The 22nd Annual Dixie Cup Competition was celebrated in Houston this past weekend. It is perhaps the largest single-site hombrew competition in the world (entries were down this year, but still over 1000 entries). Speakers included John Palmer author of How To Brew, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Brian Dunn of Great Divide.
I had the good fortune to steward the following catagories.
18D. Belgian Golden Strong Ale
25C. Other Fruit Melomel
26B. Braggot
25B. Pyment (Grape Melomel)
Winners of the competition should be posted in a few days to the website (http://www.crunchyfrog.net/dixiecup/).
Some of the standout meads that I recall (and things definitely started getting hazy by the Pyments) were a raspberry mel using raspberry/blackberry/gooseberry honeys with a touch of fruit (nice and complex, earthy), a black currant mel (true currants), a hopped amber braggot, a decent wheat braggot, a well-made gewurtz pyment.
I was a little disappointed in the braggots as there were only 5 entries in the category. There's definitely room for growth in all the mead categories, so all you locals (and not so locals) start brewing for the 2006 Dixie Cup!
Cheers,
Kirk
I had the good fortune to steward the following catagories.
18D. Belgian Golden Strong Ale
25C. Other Fruit Melomel
26B. Braggot
25B. Pyment (Grape Melomel)
Winners of the competition should be posted in a few days to the website (http://www.crunchyfrog.net/dixiecup/).
Some of the standout meads that I recall (and things definitely started getting hazy by the Pyments) were a raspberry mel using raspberry/blackberry/gooseberry honeys with a touch of fruit (nice and complex, earthy), a black currant mel (true currants), a hopped amber braggot, a decent wheat braggot, a well-made gewurtz pyment.
I was a little disappointed in the braggots as there were only 5 entries in the category. There's definitely room for growth in all the mead categories, so all you locals (and not so locals) start brewing for the 2006 Dixie Cup!
Cheers,
Kirk