It’s amazing to think that we are coming up on the 20th Anniversary of our beloved Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition! From the humble beginnings as GLOWS to now, it is one of the most important cider competitions. Improvement has always been on the minds of leadership and competitors. Whether that improvement meant making better cider or finding better ways to run the competition, everyone has been striving to be the best. Looking back, it’s easy to see the hard work put in by so many different people over the years. Let’s take a minute to look at the history of it all and the people who made it happen.
The origin of this hard cider competition began when MSU graduate student Patrick O’Conner called Rex & Mary Halfpenny in the summer of 2003. Initially, he reached out to Linda Jones of the Michigan Grape & Wine Industry Council but Linda told Patrick their focus was restricted to grape products. She suggested reaching out to Rex and Mary, publishers of the Michigan Beer Guide. After lengthy phone conversations and face-to-face meetings with Patrick, they began a series of hard cider tasting panels held at local brewpubs with Michigan Beer Guide readers. The ciders tasted were those available at the time; mass-market products sold in six packs in beer departments.
From the success of these trials they reached out to various apple growers to measure interest in developing a hard cider industry here in Michigan. A few growers showed interest and one in particular rose to the occasion; Mike Beck of Uncle John’s opened his venue and generous hospitality to host initial meetings to investigate a hard cider guild, much like the Michigan Brewers Guide that Rex started in 1997. After a few meetings, Rex suggested a hard cider competition to both raise funds for the new organization and to promote hard cider products. The idea was to invite entries from both commercial and non-commercial producers and to include all alcohol products made with apples or pears. Using the growth of the craft beer industry and successful national and international competitions as a model, coupled with Rex’s experience with those competitions as an organizer and Beer Judge Certification Program Judge (BJCP), he planned the first Great Lakes Olde World Syder Competition (GLOWS). Using BJCP hard cider style guidelines, the work force of the Grand Rapids based Prime Time Brewers, and judge panels mostly made up of BJCP certified judges as well as the few interested apple cider producers, all prepared for the inaugural competition.
The first GLOWS was held on December 8, 2005, at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable, and Farm Market Expo at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. Back then, there weren’t many categories. For the first competition there were 113 entries; 45 commercial and 68 noncommercial. This statistic shows how important the noncommercial side has been to this competition from the very start. Mary and Rex trained volunteers how to register entries, steward the competition, how blind panel judging works, and staged the judging format still in use. Uncle John’s won the inaugural Best in Class (Commercial) for their Farm House Perry. On the noncommercial side, Gary Awdey won for his single variety Golden Russet. It’s still a favorite cider apple among competitors.
There were many people who contributed to the early success, but a few names rise to the top. Gary was one of the strong pillars that helped build the competition from the early days onward. He helped run the judges training to teach people what to pay attention to when tasting. Mike Beck from Uncle John’s was instrumental in keeping GLINTCAP going and helping shape its direction. He was proud to be, as he called it, the “Chief Bottle Washer.” We wouldn’t be celebrating 20 years without both Gary and Mike. These two weren’t the only ones who played a large role in shaping how and why things were done. People like Charles McGonegal helped write the original BJCP cider guidelines. His technical expertise helped us all start on the same page as far as how we look at and evaluate cider. Charles ran the judges training seminar for many years as well. As things grew, it was Andy Sietsema that received all the shipments of cider and Eric West was starting to run the competition. Eric spent lots of time (along with Brian & Jacki West and Corey Gearhart) sorting, labeling, opening shipments, and getting them into the correct judge flight boxes. There were definitely some late nights! In the end, everyone was proud of the work accomplished. The competition kept growing and growing alongside the huge strides being made by the industry itself.
Where would GLINTCAP be without Rex and Mary Halfpenny? They were the key to getting everything off the ground. They had the connections and know-how to set up the initial competition. Rex was well known and respected across both the beer and cider worlds. Mary was the original head steward! We owe those two so much for their heavy lifting in the early days. Jeff Carlson was the original registrar (organizing the entries and the database) and his fellow Prime Time Brewers club members put in countless hours. Milissa McGonegal was a long time head steward before giving way to Michelle Foik and now Malaika and Sean Tyson. This is the position that wrangles all the stewards and makes sure things run smoothly in the steward room.
Around 2017, the Michigan Cider Association took over responsibility of caring for this beloved industry event. Under the leadership of Paul Vander Heide (attended all GLINTCAPs) and John Behrens the competition reached dazzling new and exciting heights as the world’s largest cider and perry competition. Helping to guide the way was Ambrosia “Browie” Borowski, Brighid O’Keane, and Dave Takush and their passion for educating people. A training seminar is still held every year to help everyone get on the same page as far as how to judge and what to look for when tasting cider. Jeffrey C. Cottrell has been doing a little bit of everything since 2015.
Celebrating 20 years of the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition is a momentous occasion. Outside of cancelling the 2020 competition because of Covid restrictions, it’s been fairly smooth. We have been given an opportunity to reflect on all the people we met along the way, the ciders that blew our minds, and the stories of adventures in Grand Rapids, and long ago opened bottles. Each and every one of these people helped us get to where we are today. It takes all of us to cultivate this into what has become a beacon for the entire industry. Thank you to each and every one of the folks who have been involved with the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition as competitors, judges, stewards, sponsors, and supporters for helping us reach this milestone.
