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Northwest Cider Cup Info

Account Registration

Registration is closed.

Entry Registration

Entry registration is closed.

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Rules

How to Enter NW Cider Cup

Review the NW Cider Cup 2023 Categories Accepted

  • The categories are completely different this year, so please read the entire document to figure out which category your ciders should be entered into.

Register as an Entrant

  • Click Register > Entrant at the top of this page.
  • Please use your company email when registering. After the competition, you’ll log back in with this email and password to view your cider evaluation score and comments.
  • After you register as an entrant, you can add your cider entries, pay for your entries, print bottle labels, and print shipping labels.
  • If you are a NWCA member, make sure to add in the discount code prior to paying.

Ship or deliver your cider

  • See the Info page for shipping & delivery dates and locations.

Return to this site after the Competition

  • After June 13, return to this site and log in to view judges comments and scores.

Rules and Provisions

Download and review the 2023 NW Cider Cup Categories Accepted, prior to submitting your entries. Competition organizers may reclassify ciders into the correct category if they notice a cider is entered in the wrong category, but it is not their responsibility to do so. If your cider is entered in the incorrect category and judged there, it will likely not do well!

  1. The shipper must pay all customs, duty, and shipping fees.
  2. All entries become the property of the Northwest Cider Association.
  3. Any portion of the entries remaining after the competition may be used in any way as seen fit by the Northwest Cider Association.
  4. Entry fees will not be reimbursed if cider shipment does not arrive or arrives broken.
  5. Fee is $75 per entry for NWCA members or $105 per entry for non-membners. If you are a current NWCA member and did not receive a discount code, please email MJ at nwcidercup@nwcider.com.
  6. You must pay the entry fee for your entry to be confirmed.
  7. Special rules for new cideries: If you started producing cider after May 1, 2022 and are a NWCA member, you may qualify as a "New Cidery." New cideries may apply for two free entries by emailing nwcidercup@nwcider.com. All new cideries compete for the Best New Cidery of the Year Award, which comes with a $500 cash prize.

Entry Eligibility

  1. All entries must be currently available for sale or destined for sale in the near future.
  2. All ciders must be made with 90% or more by volume apple juice not from concentrate. Perries must be made with 90% or more by volume pear juice not from concentrate. Concentrate may be used for backsweetening. 
  3. Entrants must be a licensed cidery producing cider in the territory of the Northwest Cider Association which is currently Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia.
  4. All entries must be made by cideries licensed within the territory of the Northwest Cider Association. Ciders made in the territory but not sold by a cidery licensed in the territory may not enter. Cideries in other states making cider via a contract with a producer in the region may not enter their ciders. Collaborations between a cidery licensed within the territory of the NWCA and another entity may be entered by the cidery located in the territory.

Rules for use of competition awards and feedback in marketing:

  1. Ciders that win a medal or award may reference that award via on-package marketing materials only with the prior written approval from NWCA.
  2. Vintage/dated ciders that win a medal or award may only reference that award for ciders of the same vintage/production date.
  3. Use of any award in a misleading way may result in that award being rescinded and the offending producer being barred from future competitions.
  4. Producers are responsible for ensuring that distributors, retailers and restaurants use awards in advertising and marketing in accordance with competition rules. Failure to maintain proper control of the use of these awards may also result in the award being rescinded and in ineligibility to compete in future competitions.
  5. Feedback is supplied to aid producers in understanding how ciders were perceived by judges and what the relative strengths and weaknesses were perceived to be. Individual judges’ comments are not to be quoted for marketing purposes.

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NW Cider Cup Judging Styles

If a style's name is hyperlinked, it has specific entry requirements. Select or tap on the name to view the subcategory's requirements.

35-A Practice Style (Custom Style) C1-A Low-Tannin Ciders Dry C1-B Low-Tannin Ciders Sweet
C2-A High-Tannin Ciders Dry C2-B High-Tannin Ciders Sweet C3-A Red-Fleshed Ciders Dry
C3-B Red-Fleshed Ciders Sweet C4-A Low-Tannin Perries C4-B High-Tannin Perries
C5-A Wood/Oaked C6-A Single Varietal C7-A Fruit Co-Fermented
C7-B Fruit Post-Fermentation Addition Sweet C7-C Fruit Post-Fermentation Addition Dry C8-A Botanical Hopped
C8-B Botanical Herbed C8-C Botanical Spiced C9-A Specialty Fortified
C9-B Specialty Low Alcohol/Alcohol Removed C9-C Specialty Other  

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Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 6

Judging Sessions and Dates

Practice Session 1
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 3:00 PM, PDT through Sunday, June 11, 2023 8:00 PM, PDT
virtual

1. Morning Judging 6/12 Session 1
Monday, June 12, 2023 8:00 AM, PDT

2. Morning Judging 6/12 Session 2
Monday, June 12, 2023 10:00 AM, PDT

3. Afternoon Judging 6/12 Session 3
Monday, June 12, 2023 12:30 PM, PDT

4. Afternoon Judging 6/12 Session 4
Monday, June 12, 2023 2:00 PM, PDT

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Best of Show

Winner of the Best of Show will be given the Cup with their cidery and cider name engraved on the plinth to display in their cidery for the upcoming year.

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Awards

Category Medals:
Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded to the top three ciders in each category. In the extremely unlikely event that all the entries in a particular category scored very low, the category judges may decide to award no medals, or a combination of specific medals. For instance, there may be a bronze medal to the top scorer in a category and no silver and gold medals. A maximum of one gold, one silver and one bronze may be awarded per category. This award system is in contrast to GLINTCAP which awards medals based on points with multiple gold, silver and bronze awards per category.

Other Awards:
Best of Show: Gold medals from each category will advance to the Best of Show competition for which a single winner will be selected by the lead judges from each judging group.

Large Cidery of the Year: The cidery awarded the most number of medal points (weighted with gold as 5 points, silver as 3 points, and bronze as 1 point) producing over 250,000 gallons per year in the previous tax reporting year will win the Large Cidery of the Year award. Entrants must specify total annual production in gallons to be eligible for this award.

Medium Cidery of the Year: The cidery awarded the most number of medal points (weighted with gold as 5 points, silver as 3 points, and bronze as 1 point) producing over 10,000 gallons per year but less than 250,000 gallons per year in the previous tax reporting year will win the Large Cidery of the Year award. Entrants must specify total annual production in gallons to be eligible for this award.

Small Cidery of the Year: The cidery awarded the most number of medal points (weighted with gold as 5 points, silver as 3 points, and bronze as 1 point) producing under 10,000 gallons per year in the previous tax reporting year will win the Small Cidery of the Year award. Entrants must specify total annual production in gallons to be eligible for this award.

Best New Cidery of the Year: The new cidery awarded the most number of medal points (weighted with gold as 5 points, silver as 3 points, and bronze as 1 point) will win the Best New Cidery of the Year award. Entrants must specify a company start date after May 1, 2022 to be eligible for this award.  This awards also comes with a $500 cash prize!

Additional prizes may be awarded to those winners present at the awards ceremony at the discretion of the competition organizers.

Results will be posted to the competition web site after the ceremony concludes.

 

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Awards Ceremony

Polaris Hall
635 N Killingsworth Court
Thursday, June 15, 2023 6:00 PM, PDT

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Launch Awards Presentation

Judging Sessions and Dates

Practice Session 1
05/31/2023 3:00 PM, PDT through 06/11/2023 8:00 PM, PDT.

virtual

1. Morning Judging 6/12 Session 1
06/12/2023 8:00 AM, PDT.

2. Morning Judging 6/12 Session 2
06/12/2023 10:00 AM, PDT.

3. Afternoon Judging 6/12 Session 3
06/12/2023 12:30 PM, PDT.

4. Afternoon Judging 6/12 Session 4
06/12/2023 2:00 PM, PDT.

Account Registration Closed

Account registrations accepted 04/03/2023 9:00 AM, PDT through 05/31/2023 3:00 PM, PDT.

Entry Registration Closed

Entry registrations accepted 04/03/2023 2:30 PM, PDT through 05/31/2023 3:00 PM, PDT.

Entry Drop-Off Closed

Entry bottles accepted at drop-off locations 05/15/2023 9:00 AM, PDT through 06/05/2023 5:00 PM, PDT.

Please pay attention to the notes provided for each drop-off location. There could be earlier deadlines for some drop-off locations listed, particular hours when entries are accepted, certain individuals to leave your entries with, etc. All entrants are responsible for reading the information provided by the organizers for each drop-off location.

Entry Shipping Closed

Entry bottles accepted at the shipping location 05/15/2023 9:00 AM, PDT through 06/05/2023 4:00 PM, PDT.