Cider Australia has revealed the judging panel for the tenth Australian Cider Awards, the first national show to be held since the pandemic reached Australian shores.

President of Cider Australia and chair of the Awards organising team, Warwick Billings, said despite many challenges an excellent team had been assembled to judge the 2021 Australian Cider Awards.

“233 entries have been received this year across 27 classes, including low and no-alcohol products for the first time”, said Warwick.

“Due to several pandemic-related postponements we will judge in the middle of the Summer holidays, a challenging time in hospitality at the best of times let alone this year, and we are ever thankful to the many volunteers who support our show.

Entries will be assessed blind by a team of judges with skills across the drinks spectrum including:

• Chief judge Loïc Le Calvez (Wine Truth)
• Nyall Condon (Flying Brick Cider Co)
• Alice Glare (4 Pillars Distillery)
• Tim Jones (RDS Partners)
• Tina Panoutsos (Carlton & United Breweries)
• Tim Shand (Napoleone Cider)
• Kirrily Waldhorn (The Beer Diva)
• Jason Hirsch (Dan Murphy’s) – Associate

“We will not hold our usual industry gala dinner this year as we know that orchardists and cider makers will be busy preparing for the year’s vintage”, Warwick said.

“Instead we will run a virtual Awards presentation on the evening of Wednesday 2 February to celebrate the 2021 Award winners and the prospects for a better year ahead”, said Warwick.

Registrations to the Virtual 2021 Australian Cider Awards Presentation are now open via https://webinar365.in/cideraustralia/

FULL DETAILS ON AWARD CLASSES AND RULES ARE ON THE CIDER AUSTRALIA WEBSITE.

Key dates
Entries Open Tue 9 Nov 2021
Entries Closed Fri 3 Dec 2021
Judging
William Angliss Institute, Melbourne (closed to the public) – Mon 17 & Tue 18 Jan 2022
Virtual Awards Presentation – Wed 2 Feb 2022 (8pm ADST/7.30pm ACST/5pm AWST)