Experienced wine competition organizer Dan Berger announced today the launch of a new event, one bound to attract attention from America’s fast rising cider business. The new event is called simply the International Cider Awards (ICA) and it is set to take place on May 9, 2016 in Sonoma County, California.
Berger is an expect at organizing these types of events and has 35 years of success under his belt. To assist in the undertaking, Berger has teamed with experienced competitions director Debra Del Fiorentino and The Cider Journal Publisher Tom Wark to launch this cider- centric competition. The goal is to introduce consumers, potential business persons, and others to the wide array of outstanding craft ciders now sold in markets across the United States.
The ICA competition will take place on May 9th to May 12th in Sonoma County, California and is open to any cider presently sold in the United States, regardless of the size of the distribution footprint. Judges for this inaugural event include such notable personalities as cider expert and author Ben Watson; cider buyer and enthusiast Jim Boyce from K&L Wine Merchants in Redwood City, California; Tom Wark, publisher of The Cider Journal and Cider Competition Coordinator; Ellen Cavalli of Tilted Shed Ciderworks in Sonoma County; and Mike Reis, a Certified Cicerone and Operations Manager for Lime Ventures, cider distributor serving the state of California.
“The expansion of the craft cider industry and the array of new, very high quality ciders is one of the most exciting alcohol industry developments in years,” said Berger. “The aim of the International Cider Awards is to draw attention to the numerous craft ciders being produced by dedicated cidermakers here in the states and around the world.”
Cidermakers are invited to submit entries to the ICA’s up until May 6th at http://www.dbiwc.com.
Cider submitted to the ICA will be judged in 12 categories including dry and sweet common and traditional ciders, Spanish style cider, single variety cider, fruit ciders and perry among others. Awards will include Best of Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. It’s an excellent opportunity for makers of cider to earn recognition and a much coveted stamp of highest approval from a panel of experts at this, one of the very few cider competitions around.
Cider Journal publisher Tom Wark is thrilled that cider businesses are finally receiving some much- deserved attention.
“There are now hundreds of cideries in the United States alone, not to mention a growing number of ciders being imported from England, France, Spain and other countries,” noted Wark. “The choices for consumers are growing daily and a competition of this sort aimed at showcasing the variety and high quality of available ciders will be of terrific benefit to both consumers and cidermakers alike.”
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