Cider Judges Reflect on Historic GABF Competition
The American Cider Association was honored to support the historic inaugural cider competition as part of the Brewers Association’s Great American Beer Festival this fall in Denver, Colorado. The cider categories were developed through ACA’s partnership with GABF and input from experienced cider sensory professionals. The ACA was pleased to share our expertise with the competition, and cider felt respected throughout the event and the planning. The GABF solicits category feedback as part of its annual process, so next year descriptions will be even more improved.
The ACA worked with GABF to ensure that the judges were exceptionally well qualified to evaluate cider. It was a diverse pool of judges by geography, age, race, profession and gender, and cider viewpoints were well rounded. All of the judges were either Certified Pommeliers, senior BJCP cider judges with cider judging experience, or cider experts with years of cider sensory experience. This included the entire ACA Education Committee who was pleased to join this history-making cider judging crew at GABF.
Cider was judged on balance of structural components (acid, sugar, and if relevant to the category, tannins), integration and harmony of flavors, fermentation quality, fruit perception, and alignment with category descriptions. There were 5 categories for cider this year, and hopefully more in the future as entries grow.
The GABF medalists in cider this year were:
- No/Low Tannin Cider
- GOLD, The Russets, Snow Capped Cider (CO)
- SILVER, Gravenstein, Snow Capped Cider (CO)
- BRONZE, 10th Anniversary, 2 Towns Ciderhouse (OR)
- Tannic Cider
- GOLD, Classic Dry, Gowan’s Cider (CA)
- SILVER, Cedar Valley Blend, Paha Cider Co. (IA)
- BRONZE, 2022 Cidre Bouché, 2 Towns Ciderhouse (OR)
- Fruit or Botanical Cider
- GOLD, Blackberry, McMennamin’s Edgefield Winery (OR)
- SILVER, Ozark Strawberry Rhubarb, Ozark Beer Co. (AR)
- BRONZE, Pineapple Cider, 2 Towns Ciderhousese (OR)
- Experimental or Barrel-Aged
- GOLD, Rosé Cider, Gowan’s Cider (CA)
- SILVER, 2019 Pommeau, 2 Towns Ciderhouse (OR)
- BRONZE, 802 Barrel Aged, Vermont Cider Co. (VT)
- Single Varietal
- GOLD, Mountain Rose, Haykin Family Cider (CO)
- SILVER, Macintosh, Gowan’s Cider (CA)
- BRONZE, Glow – Airlie Red Rosé, Alpenfire Cider (WA)
Let’s hear from a few judges about what it was like to make cider history at GABF!
Max Finnance
Beverage Consultant, Certified Pommelier, Master Cicerone, 5x GABF Judge
“I had a blast judging this inaugural class of ciders at GABF ’24, and consider it an honor to have been included. Hearing the incredible conversations among some of the cider world’s leading minds, and helping to select the best of the best over three days of judging, it only makes me more excited about the future of cider at GABF. As consumers continue to get more diverse with their beverage choices, a partnership like this between the preeminent cider and beer organizations in the country makes a ton of sense to me, and has the ability to help catapult the best cidermakers into visibility for a whole new audience. I guarantee that Gowan’s, 2 Towns, Haykin Family, and the rest of the winners all experienced a spike in web queries over the weekend, something that other cideries will be smart to strive for in future years.”
Brighid O’Keane
Executive Director at Cider Institute of North America, Certified Pommelier
“This is a year for the history books! It was a great opportunity for cider to be recognized in the prestigious and rigorous GABF competition. The winners presented stellar products and we look forward to continued partnerships and increased involvement in the years to come.”
Lester Koga
Co-Founder at Barebottle Brewing Co., Certified Pommelier
“As a brewer/cidermaker/beer judge/Certified Pommelier, it was an honor to help judge the first GABF cider competition. In the world of beer judging, we have very established guidelines in which we judge each beer category (over 100+ styles). There’s a lot of rigor around the adherence to specific aroma/ flavor characteristics, typical of style. With cider spread across a manageable 5 categories, there was a lot more opportunity for broader style expression within each. We were able to judge on technical merits, but also on the artful execution of each cider. Without question, there were so many unique and wonderful examples that awarding medals was not easy. Beer and cider often have a place at the same table and it’s encouraging to see them share a podium as well.”
Kate Pinsley
Senior Director of Beverage at Schilling Cider, Certified Pommelier, and longtime cider nerd
“GABF is such a legendary beer festival with a respected and meticulously run competition, and it warmed my heart to have cider and cidermakers and cider drinkers so enthusiastically welcomed into that space. I was inspired by the open-mindedness of Serious Beer People in bringing cider to the table and taking care to understand and respect its unique and diverse characteristics. The cider community will only get stronger from having more of these conversations about what cider is, and what good cider is. It was an honor to be part of cider’s introduction into GABF, and I look forward to building a tradition of cider at GABF — let’s get more categories and more cider into GABF 2025!”
Leah Dienes
Partner, Head Brewer at Apocalypse Brew Works, BJCP Beer and Cider Judge, President of Kentucky Guild of Brewers
“I was extremely excited to find out when I arrived at GABF that cider would be a part of the judging. I was pleased to be asked to judge the ciders and to extend my BJCP cider knowledge with the new categories presented at the competition as well as learn from the expertise of the American Cider Association judges. The discussions during the competition and especially the medal rounds were enlightening and got me excited to want to study, drink and create more ciders in my brewery. It was a great experience that I hope to extend to the next competition and to spread more cider information to our breweries in Kentucky.”