Mazer Cup International 2013 Result

I just got results back from the Mazer Cup and little dissapointed that I did not sent enough mead or I just might have placed somewhere. 3 out of 4 pushed to second round. I only sent 2 bottles of each thinking there is just no way in the world I could ever place in a competition of this scale My first ever competition. To be honest with you this were batches # 4, 5, and 7 of my mead making career ever (according to my log book).

1) My lowest score was 35/40 for Clementine/Vanilla mead in 25C (push to second round)

2) My second lowest score was 38/39 for Raspberry Melomel in 25D

3) Followed by score 42/45 for Strawberry Melomel in 25D (push to second round). With comments like "Excellent example of a dry strawberry. Acid balance perfect. May be a little body through aging."
Good thing I got most of my 3 gal batch left. Just need to re-bottle to 12 oz. Sure will send it to few local comps.

4) And last one is Clementine/Vanilla Oaked (15.5%) in 26C (push to second round) with a score of 47/48. Comments from judges: "Wow, nice job! Balance is great. Alcohol is great. Honey is right". "Call me, maybe you can be a guest meadmaker for a commercial run of this? meadery contact info"
This last entry might had a chance to place somewhere. Score sheet has a tiny written mark on top "open semi", just above category. Is that mean it was in semi-finals?

If you guessed 1 & 4 is a same mead with the latter being oaked. What a difference! I remember comparing them myself just before I sent them away. Oak version was just so much better, more mouthfeel and so much smoother, rounder and bursting with flavor, had great balance and could be consumed way too easy for 15.5% ABV

Anybody from this forum got medals? It was a great experience. I have few more new batches to enter next year

I've really been wanting to oak a batch of bouchet. I've heard it rounds off flavored nicely. Congrats, by the way! what level of toasting did you have on the oak chips?

Meadiator said:

I've really been wanting to oak a batch of bouchet. I've heard it rounds off flavored nicely. Congrats, by the way! what level of toasting did you have on the oak chips?

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Hungarian medium toast oak cubes. It adds very smooth flavor and nice compliment to vanilla beans. They play VERY well together as I discovered later and so did the judges. I never used oak before, but I read a lot about oak and how much to use one. The oak flavor is barely there it more adds to overall impression since both judges scored high on "intangibles".