in the brew log the Saffron Metheglin. I will be looking for some others however, the Cranberry Claret Mead was great and another hard one to get a taste of. I hope that recipe ends up here some time soon.
The Midnight Braggot was great also. I'm glad I was just a steward for the final round. I would not have wanted to pick any of the final winners they were all great.
I'm already looking forward to next year and even have a couple of entries that should find their way to the tasting.
And one thing I forgot. It was great to meet all of you. Vicky, Leonora, Wayne, Petar, Danni, Glen and to many others to name and to much mead to remember all of you. Your not forgotten and hope to see all of you next year!
Steve
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Thanx to all involved.
My entry this year was hurried as was many others I'm sure. I know it was un-aged and will get better in time. Are we allowed to enter the same mead next year as we entered this year? Is it a bad practice to re-enter even if allowed being that it already fell short once?
Xixist
My entry this year was hurried as was many others I'm sure. I know it was un-aged and will get better in time. Are we allowed to enter the same mead next year as we entered this year? Is it a bad practice to re-enter even if allowed being that it already fell short once?
Xixist
Got my results in the mail today too. Quick turnover.. I'm impressed.
I didn't place this year but I'm not disappointed by my writeups one bit.
Next year I'll avoid the sweeter heavy gravity meads though. I got the impression from both writeups that the judges thought they were a bit too sweet. I was happy with my scores though and the feedback was definitely constructive as well as mostly positive. I also got pretty decent scores.
I like competing, but my real motivation is to hear what needs to be done to make better meads in the end.
Congrats to all the winners and competitive mead makers out there. It was fun.
I didn't place this year but I'm not disappointed by my writeups one bit.
Next year I'll avoid the sweeter heavy gravity meads though. I got the impression from both writeups that the judges thought they were a bit too sweet. I was happy with my scores though and the feedback was definitely constructive as well as mostly positive. I also got pretty decent scores.
I like competing, but my real motivation is to hear what needs to be done to make better meads in the end.
Congrats to all the winners and competitive mead makers out there. It was fun.
Brad - I do have to say that that Bourbon Barrel Mead was great who knew Buckwheat Honey would taste so good. (apparently you did)
We're working on getting distribution in Colorado, but it might take a while. In the meantime, we have 8 barrels of that mead aging this year.
Next year, watch out for our bourbon barrel aged cyser.
We're working on getting distribution in Colorado, but it might take a while. In the meantime, we have 8 barrels of that mead aging this year.
Next year, watch out for our bourbon barrel aged cyser.
Screw Colorado! There are a bunches of meaders there! I'm all alone here in Idaho and would love to try a BA mead. I can find lots of BA beers but a mead!!! It must be heaven! Take pity on a loner Brad! We who are isolated salute you!
:cheers:
Wade
Wayne and Vicky, you not the only ones I have that cold now also. Guess its a late gift....
Brad - I do have to say that that Bourbon Barrel Mead was great who knew Buckwheat Honey would taste so good. (apparently you did)
Even though I did not win my recipe is here in the brew log the Saffron Metheglin. I will be looking for some others however, the Cranberry Claret Mead was great and another hard one to get a taste of. I hope that recipe ends up here some time soon.
The Midnight Braggot was great also. I'm glad I was just a steward for the final round. I would not have wanted to pick any of the final winners they were all great.
I'm already looking forward to next year and even have a couple of entries that should find their way to the tasting.
And one thing I forgot. It was great to meet all of you. Vicky, Leonora, Wayne, Petar, Danni, Glen and to many others to name and to much mead to remember all of you. Your not forgotten and hope to see all of you next year!
Steve
Everyone knows I'm too obnoxious for a cold, flu or other to take root! No cold here, just a bit tired and worn out from the festivities, but very very happy with the competition, the people involved, the hotel staff and an overall phenomenal event!
The Mazer Cup International Site has been updated with the Home Competition Results here.
Hi Wade,
While I'm sure that Brad will be shipping to Colorado soon (Fox Hill does because it's a reasonable fee to do so), I'd be surprised if Idaho is on the short list!
Idaho forces wineries to pay a $1000 bond before shipping can take place. Some others do that too. It's a killer for a small winery and quite ridiculous when our excise and/or sales taxes are so tiny. (Fox Hill has yet to owe more than $5 to any state in any month)
Here is a link to a summary of Idaho shipping laws:
http://wi.shipcompliant.com/StateDetail.aspx?StateID=9#topOfRuleDescription
Got my results and Mazer in today. The Mazer will get a special place for all to see. Fast turnaround.
thanks to all of you who worked and helped with the contest.the judges feedback came in the mail today and provided some excellent information.any of the winners care to fess up on thier scores so all the rest of us can see how far we need to go? hahaha...i did however make it into the very good and excellent categories for my 3rd an 4th mead attempts ever..so i think i'll keep on brewin! thanks again all
Commercial mead judging standards are different both in scale and criteria than home mead standards. Things change pretty dramatically when you go from buying honey from the 5 gallon bucket to the 55 gallon drum. It wouldn't be fair or accurate to compare home and commercial mead to one another. Home meadmakers do not have the same issue of time to market, cost of storage space or production regulations along with ABV and label restrictions that commercial meadmakers do.
Cheers,
Oskaar
Hi Josh,
MO is one of the easy states! I love the easy states. We ship to MO - it was one of the first ones we got a permit for.
That's good to know!! I will have to look your way when I am in the mood for ordering some mead to have shipped in...which may be soon since all 6 of mine are still in various fermentation / aging stages!!
I can get Redstone, Lurgashall and Chaucer's here at Friar Tuck, but I have seen no others yet...get a little bored with the same 8 choices!! ;D
The other thing to realize about the home competition is that numeric scores don't tell the whole story. Only round 1 is scored numerically, and although usually (almost always, in fact) the highest average scores from each flight get pushed to the medal round, that is entirely at the discretion of the judges. Once you're in the medal round, the meads are again blind judged, this time by a team of experienced judges (round 1 flights can have apprentice judges along with at least one experienced judge), and the medal-winning meads are selected without reference to numeric scores from the prelim rounds. So, in general it is possible that the highest numeric scoring mead from the prelim round flights may not be selected as the first place mead in its given category.
Definitely true. I'm a bit slow in posting here for reasons which I will explain, but I wanted to take a moment just to say Thank-you to everyone involved in the rebirth of the Mazer Cup. I know you all had to invest a lot of time and effort to organize such a competition, and I really appreciate the effort of the judges to provide constructive feedback - it really does help to get the opinion of experienced palates. And special thanks to Wayneb who's help in retesting was critical in clarifying my results.
I also want to compliment the maker of the mazer trophies. They are truly beautiful and hold a place of honor in the curio. Even little Wifey, who is becoming openly hostile toward my meadmaking, thought the mazers are wonderful.
The reason my update was slow in coming was that I didn't know which of the meads I entered actually won. :confused1: "Huh?" you ask.
Well I entered 3 meads in the dry mead category. All were orange blossom and I didn't bother to name them. :BangHead:
When I entered them, they all had a separate entry number. Little did I know that the competition numbers would be changed to preserve blinding of the testing. While I applaud the organizers for the thorough steps to preserve the integrity of the competition, the results came back with different numbers than what I entered. Since there were no names, I knew I had an award winning mead, but didn't know which one it was. Talk about frustrating! So the lesson is name your meads if you enter more than one in a category.
Wayneb was kind enough to retest all the batches to try to pair up the tasting notes with the results to determine which on was the winner. Thankfully, I now know the answer.
Now back to summersolstice's point. The dry meads I entered were samples from the HotMead Yeast Test! :blob8:
Unbelievable but true. A mead fermented at 84 F, without aeration, and without SNA, which tasted like Band-Aids a few months ago, turned out to produce an award winning result - go figure.
I'll post up the details in the HotMead thread shortly.
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Now back to summersostice's point. The dry meads I entered were samples from the HotMead Yeast Test! :blob8:
Unbelievable but true. A mead fermented at 84 F, without aeration, and without SNA, which tasted like Band-Aids a few months ago, turned out to produce an award winning result - go figure.
I'll post up the details in the HotMead thread shortly.
This gives me sooo much hope for the future.
Now back to summersostice's point. The dry meads I entered were samples from the HotMead Yeast Test! :blob8:
Unbelievable but true. A mead fermented at 84 F, without aeration, and without SNA, which tasted like Band-Aids a few months ago, turned out to produce an award winning result - go figure.
I'll post up the details in the HotMead thread shortly.
I have won awards before and I am very basic in my mead brewing. I just consider myself a guide on the mead's journey to become what It wants to be. I ferment at room temp and don't aeriate like I do my beers. The real trick it took me years to learn is patience. When they clear and stop fermenting, let them set. Years if possible. That is nearly impossible with the Scottish festivals and Renfairs that we go to.
I have to agree with Medsen, the Mazers are just beautiful. I will use mine closing night of Texas Ren Fest to share a little of the mead that won with some close friends.
I third or fourth the compliments to the Mazer Cup artisan. My cups are sitting on my office desk & I get compliments on them daily. 
:cheers:
:cheers:
