Thank you for your interest in the Valkyries Horn Home Mead Competition organized by Valkyries Horn Mead Competition, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

You only need to register your information once and can return to this site to enter more brews or edit the brews you've entered. You can even pay your entry fees online if you wish.

Entry Registration is Open

98 entries have been added to the system as of 2:08 AM, CST, Monday 23 December, 2024. There is a limit of 300 entries for this competition.

66 paid entries are in the system as of 2:08 AM, CST, Monday 23 December, 2024. There is a limit of 300 paid entries for this competition.

To add your entries into the system, please proceed through the registration process or log in if you already have an account.

Judge and Steward Registration is Open

If you have not registered and are willing to be a volunteer, please register.

If you have registered, log in and then choose Edit Account from the My Account menu indicated by the icon on the top menu.

Rules

This competition is BJCP sanctioned and open to AMATEUR homebrewers age 21 or older. The COMMERCIAL competition is located here:
https://commercial.valkyrieshorn.com/

Quality judging of all entries is a primary goal for our event. Judges will evaluate and score each entry. The consensus score will rank each entry in its category. ALL flights will have at least one BJCP certified mead judge, very experienced mead maker/judge or professional mead maker.

We use full sensory written scoresheets (no sliders) for our evaluations.

Key competition dates:

• December 14, 2024 Registration open 
• December 20, 2024 Entries open 
• January 3 - Shipping opens
• February 14 - Delivery deadline
• February 14 - Entries and changes close
• February 16, 10:00am - BOTTLE SORT (Location TBD)
  • If you volunteer at the bottle sort, you may bring your entries with you!
• March 7/8 - Friday/Saturday Judging
• March 8 Saturday - 7:00pm Awards will be live and in-person

Awards are open to amateur and commercial mead makers and their S.O.'s

If you are a commercial meadmaker, you must enter the commercial competition.

Commercial Definition:
Within the USA, commercial is defined as having a TTB license to produce alcoholic beverages on, or before the date entry registration opens.

Outside of the USA, commercial is defined as production and sale of alcoholic beverages.

Current mead production employees must enter the commercial competition (servers and back office employees may enter as amateurs).

Amateur Definition:
Amateur mead makers must make their mead outside of a commercial setting, and this includes brew-on-premise sites, commercial collaborations, and "wort share" scenarios.

An entrant is one or more people submitting an entry. Entrant(s) of a mead must have actively contributed to mixing, fermenting, and bottling of an entry. If multiple people contributed to the making of a mead only ONE of those individuals may enter that mead.

Example: Tom made a mead with co-entrant Bob and entered an Orange Blossom traditional semi sweet. Bob may not enter the same mead as the lead with Tom as a co-entrant. Coordinate your entries so you are not disqualified!

Every entrant must be at least 21 years of age.

THREE bottles are recommended. Please see Entry Acceptance Rules for further details (THIS IS IMPORTANT).

There is a limit of 10 entries an entrant may submit.

You may submit multiple entries per category and sub-category as long as they are distinctly different. You MAY NOT enter the same mead twice even if it is placed into a different category/sub-category. Please note co-entrant restrictions above.

To elaborate further: If you have a fireweed traditional that is borderline dry or semi-sweet you may NOT enter it in both categories - pick ONE.
You MAY enter the Fruit and Spice mead category with a Stinging Nettle and Orange mead and a Stinging Nettle and Pear mead.

Sub-Categories will not be combined (i.e. Braggot and Historical will not be smashed together).

Most of the sub-categories have been "pre-split" by sweetness and are shown as "special categories". Please enter your mead where it fits best by sweetness.

NOTE: we may combine dry and semi, or semi and sweet if one of the split sub-categories is small.

All entries become the property of the Valkyries Horn Mead Competition and will not be returned under any circumstances. Any questions or disputes will be settled by the competition organizers, and all decisions are final.

All mailed entries must be received at the mailing location by the shipping deadline - please make allowances for shipping time and delivery truck difficulties. Package your entries well. Don't be the person that causes a shipper to reject all packages going to the shipping location.

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

The official style guidelines for this competition are the 2021 Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Style Guidelines for Mead (which are actually 2015 edition).

Every entry must be assigned a particular category and sub-category by the entrant, and according to these guidelines.

Competition staff are not permitted to categorize entries that arrive unlabeled, illegible or otherwise indiscernible as to the entry category.

Competition staff (including judges) are not permitted to re-classify or re-categorize incorrectly entered mead during the competition.

Please print the label with a laser printer, NOT inkjet - they blur and bleed when wet which could cause miss-identification of your mead.
See labeling video linked under packaging and shipping information for details.

Entries in category M1 (Traditional Mead), M2 (Fruit Mead), M3 (Spiced Mead), and M4 (Specialty Mead), must specify carbonation level.

Entries in sub-category M2 (Other Fruit Melomel), must specify the varieties of fruit used.

Entries in sub-category M3 (Spiced Mead), must specify the types of spices used.

Entries in sub-category M4B (Specialty Mead - Historical) and M4C (Specialty Mead - Experimental), must describe the special nature of the mead, whether it is a combination of existing styles, an experimental mead, a historical mead, etc.

READ THE STYLE GUIDELINES CAREFULLY!

If you put your mead in the wrong sub-category it will not be eligible to medal no matter how good it actually is!

Just because it's something you've never done before does not make a mead experimental. It must be something that can't fit in any of the other categories to be experimental. If you have questions about this, please contact the organizer for clarification at      info    @  ValkyriesHorn.     com.

SPECIAL CATEGORY:
Our special category for 2025 is CHOCOLATE!

Honey and chocolate character must be discernable. Any additional combination of ingredients or wood/barrel aging is permissible. As always, the mead needs to be harmonious and pleasant to drink.

Good luck!

Online registration eliminates the need to submit a paper entry form and will automatically generate bottle identification labels. Paper entries will not be accepted. All entries must be entered via the online entry system, and entries are not guaranteed until they are paid for. You will not be able to print bottle labels until your entries have been paid.

We are holding the line against inflation with the entry fee remaining at $10.00. Payment by PayPal is REQUIRED when entering online.

NO REFUNDS FOR ANY REASON.

Your entries and spots in the competition are not guaranteed until payment is made.

We strongly recommend the use of placeholder entries followed immediately by payment to secure your spot in the competition. If the paid entry cap is reached before your payment is completed, your entries will not be in the competition. You can make changes to the entry information, categories, etc. until the entry deadline is reached.

We WILL keep edits open until the delivery deadline!

Winners will be announced at approximately 7pm on the final judging date (Saturday) live and in-person at the awards ceremony. Volunteers and entrants are encouraged to attend. Generous prizes and raffles are typically offered to in person attendees courtesy of our sponsors.

Competition results and scoresheets should be available by 9pm on the Sunday following completion of judging through the internet (although this is not guaranteed). They MIGHT be available shortly after the awards ceremony. Scoresheets will ONLY be available through the competition via download.

Entry Acceptance Rules

Number of Bottles Required Per Entry: 3

We prefer entries in 12oz brown glass bottles, however, we accept any packaging format.

Bottles will not be returned to contest entrants.

All requisite paperwork must be submitted with each entry and can be printed directly from this website. Entry paperwork should be attached to bottles by the method specified on the bottle label.

Be meticulous about noting any special ingredients. Failure to note such ingredients may impact the judges' scoring of your entry.

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INFORMATION REGARDING SERVING TEMPERATURES:

THE DEFAULT WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:

SPARKLING = CHILLED
PETILLANT = CELLAR TEMP
STILL = ROOM TEMP

If for some reason this does not match your requirements you may send a request to us VIA Email and we'll do our best to honor your preference.
EMAIL HERE:  INFO  @  VALKYRIESHORN . COM

Each entry will consist of capped or corked bottles/cans of any style and size. NOTE: We PREFER 12 oz. (375 ml) long neck beer bottles.

THREE BOTTLES ARE RECOMMENDED. Each bottle must be a minimum of 6 ounces (187 ml) but we will accept whatever bottles you send.

There will be 3 rounds of judging including Best Of Show. To help your decision making, you should know that we don't hold partial bottles for subsequent rounds of judging. A fresh bottle IS REQUIRED for each round. If you send fewer than 3 bottles or inadequate volume you might not win an award.

We recommend inclusion of one 12oz. (or two 6oz.) bottles for use in the Best Of Show judging. The BOS judging panel will be 5 judges. If a re-pour is needed and you didn't send enough mead, your entry will not be eligible to win. This is YOUR decision. Choose wisely.

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Organizers will review descriptive information:

Ingredient information is acceptable if it is not specific to an entrant (i.e. East Elk River backyard honey is not acceptable, Minnesota wildflower is acceptable).
Information that is not relevant to the mead WILL BE REMOVED.
Information that could reveal the mead maker to a friendly judge for special treatment or that violates the blind judging standard we adhere to WILL BE REMOVED.

If you have questions you may contact us at: info   @ valkyrieshorn.com
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NOTE: IF YOU ARE SHIPPING YOUR ENTRIES, THEY *** MUST *** ARRIVE BY THE PUBLISHED TIME ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE SHIPPING WINDOW.

Competition Official

You can send an email to any of the following individuals via Contact.

• Kevin Meintsma — Competition Coordinator