If you are willing to judge or steward, please return to register on or after Monday, April 20, 2026 6:00 AM, CDT.

"Mead Me In St. Louis (And Cider Me Too)" is a competition for only meads and ciders, and coincides with National Honey Month (September). This is the third year of the competition. Last year we had approximately 170 entries and we expect more this year.

Because of the depth of judging pool in and around St. Louis, almost all meads and ciders were judged with two certified mead/cider judges, and we anticipate that we will be able to repeat that this year.

This competition is AHA and BJCP sanctioned and open to any amateur homebrewer age 21 or older.

All mailed entries must be received at the mailing location by the entry deadline - please allow for shipping time. Because we will be sorting just two days after the entry deadline, we will not be able to accept late entries.

All entries must be paid for with credit card / PayPal. Checks will not be accepted. There is a limit of 250 paid entries. Once 250 paid entries have been registered and paid for, the unpaid ones will be disqualified.

All entries will be picked up from drop-off locations the day of the entry deadline.

All entries must be handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public, and made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers (i.e., no use of commercial facilities or Brew on Premises operations, supplies, etc.).

The competition organizers are not responsible for mis-categorized entries, mailed entries that are not received by the entry deadline, or entries that arrived damaged.

The competition organizers reserve the right to combine styles for judging and to restructure awards as needed depending upon the quantity and quality of entries. All possible effort will be made to combine similar styles. All meads and ciders in combined categories will be judged according to the style they were originally entered in.

Qualified judging of all entries is the primary goal of our event. Judges will evaluate and score each entry. Each flight will have at least one BJCP judge, although almost all will have two certified mead or cider judges.

There will be separate mead and cider Best of Show competitions. These will be determined by a Best of Show panel based on a second judging of the top winners of each category. Trophies will be awarded to the top three Best of Show meads and the top three BOS ciders.

Mead BOS winnersS will receive prizes in the form of honey donated by the Honey Board. Cider BOS prizes are being determined.

Entry Acceptance Rules

Each entry will consist of two 10 to 12 ounce capped bottles void of all identifying information (raised lettering on re-used commercial beer bottles is OK). Printed caps are allowed, but must be blacked out completely. Cans will be accepted.

We understand that meads and ciders are not always packaged into 12 oz bottles. If your mead or cider is packaged into a bottle less than 10 oz, we ask that you send three bottles. That would be two for the medal judging and one for the BOS judging. If your mead or cider is packaged in bottles bigger than 12 oz, we still need two bottles.

Bottles will not be returned to contest entrants.

Entry forms need not be submitted with entries. However, bottle labels are required which can be printed out from this site.

Brewers are not limited to one entry per category or style. However, there is a limit of 8 entries total per brewer.

Entry Fees

$10.00 (USD) per entry.

Entry Limits

Entry Limit – Paid:

250

Entry Limits Per Participant

Entry Limit Per Participant:

8

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

BJCP 2021 / 2025 Styles Accepted

Indicates that the style's entry limit has been reached and no more entries of that style will be accepted.

Drop-Off Locations

Entry bottles accepted at our drop-off locations Monday, August 10, 2026 8:00 AM, CDT — Friday, September 4, 2026 5:00 PM, CDT.

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.

Down The Hall Homebrew
225 E Main St, Belleville, IL 62220
(618) 277-2550

Missouri Malt
2275 Cassens Drive #126 Fenton, MO 63026
(314) 779-6258
*Hours: Wed 10am - 6pm, Thu 10am - 7pm, Fri 10am - 8pm, Sat 9am – 4pm NOTE: Closed Aug 6-9.

Shipping Info

Entry bottles accepted at our shipping location Monday, August 10, 2026 8:00 AM, CDT — Friday, September 4, 2026 5:00 PM, CDT.

Ship entries to:

Alpha Brewing Company c/o Derrick Langeneckert
4324 Fyler Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63116

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 or paper as your packing material. Please do not use styrofoam peanuts. They are bad for the environment and a paid for us to dispose of.

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.

Judging Sessions

Friday Evening
Friday, September 11, 2026 5:30 PM, CDT

Saturday Morning
Saturday, September 12, 2026 8:30 AM, CDT

Saturday Afternoon
Saturday, September 12, 2026 12:00 PM, CDT

Best of Show

Medals will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category/table. The 1st place entry in each category will advance to the Best of Show (BOS) round with first, second, and third place Best of Show meads and ciders selected.

Best of Show winners will also recive a separate trophy in addition to their category 1st place medal.

There are separate BOS competitions for both mead and cider.

Awards

Medals will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category/table. The 1st place entry in each category will advance to the Best of Show (BOS) round with first, second, and third place Best of Show meads and ciders selected.

Electronic judging will be performed, which allows scores and scoresheets to be available immediately upon posting of results. It is possible (although not very likely), that a judge will prefer to use paper scoresheets. In that case, the scoresheet will be scanned and available likely the day after awards,

Circuit Qualification

We are proud to be included on the AMMA Meadmaker of the Year circuit. https://mead-makers.org/national-mead-maker-of-the-year/