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Account Registration

Registration is closed.

Entry Registration

You will be able to add your entries to the system beginning Wednesday, April 10, 2024 7:30 AM, PDT through Wednesday, May 15, 2024 11:30 PM, PDT.

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Entry Fees

$105.00 (USD) per entry.

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NW Cider Cup Styles Accepted

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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Pay Entry Fees

After creating your account and adding your entries to the system, you must pay your entry fee(s). Accepted payment methods are:

  • Credit/debit card and e-check, via PayPal

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Entry Acceptance Rules

Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 6

Each entry will consist of:

  • THREE capped or corked bottles if 750 ml or larger
  • FOUR capped or corked bottles/cans if 500 ml, 22 oz, 16 oz, or other size larger than 12 oz
  • SIX cans/bottles if 12 oz or less

You MUST pay your entry fee for your entries to be confirmed.

Please fill out the entry forms completely. Be meticulous about noting any special ingredients or processes that must be specified per the NWCC Style Guidelines. Failure to note such ingredients may impact the judges' scoring of your entry.

Judges will receive the information you put on your entry forms so only include the required and specified optional info, nothing more and nothing less.

Please make sure to enter your ciders in the correct categories. If you have questions about what the correct category might be, contact Jana at janad@nwcider.com.

Cideries may enter as many ciders per category as they want. Please only enter each cider into a single category.

Northwest Cider Cup history This competition was founded in 2013 by Nat West of Reverend Nat's Hard Cider, Mark Crowder of (noncommercial) Rain Barrel Ciderworks, and Abram Goldman-Armstrong of Cider Riot!, with early assistance from Nick Gunn of BenchGraft (and formerly of Wandering Aengus) and Dave White of Whitewood cider.
The NWCA took over the running of this competition in 2016. The board recognizes the importance of unbiased cider evaluation and the benefits of medals as a marketing tool for member cideries.

Have a question? Let us know! Email MJ at nwcidercup@nwcider.com or Jana at janad@nwcider.com.

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Shipping Info

Entry bottles accepted at our shipping location from Monday, April 22, 2024 9:30 AM, PDT through Wednesday, May 15, 2024 4:30 PM, PDT.

Ship entries to:

Northwest Cider Cup C/O B-Line Urban Delivery
1140 SE 7th, Portland, OR 97214

Packing and Shipping

Carefully pack your entries in a sturdy box. Line the inside of your carton with a plastic trash bag. Partition and pack each bottle with adequate packaging material. Please do not over pack!

Write clearly: Fragile. This Side Up. on the package. Please only use bubble wrap as your packing material.

Enclose each of your bottle labels in a small zip-top bag before attaching to their respective bottles. This way it makes it possible for the organizer to identify specifically which entry has broken if there is damage during shipment.

Every reasonable effort will be made to contact entrants whose bottles have broken to make arrangements for sending replacement bottles.

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Judging Sessions and Dates

Competition judging dates are yet to be determined. Please check back later.

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 may be awarded to the top ciders in each 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

Portland Cider Company
8925 SE Jannsen Rd, Clackamas, OR 97015, United States
Thursday, June 20, 2024 6:00 PM, PDT

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