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A New Kind of Competition

Barrel Char Wood Products

Soyala_Amaya

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2011
991
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Missouri
I spent the last four days with over 200 heathens at an annual event run by a local kindred. Now, mead is very important to heathens, and as I was walking around with my horn and my bottles, I met many brewers. Many good words, good brews, and good frith was shared. One thing about every one said was "Man, there are a lot of brewer's here...I wish JBK could get a mead competition for our Midwest Thing going!" When I brought it up to my chieften, I was charged with bringing up a bullet point presentation of how to get that done...so here I am!

One thing that is very important to us at this event is keeping it a folk building exercise in everything that goes on. So we were thinking instead of a panel of judges made of Cheiftens, Gothi, Lawspeakers, and so on, having a table set up for each category and as our other competitions and games go on, give EVERYONE to chance to come up, take a small sip of each thing, and make a vote for their favorite.

This would not be brewer's brewing technical amazing things for other brewers to sniff and gargle and make notes of esters and phenols and honey character, but us, the brewers of the kindred presenting our hard work to the folk. I still want there to be comments available though, as that does help a brewer to grow more than "I got 20 marbles, but that bottle got 40"

So, the basics I need to come up with:

1. I think (for at least a year or two when the number of people organizing the mead tables is probably going to be me and whichever sucker I can pull in that day) three categories. Traditionals, melomels, others. Any comments?

2. We average about 200 adult heathens every year, and growing, but not everyone drinks. How many bottles does each brewer need to bring of their competition brew to fill, say, 100-150 small cups? (Say 750 ml wine bottles)

3. Comment cards, one for each category? How do I make it long enough depending on how many bottle I get? And how do I get the comments BACK to the brewer?!! One small optional one for each bottle?

4. One bottle per brewer per category (3 bottles max at that point) We have Mjolnir kindred...they're an empire. We called them that all weekend. They could take over without limits.

5. PRIZE?! WHAT?! And please, something I could get/figure out/make!

6. Any other comments from those that have been to, run, organized a competition! I have a year, but realistically I have a month or two to get the details down, a few more months to get the info OUT, and after that it's all planning and working for next year's LATP!

THANKS!
 

Guinlilly

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 17, 2011
299
3
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Seaford, DE
ECT does/did it this way this year:

2 brewers who know their stuff - one a professional and one a very long time homebrewer

2 people chosen from a raffle (They've done it where they auction the spots off and then also chosen out of a hat)

The 2 brewers are there to help the 2 chosen from the raffle/auction to learn how to properly judge a mead and further educate them in meads and mead making. Notes are then compiled and given to any mead maker who asks for them afterward. Honey is always given as prizes. 6lbs to 3rd, 12lbs to 2nd, and 18lbs to first. Meads aren't broken into categories at ECT, partially because the North East Community is mostly amazing beer brewers. However, I will brag that we have some amazing mead makers as well. :D Each mead maker brings at least 2 bottles - one for competition and if they are the winner it is added to the Children's Auction. My Gultopper won this year and pulled in $130.00 for the children's fund. Hope this helps. :)
 

kudapucat

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 2, 2010
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Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia
At our wine guild tastings, 1 750ml bottle serves 20 ppl, just.
Prize ideas:
Horns
Tankards-timber ones. I think CG started a thread with some info on drinking vessels. Surely you could lean on a wood worker? Have it branded with your comp and year?
Honey - try for sponsorship - the local apiary would probably love that many meadhers.
Mead - have everybody supply an extra bottle, the winner takes home a sample pack of other competitors.

That's about all I can think of for now. Hope it helps.
 

TheAlchemist

I am Meadlemania
GotMead Patron
Sep 9, 2010
2,464
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If you're using marbles for the casting of votes, why not allow a voter to put a tasting note in the bin with her/his marble?

1oz = 30ml
How big of a sample size did you want to offer?
 

Soyala_Amaya

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2011
991
6
0
Missouri
Alright, taking a shot at what's been said before.

We really want to keep away from a judge panel. Even if it means 5-7 bottles each contestant, we want the whole folk involved.

Having an idea of passing a bottle helps. With an idea of 20 people per bottle to ~25 ounces if we try for ounce pours (great, I'm a bartender now) we can approxiamate how many cups, size of cups, means I can work on logistics.

The marble was a current thought of something that could be visual and appealing. I also want people to comment on each brew, not just the one they're voting for. I'll need to write up a 'laymans' comment card that has room for other brewers and mead connoisseurs, that can speak on body, acidity, phenols, esters, so on...and room for everyone else who just wants to say "WOW THAT"S GOOD MAN!"

I'll also need some way to mark people as having voted so they don't vote more than once. I'm thinking hand stamps. I can carve a nifty "I VOTED" stamp out of a gum eraser with a picture of a wine bottle or something.

And I am officially killing my boyfriend. I spent months planning and working getting ready for this LATP, I came home, passed out for a night, woke up...and immediately posted on here to work on NEXT LATP. I should probably start making beer to make it up to him...but the TIME MAN! TIME! :)
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
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Ottawa, ON
So, the basics I need to come up with:

1. I think (for at least a year or two when the number of people organizing the mead tables is probably going to be me and whichever sucker I can pull in that day) three categories. Traditionals, melomels, others. Any comments?

2. We average about 200 adult heathens every year, and growing, but not everyone drinks. How many bottles does each brewer need to bring of their competition brew to fill, say, 100-150 small cups? (Say 750 ml wine bottles)

3. Comment cards, one for each category? How do I make it long enough depending on how many bottle I get? And how do I get the comments BACK to the brewer?!! One small optional one for each bottle?

4. One bottle per brewer per category (3 bottles max at that point) We have Mjolnir kindred...they're an empire. We called them that all weekend. They could take over without limits.

5. PRIZE?! WHAT?! And please, something I could get/figure out/make!

6. Any other comments from those that have been to, run, organized a competition! I have a year, but realistically I have a month or two to get the details down, a few more months to get the info OUT, and after that it's all planning and working for next year's LATP!

THANKS!

Boy, you Capital H-Heathens are an organized bunch! :)

1) Do you have only mead, or also beer brewers?

2) I'd suggest you go with plastic shot glasses or maybe those little paper shot cups, you don't want everyone getting toasted so I'd think you don't want more than 1/2 to 1 ounce per taste...

5) A great one-size-fits-all prize for brewers would be a gift certificate for either an online brewshop or a chain that's in multiple locations in areas your entrants are likely to be near.


I'll also need some way to mark people as having voted so they don't vote more than once. I'm thinking hand stamps. I can carve a nifty "I VOTED" stamp out of a gum eraser with a picture of a wine bottle or something.

Good thought, or if you can get different coloured marbles for each of your divisions, you have a gate people go through to the competition, and upon entry, they get one marble of each colour representing each category? Then you can colour code your categories...

Also, if it's to be blind (you don't know whose mead you're tasting), you'll either have to pour the cups out of sight and then not mix them up on the way to the table, or cover all the wine bottle labels (maybe packing labels listing the category (colour?) and an entry number to keep things straight?
 
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Guinlilly

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 17, 2011
299
3
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Seaford, DE
I think it's a nice idea to have everyone involved but it's also a huge process to cut down a possible 150+ votes to a few winners. You will be spending hours just combining data and streamlining votes instead of actually spending time at the festival. On top of that, 5-7 bottles being brought by a mead maker to a festival specifically for judging is quite a lot of mead, on top of mead that they will most likely be bringing to share with friends. If you still decide to go ahead and do it this way I think you will need infinitely more than 2 people to man the process.
 

dave_witt

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Oct 4, 2009
112
2
18
Buffalo, NY
5-7 bottles being brought by a mead maker to a festival specifically for judging is quite a lot of mead, on top of mead that they will most likely be bringing to share with friends.

Exactly. My concern is that the large requirement would decrease the number of participants. If you're talking 5-7 750 ml bottles per entry, that would automatically exclude anyone who makes batches smaller than 3 gallons--they just wouldn't physically have enough to submit.
 

TheAlchemist

I am Meadlemania
GotMead Patron
Sep 9, 2010
2,464
8
0
near a lake
Be prepared for people asking for a second taste...If they can only vote for one in a category, they may want to do side-by-side comparisons...

I like the marbles idea, as long as no one knows in advance what kind of marbles you're using (so they can "stuff the ballot box").
 

jkane

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Mar 3, 2010
232
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SE Wisconsin
www.kane1.com
Our beer club does a contest like this once a year. We have tried a few ways to score.

We always start with a check in and get a "name" for the beverage. Then putting it on tap with a number instead of having the Brewer known. Everyone serves them selves, so quantity is anywhere from a few ounces to 5 gallons! We let the brewer bring as much or little as they want.

A sheet is given to each adult with the beverages numbered and each gets voted with a 1-10 rating.

The down side is if someone does not like the name of one, and does not vote at all, how do you count that? If you give it no value, and only a couple people vote for one beverage they really like with all 10's while everyone else gives a 7 to the rest, the average of 5 10 point votes out of 5 is a 10, while the average of 100 7 point votes is only 7! So, a couple people can cause an unpopular beverage to win if others dislike it so much they don't vote at all.

The ballots are counted in a spreadsheet after they are collected. The winner is the one with the highest average points. We use 1-10 because 1-5 was causing to many ties.

This is confusing, and we have not found a way to get everyone to vote for every drink. Just letting you know the challange of letting the fickle public vote for a popularity contest.

We did a simple just vote for your favorite top 3 once. That worked, but again, it had ties also. 3 is not enough decimal places when averaged.

On the plus side, this has made our mead win twice now against many beers. :-D I think it's because so many beer drinkers don't vote for the mead at all, and those that do vote like it more than the beer. Some want the mead to be not allowed in the contest.

Catagories will help. Next year we talked about having a seperate mead catagory. Only problem is we only get a couple people willing to supply 2-3 gallons of mead for the contest.

Good luck with your contest! I would love to be there for a heathen mead drinking party. Sounds like a good combination. :)
 

Matrix4b

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 17, 2008
335
2
0
Denver Colorado
So, the basics I need to come up with:

2. We average about 200 adult heathens every year, and growing, but not everyone drinks. How many bottles does each brewer need to bring of their competition brew to fill, say, 100-150 small cups? (Say 750 ml wine bottles)

This is a tough one. By the sounds of it you would have a lot though. I recommend getting the plastic shot glasses like was earlier suggested. You should be able to get them cheaply from a restaurant supply store. An entry should be enough to drink for everyone that you want to drink. I would guess that would be about 75-100 adults. If you are going ½ oz sizes then that’s 38 to 50 oz. 128 oz to a gallon, I bottle in 12 oz bottles (Standard beer bottle size) so that would be 3-5 bottles. Or standard wine bottle size is about 750ml or about 25 oz, so that would be about 2 wine bottles. This is for consumption and not for the prize. So for 12 oz size I would recommend a six pack, one bottle is kept. For 35 oz size, 3 bottles, one is kept. Only poor out 5-10 shot glasses at a time. This way you can keep it fresh and have a line of each. I would put letters on the label, Encourage your entries to label one of the bottles that they give you and leave the others empty. Since it’s informal, just keep the bottle with the label out of site and stick a letter sticker on the labeled one and the others.

3. Comment cards, one for each category? How do I make it long enough depending on how many bottle I get? And how do I get the comments BACK to the brewer?!! One small optional one for each bottle?

You can go with some printed cards for this purpose at the beginning, Voting can be by letter. You can still do a standard card for all of them and just have a stack of the cards to be slipped into a community box. Sort of like a suggestion box.
5. PRIZE?! WHAT?! And please, something I could get/figure out/make!

A good varietal honey is the primary suggestion. Also, you could offer the top 3 winners the show bottles from the other 2 and the number 4, so that they get 3 different meads and not their own back. I wouldn’t go with a cash prize. It may be good to have free entry into the next years competition too. If you are going to charge entry other than the mead.
Now if you want to make a prize then I have seen online carboy covers that could be made to fit around a standard 5 gal carboy, same size as your standard plastic water cooler bottle. Or making a plaque or something. Or you could glass etch a glass carboy. Put your own flavor of symbols on it as well as the grand prize data. A glass carboy should cost less than $30 and if you scope out craig’s list or the newspapers you may be able to fine one used from someone that no longer plans to brew.

6. Any other comments from those that have been to, run, organized a competition! I have a year, but realistically I have a month or two to get the details down, a few more months to get the info OUT, and after that it's all planning and working for next year's LATP

I haven’t run one but I have run other events. Maybe run, mid-day a brewing discussion for newbies and a technique pow-wow for the more continuing brewers.

Since it sounds like this is an annual event, the 3rd or 4th time you run it you may get the people that made Mead from the first year with the contest in mind. I like this, it encourages brewing.

Hope it goes well, let us know.

Matrix (Complex yet simple)
 

fatbloke

good egg/snappy dresser.....
GotMead Patron
Now I don't understand a lot of this - to me, it's just nonsense (no criticism intended - it's entirely up to you i.e. whatever pushes your buttons. I just don't "get it"?!).

Anyhow, one thing that might help pushing the limits to the amount of "tastes per bottle", is that if I go here and want to taste ciders to work out which one to buy, they supply disposable medicine measures, which only hold a max of 15 mls/3 tsp. Certainly enough to taste, especially if it's about people who don't really know much about mead, but drink it because either they like it, or because it's "part of the scene". Probably not enough to evaluate in a "professional"/serious way, but I suspect you get the idea. Hence with the same type of medicine measures, you could give out in the region of 50 measures per bottle......

I'd have thought it'd be worth the consideration.......

Good luck with setting it all up.

regards

fatbloke
 

Soyala_Amaya

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2011
991
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Missouri
Alright, coming back again!

On number of bottles, I don’t think we’ll exclude anyone who doesn’t provide 2-3 gallons, but we’ll make it known we might run out of samples if not given the full amount requested. That WOULD affect judging. At this point, there’s not much we can do about that.

I was kind of judging my sample amounts on a lot of people not wanting to ‘judge’, some of the one’s who do wanting seconds, and just some people not having the time, so on and so forth. I figure, based on the attendance at other workshops, maybe 75-100 people will actually come to taste and drink, so 150 samples per mead would do it.

The way I was figuring the marbles would be each brew would have a box in front of it, opaque, with a small opening. People would write all the comments they want (and we would be right there encouraging people as much as possible!) but they have one marble per category. So it’s a winner take all kind of thing, one winner per category. The averaging out of 1-10 style wouldn’t be possible to finish in one day to give everyone results.

I will probably also be tossing the actual running of the tables to one of the LARGE kindreds that attend, they have some of the most experienced brewers at the entire event, and gave a couple of workshops on mead philosophy this last time. I would actually be the go between between them and my kindred once this ball got rolling.

We also, from the nature of our event, have only one or two people that BRING beer. Well, home-made beer at least. They may brew it, but I had over 30 meads this weekend, and maybe 4 beers, all from the same person. So adding beer really isn’t an issue for us, heh.

As to the not understanding, well…I think I’ve stated the position of me and my chieftan well enough. There’s plenty of places to submit brews to be evaluated in a “in a "professional"/serious way,” but putting a few people up on high is not what we’re about. There will be many brewer’s there that can do that in their comments, but a brew can be as technically amazing as it wants to be if the folk prefers to drink something else…what’s the point?

Anyway, I picked 5 basic characteristics from a few mead competitions, and added a small description. This is what the comment card would look like, maybe with the before mentioned 1-10 choice for each character, some space below each thing for comments, and a space for the brew to be labeled. (trad-A for example)
¬

Sweetness-Is it dry/sweet/semi-sweet? Is the honey sweetness mixed in, or is it cloying? Is it too dry with no body, or is it still balanced with the alcohol?

Appearance-Is it clear and brilliant when held up to the light, or is it cloudy? Has the color of any fermentables come through, is it nice to look at in the glass?

Aroma-Does the honey and/or other ingredients come through? Does anything smell offputting or out of place? Is it pleasant? Does it help the enjoyment of the drink? Is it fruity, floral, or spicy? Or harsh, chemical, or sulfurous?

Flavor- Can you tell the honey is there, or has it all been blown off during fermentation? Is it a raw honey flavor, or is it all fermented? If anything else has been used, how strong or subtle is it? Are all the flavors balanced together, or is one out sync with the others?

Mouthfeel-Does it have a smooth texture, or an acidic bite? Is it cloying sweet, or watery? Is the alcohol aged well into the mix, or is it young and biting? Would you describe it as full and heavy, or light and bright?

Overall Impression- Each mead is different, but well-made examples will have an enjoyable balance of honey flavors, sweetness, acidity, and alcohol. Any additional ingredients should be well-blended, not overpowering, with a pleasant strength, sweetness and presentation. The final product should be a complete, harmonious package.


I'm trying to avoid brewers terms while still putting on there what to look for/mark off for. What do you think?
 

Brimminghorn

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As to the not understanding, well…I think I’ve stated the position of me and my chieftan well enough. There’s plenty of places to submit brews to be evaluated in a “in a "professional"/serious way,” but putting a few people up on high is not what we’re about. There will be many brewer’s there that can do that in their comments, but a brew can be as technically amazing as it wants to be if the folk prefers to drink something else…what’s the point?

Well.. Honestly if its a "competition" it should be held in a professional way. The person who makes the best mead should be honored. I've been to many Asatru gatherings that the winner's mead that was liked by the "folk" was in reality a poorly made and neglected mead with a stuck fermentation making it super sweet the ending gravity was like 1.070. Its amazing how lots of residual sugars cover up off flavors.Just because its sweet and fruity doesn't mean its good or well made and I can tell you from experience that's what people go for and the meads that are true to style and well crafted never get the recognition they deserve. Most people don't how to even judge a mead unless you have had training.

Jon
 
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Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
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Dec 26, 2004
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Well.. Honestly if its a "competition" it should be held in a professional way. The person who makes the best mead should be honored. I've been to many Asatru gatherings that the winner's mead that was liked by the "folk" was in reality a poorly made and neglected mead with a stuck fermentation making it super sweet the ending gravity was like 1.070. Its amazing how lots of residual sugars cover up off flavors.Just because its sweet and fruity doesn't mean its good or well made and I can tell you from experience that's what people go for and the meads that are true to style and well crafted never get the recognition they deserve. Most people don't how to even judge a mead unless you have had training.

Jon

I agree with Jon. I've been to every manner of mead competition you can imagine, and some you probably wouldn't want to think of. Invariably when you have a throng of people that are tasting mead, sweet will always win. That was proven in the sip test called the Pepsi Challenge. Pepsi is sweeter, Coke is spicier. In a sip test sweet wins in an overwhelming lopsided majority. As a meadmaker who is very focused on technical process to support the art of meadmaking, I would not waste my mead on a group of people in the type of competition you're proposing.

Please don't be offended because I don't enter my mead in any competitions precisely because you have to hit most judges over the head with a mallet to impress them, untrained palates notwithstanding. Making mead to style guidelines in many cases results in crafting toward judging rather than toward the art. Subtle meads with enormous complexity are generally overlooked in favor of big meads with big flavors that scream out the ingredients used. It is also the nature of of many judges to look for faults rather than merit, and to ignore the journey the mead takes as it rides along your palate and surrenders its structure, complexity and integration to your taste buds.

I like the idea you have of getting everyone involved, but agree with Fatbloke that you need to limit the pour (we use measured pour spouts of 1 oz) in order to keep people from just swilling down mead to catch a buzz. You'd also be surprised at how many judges are technically impaired by the halfway point in the first flight they judge since they're not spitting. The only way I can think of to to at least give non-sweet, and well crafted mead a chance is to let the people who actually know mead, and I mean REALLY KNOW MEAD in your group (rank and social/organizational standing doesn't mean jack to me, and I'm not a ranked BJCP or accredited judge in any other organization) and give them a different color marble to use, and give them first pass at the judging.

Then give your meadmakers who know what they're doing another color and give them second shot. Then everyone else gets a different color. Assign a value to the "knowledge judges" marbles based on what percentage they represent of the overall group, or something like that. At least that way the people who know mead can give a well crafted dry mead a chance against an overly sweet mead with faults.

I hope you have a great time planning and executing the competition, and that it is enjoyed by one and all.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

AToE

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Jun 8, 2009
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Calgary AB Canada
THAT is an excellent idea to seperate out the difference between the votes of casual mead drinkers, mead makers, and mead experts - so you give the mead makers being judged some actual useful information along with still having everyone in the community participating.

Without doing this I agree, it rewards the simplest and sweetest. Just like Bud and Coors will always outsell craft beer. :)

I love the idea of everyone being involved for sure, dispite how tricky that'll be, but I think Oskaar's on to something here with this different coloured marble thing.
 

kudapucat

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Dec 2, 2010
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Yah.
I was thinking a judging panel and a population vote. Like some of the crappy talent shows flooding the tv these days.

Have an award for best mead, and one for "people's choice"
I know if I could "place" in both counts, I'd be happy that I had a truly good mead: technically good and well liked.
 

Soyala_Amaya

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2011
991
6
0
Missouri
I'd actually been tossing around the 'secret judges panel' thing in my head after some of the comments! However, to keep things a bit easier to seperate and to put those notes on top, I was thinking a more elaborate comment card with a place to mark which one they think is best, plus a few pieces of notebook paper so they can make notes and compare before voting. I would DEFINITELY need help from some of the longer brewers to figure out who would be the best 'trained' judges, I can think of two names off the top of my head.

Thank you for making that idea flourish and now I think it could really work well. The reason the differences really started bothering me and making me think we needed that secret panel was because I tried about four different traditionals over the weekend and every one of them was dry. I personally enjoyed them IMMENSELY and loved finding the aspects of the honey's from all over the country and each brew. However, there were a lot more people lining up for drinks of my blueberry dessert mead (super sweet, it would probably have been kicked out of competition for too much unfermented honey flavor) and I knew several of those trads were just better products.

But they were dry and not as 'easy' to drink. I will bring EVERYONE'S comments to my chieftan in a day or two, and hopefully have this hacked out so we can get everyone brewing for next year! (I've got my first 5 gallon bucket headed my way just for this, and I really want to show off my local area honey since this whole thing is shot off from my local kindred.) I just hope they'll age long enough to really show off what I want...too many 1 gal experiments, lol.

Thank you to everyone who's helped me troubleshoot this, you are amazing people and I will hopefully post the results of the first Kansas City Lightening Across the Plains Mead Competition next September!
 

Matrix4b

NewBee
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Dec 17, 2008
335
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Denver Colorado
Perhapse on your comment card you can put down what experience with mead that the commentor has. If they are a brewer or not. And what their preferance in drinks is: Sweet/Dry ect. Then you could use that to "adjust" the opinion for the brewer.

Many people who like sweet drinks didn't like your dry mead but people that like dry drinks thought yours was great.

That sort of thing for the brewer's sake.

I like the idea of a secret judges. Having an overall People's Choice award as well as the 3 catagories would be good. Then your tasting is primarily for the people's choice award.

Hope it turns out well.
Matrix
 

Soyala_Amaya

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2011
991
6
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Missouri
This is the way we finalized everything that was talked about and still meeting what was wanted for the event, but still making the whole thing worth it.


"At every LATP there have been some amazing mead-makers in attendance. This year, at Lightning Across the Plains near Kansas City on September 20-23, 2012 we'll have a mead competition on Saturday afternoon. Anyone attending LATP can enter the contest, and below you will find all the details you need to know.

You can sign up for the mead-making contest at the registration table when you arrive at LATP. Each mead-maker is allowed to enter one or more mead varieties for the competition. You must supply two bottles of each mead variety in order to enter. For example, if you are entering only one type of mead in the competition then you need only supply two bottles of it. But, if you are entering three mead varieties, then you will need to supply 2 bottles of each, for a total of six bottles.

There are two awards available in the mead competition.

MEAD MASTER 2012 - Seven judges from across the Midwest will be chosen based on their experience, pallet, and understanding of mead. These seven judges will taste each mead in the competition rating each on a wide variety of factors. The final result will be the selection of one winner who will be declared the Mead Master of LATP 2012. The Mead Master will receive a beautifully made woodburned plaque to take home with them for bragging rights.

FOLK FAVORITE 2012 - Scores of LATP attendees will have an opportunity to sample the meads that have been entered in the competition, and will then vote for their favorite mead by putting a chip in a voting box for that mead. At the end of this sampling and voting process the final result will be the selection of one winner who will be declared the Folk Favorite of LATP 2012. The Folk Favorite will also receive a beautifully made woodburned plaque to take home with them for bragging rights.

Both the Mead Master and the Folk Favorite will get their name on the Lightning Across the Plains website as a standing record of their accomplishment. The Mead Master and Folk Favorite will be announced and receive their awards at the end of the public Thing meeting.

So, if you are a mead-maker and you are attending Lightning Across the Plains, step up, enter the mead competition, and claim your title!"

The people I am personally inviting to be Mead Master judges have all had years of being brewers, many of them have professional brewing businesses, and several are actual accredited mead judges. The only thing that scares the crap out of me is they want ME on the panel and I am DEFINITELY one of those people if you put enough sugar in it I'll at least drink it. But we're going to have comment cards I'm ripping from the BJCP and all the entries will get all their comments back. I know it's all the mead against all the mead, but in a small 1st year competition I was worried we might not get enough entries to separate into categories. I'm hoping my judges are all good enough to judge on how well each mead is brewed and pick the best brewed mead, not compare really which one tastes best against each other.
 
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