Become a Cider Celebrity at the 2018 Boston Homebrew Competition

[bembel]

Just wanted to let everyone who's ever wanted to enter their ciders in a competition know that this year we have some top tier cider judges for the 2018 Boston Homebrew Competition on May 6th, including

Charlie Olchowski -one of the founders of Franklin County Cider Days,
Ria Windcaller from the popular Cider Chat podcast
Paul Correnty who's book, The Art of Cider Making is one of the classics on the subject

I will also be judging if they let me past security & I won't be entering any ciders this year as part of my promise to stop carpet bombing competitions


The winner of the Best of Show in cider will also get featured on Ria's Cider Chat podcast and will be default, BECOME a Cider Celebrity

So if you have ever wanted some feedback from people who really know cider, this is a great way to get some and the entry fees are quite low!

Here is the registration link

https://www.bhc.wort.org/register/entrant

Entries are accepted up through April 20th and there are drop off locations listed on the website -

we had entries from as far away as California last year - so don't be afraid to ship!

Hope to taste some of your ciders!

Cheers

William

 

[bernardsmith]

If ciders and meads are not to be included in the best of show part of the competition ( see entry details) do those sending in entries for ciders or meads need to send two bottles or will one be accepted as an appropriate entry?

 

[bembel]

Hello Bernardsmith !

Excellent question, for any competition you could theoretically just send in one, but if it gets consumed or changes carbonation / flavor over the course fo the day and then goes to the BOS round it might not have enough left to get judged properly.

If your entry is in a less popular category its safer to do so, as the chances they need to have multiple tables to judge that category are smaller.

If you are entering a popular category (New World Modern always has the most entries, for example) and there are more than say, 10 entries, the category gets split between 2 tables - in this case, there must be a mini-BOS and the second bottle will be used for that and then BOS -

So the Net-Net: Most big competitions ask for 3 bottles for these reasons - for BHC, send two if you can, if you only have one bottle, PLEASE let us know and we will make sure the judges go sparingly but can't promise anything

 

[bernardsmith]

Many thanks for this clarification but I am not certain it actually addresses my question. The information provided at https://www.bhc.wort.org/entry seems to be contradictory or perhaps just unclear. It states: "Entrants must submit two containers of each entry (the second container is used for Best-of-Show judging if the entry advances)". OK, so two bottles are required for every entry, but lower down on the page it then states that "Ciders and Meads will not be included in the Best of Show flight". If cider and mead will not be considered for BoS then do ciders and meads need to entered with two bottles?

 

[MarkKF]

How else do the volunteers get take home bottles?

 

[bmd2k1]

Lol...

Having never entered a competition...what are the typical requirements for a cider entry?

 

[bernardsmith]

Check out the BJCP guidelines. Those are the guidelines that the entrant needs to meet - Of course, sometimes judges have their own preferences and dislikes which may influence how they feel about specific entries... but judging ought to be based on the guidelines. https://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Cider.pdf (I think 2015 guidelines are current).

 

[bernardsmith]

I think too, if you go to the entry page for this competition at least for some entry types the rules specify what you must identify and list on the label and what you MAY specify and list. If you have never entered a competition before IMO, you do not want to list anything that is not required because if you list an ingredient the judges will expect to be able to confirm its presence and if they cannot then that means that points are detracted.

 

[bmd2k1]

Check out the BJCP guidelines. Those are the guidelines that the entrant needs to meet - Of course, sometimes judges have their own preferences and dislikes which may influence how they feel about specific entries... but judging ought to be based on the guidelines. https://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Cider.pdf (I think 2015 guidelines are current).

Thanks!

 

[bmd2k1]

Check out the BJCP guidelines. Those are the guidelines that the entrant needs to meet - Of course, sometimes judges have their own preferences and dislikes which may influence how they feel about specific entries... but judging ought to be based on the guidelines. https://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Cider.pdf (I think 2015 guidelines are current).

So if you're not pressing your own apples....it appears you have not know what apples are going into the juice you're using?

 

[bembel]

Many thanks for this clarification but I am not certain it actually addresses my question. The information provided at https://www.bhc.wort.org/entry seems to be contradictory or perhaps just unclear. It states: "Entrants must submit two containers of each entry (the second container is used for Best-of-Show judging if the entry advances)". OK, so two bottles are required for every entry, but lower down on the page it then states that "Ciders and Meads will not be included in the Best of Show flight". If cider and mead will not be considered for BoS then do ciders and meads need to entered with two bottles?

Hi bernardsmith

Sorry if I added to the confusion, we will be doing a Best of Show for cider and mead - but those wont be in the Best of Show against the beer categories - the beer has its own Best of Show

Sadly - most beer competitions are just that - beer comps, and the cider folks are like the bastard stepchildren trying to get fed at the table - the beer folks would likely get ticked off if a cider won overall

We aim to change that in Boston - If we get enough entries we might even be able to add additional categories so its not just 'standard and specialty'

 

[bembel]

Lol...

Having never entered a competition...what are the typical requirements for a cider entry?

None really - just a cider that you think is tasty that you don't mind sharing 2 bottles worth with judges! Check out the BJCP cider guidelines and figure out which category yours best fits into - that's most of the time the hardest part

https://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Cider.pdf

If anyone does have category / sub-category questions for a specific entry they would like, I would be glad to help, just PM or email me at [email protected]

 

[bembel]

FYI - a lot of folks see the descriptions of the 'requirements' and get worried that they might mis-enter the right carbonation level or sweetness level- don't worry - in terms of assigning points ( or taking them away ) the MOST that any experienced judge will ding you is a point for either of those if its way off - and thats if you listed "still" and its a gusher - the Best of Show cider at GlintCap last year was a gusher - no one cared.

 

[Maylar]

Hi bernardsmith

Sorry if I added to the confusion, we will be doing a Best of Show for cider and mead - but those wont be in the Best of Show against the beer categories - the beer has its own Best of Show

Sadly - most beer competitions are just that - beer comps, and the cider folks are like the bastard stepchildren trying to get fed at the table - the beer folks would likely get ticked off if a cider won overall

We aim to change that in Boston - If we get enough entries we might even be able to add additional categories so its not just 'standard and specialty'

There's a new comp here called Beer Idol where winners are chosen by peoples' choice voting rather than judges. Their first year's first place went to a cider. Boo yea.

 

[bembel]

Hi Maylar where are you located again, I really think a people’s choice is a great way too do a comp and I want to learn more about it

 

[Maylar]

Connecticut. Not sure if they did one last year or not, but here's the web site -

http://sampoll.co/idol/

 

[bembel]

Huge news, Nicole Leibon from Farnum Hill will be judging Cider at Boston Homebrew Competition next month . She is one of the best judges in the country if not the world.

Normally you have to enter Ciders at Glintcap to get this level of judging and then it’s $20-$60 per entry. So send your Ciders in for Boston for a fraction of that to get world class feedback. Link to competition in top of thread.

https://ciderguide.com/podcast/nicole-leibon-farnum-hill-ciders/

 

[MarkKF]

I was thinking of entering but I realized my best ready cider now is a bourbon barrel aged cider and there is no category for that. Oh well.

 

[bembel]

I was thinking of entering but I realized my best ready cider now is a bourbon barrel aged cider and there is no category for that. Oh well.

You can absolutely enter that, under specialty cider C2F

C2F. Specialty Cider/Perry This is an open-ended category for cider or perry with other ingredients such that it does not fit any of the categories above. This includes the use of other sweeteners. A cider with added honey may be entered here if the cider character remains dominant; otherwise it should be entered as mead in the cyser sub-category. Examples also include wood-fermented or aged ciders in which the wood/barrel character is a significant part of the overall flavor profile.

 

[Maylar]

Did anyone else enter this comp? My cider scored 38, with 41 from one judge. Not bad.

 

[bembel]

Congrats Mylar, what was your entry, we had some world class judges leading the pack- your cider (with a 38) would have been a silver medal at Glintcap - which is really, really good!

 

[bembel]

Boston Homebrew Competition Follow Up! - Cider In-sider

We had 31 cider entries total and 6 judges, but the way the entries were split - there 15 Modern cider - we couldn't have 3 tables of 10 each with just 2 judges per table, so both C1 and C2 cider categories got combined and judged at two tables with 3 judges each and a steward, ( better score sheets) and the results are essentially the BOS from those two tables was the 1st, 2nd and 3rd for all the ciders combined.

This meant that there would have normally been a 2nd and 3rd place for C1 and a 3rd place for C2, but due to the combination those spots got nerved.

HOWEVER- Top 5 scores across both categories ( C1 & C2) will get Cider Chat hats mailed to them - I'm working on that next week - if you scored in the high 30s-40s on anything, send me a PM and Ill double check if you get a hat!

Also listen to the live Cider-Chat podcast - its on the site now , you can eavesdrop on the BOS judging

Congrats to everyone who entered !!!!

BIG NEWS!! For the first time, the ciders were INCLUDED in the overall Best of Show with the beers, and one of HBTs very own, SCRUMPY! took 3rd place in the overall BOS with his Modern cider, beating out 34 beers!!!!!

 

[Maylar]

My entry (#409) was Country Cider. Normally I enter under C1A, New World Cider, but somehow I clicked the wrong button and entered this one as C2A, New England Cider. That could have hurt me as the judges were expecting more alcohol (C2A is up to 9% ABV). But no flaws were noted, and I'm very pleased with the scores.

Having 3 judges was awesome. Good feedback.

 

[bembel]

My entry (#409) was Country Cider. Normally I enter under C1A, New World Cider, but somehow I clicked the wrong button and entered this one as C2A, New England Cider. That could have hurt me as the judges were expecting more alcohol (C2A is up to 9% ABV). But no flaws were noted, and I'm very pleased with the scores.

Having 3 judges was awesome. Good feedback.

I remember this entry, it was an outstanding cider but I could not figure out why it was listed as NE, I think I wrote that in the comments

With NE cider judges expect to smell and taste the adjuncts -