Upcoming mead and cider comp

Maylar · Jul 18, 2025

Just an FYI for my fellow mazers. I'm on the mail list because I've entered before -

The St. Louis Brews homebrew club is proud to announce the second annual Mead Me In St. Louis (And Cider Me Too) competition. This competition is limited to meads and ciders, and will be held on Saturday, September 6. This coincides with National Honey Month, and as such, we were able to obtain extra honey prizes from our friends at the National Honey Board.

The judging pool for meads and ciders has grown so much in the St. Louis area, that we are now able to judge almost all meads and ciders with two certified mead or certified cider judges. So entrants can be assured that their entries will be judged by quality judges and they will receive quality feedback. In addition, we will have special prizes for winners, including trophies for our BOS winners.

As for our judges, by having meads and ciders separate from beers, this allows our judges to focus on the meads and ciders they love.

So mark your calendars for September 6! The registration window will be during the month of August, so you still have time to get those meads and ciders made for this competition. And if you're interested in judging meads or ciders, reserve that day to come help us judge! In addition to judging on Saturday, we are hoping to plan an event for Saturday night for our judges to participate in.

For more information about the site, please visit https://stlbrews.brewingcompetitions.com/.

Kickass · Jul 20, 2025

I didn’t see the cost to enter. Do you have any info on that?

Maylar · Jul 20, 2025

I don't see that either, but in previous years it's usually $15 per entry.

Maylar · Aug 20, 2025

Bump. Registration is open. I hope some of our members can enter. My current meads aren't ready yet.

Mutant · Aug 21, 2025

Maylar said:
Bump. Registration is open. I hope some of our members can enter. My current meads aren't ready yet.

I see your "In pursuit of the perfect cider." statement. A year ago, I purchased 900 pounds of Golden Bosc pears for $200. I made eight different experiments and learned a ton about working with pears. My best ("Gingered Pear" cider) was submitted to the California State Fair, where it received a Gold, and it was submitted to one other competition, where it received a Double-Gold. If you can get some pears, you might impress yourself with the results, plus learn a bunch. The yeast I used on this was Mangrove Jack's M12, which worked perfectly.