This section is intended to collect miscellaneous sources of information which may be useful to our members.  If you’re a member, please ask if there’s more info you’d like to see.

(I wrote one section on competitions to illustrate where I think this page should go.  -rcd)

Books

There have been a limited number of books available to cidermakers, but it’s improved quite a bit in recent years.  This section is by no means exhaustive; it simply contains some of the best-known cider books which are likely to help you.

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Competitions and Judging

There aren’t many cider-only competitions in the US, so cider tends to be an add-on to either beer or wine competitions.  This affects the character and quality of the judging in major ways.

In the “beer world”, the main reference for cider competitions is currently as an adjunct of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP).  The BJCP maintains various resources for establishing style guidelines, training and certifying judges, and sanctioning competitions.  See the BJCP web site for the big picture.  Within that, there are two primary resources for cider in competitions:  the cider styles in Sections 27 and 28 of the BJCP Style Guidelines, and the Cider Scoresheet used for BJCP-sanctioned competitions.  Although this material is part of a “beer program”, rest assured that it was actually written by three cider people:  Gary Awdey, Dick Dunn, and Charles McGonegal.

Judges are expected to have studied the style guidelines carefully.  They must also taste many ciders to understand their characteristics and faults.  During a competition they will mark the scoresheets, which are returned to the entrants.  The scoresheets contain a lot of terse text; realize that this exists to jog the memories of the judges, not to teach them!  On the scoresheets, the overall score (bottom left) will determine what awards are given.  For example, at GLINTCAP (below), “Outstanding” is a gold medal, “Excellent” is a silver, and “Very Good” is a bronze.

To enter a (BJCP) competition:  Study the guidelines carefully to choose the category in which your cider will be entered.  Be sure you know and mark correctly the sweetness and carbonation level of your cider; it will be marked down if you enter incorrectly.  After the competition, study the scoresheets which are returned to you.  Do not contact the competition organizers to complain that your wonderful cider didn’t win a triple gold...they didn’t judge it!  Again, look at the scoresheets.  Try to understand what the judges found, what they’re telling you they liked or what to improve.  If need be, contact the judge (email address in the upper left) and ask about comments.  But don’t be argumentative or contentious, and also realize that the judge won’t necessarily remember your particular cider out of a couple dozen judged in a typical day.  Finally, keep in mind that cider is still a very minor drink in the US; there aren’t a lot of people who understand it well.  A judge may be learning “on the job” and you may need to help a judge understand your entry.

To become a judge:  The best advice at this time (early 2013) to learn cider judging is to attend the training session that’s part of GLINTCAP.

GLINTCAP:  The big cider-only competition in the US is the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition (GLINTCAP).  It’s now the second-largest in the world.  This is THE place to enter if you’re making serious cider (comm or amateur) and the place to be if you want to (learn to) judge.  See the Great Lakes Cider and Perry website for info on what they’re up to.  GLINTCAP is a BJCP-sanctioned competition but it has added additional categories for a couple styles that BJCP hasn’t recognized yet, and also has categories for styles which are only open to commercial entrants, such as fortified ciders and spirits.