Yeah, I wish they would anonymously show the scores per category. That way everyone would know just where they fell in the rankings. Was that 20th or 11th? Or where was my unimpressive 26/40? Wish I knew just how bad they thought that was. I was trying to be contrarian on that one. Mixed a crap load of peaches with an unusually funky buckwheat I had. Not sure why I did that But I guess the judges didn't enjoy a mead that truly had a nose and taste of "horse stall," or "barnyard." I've had buckwheat honey that I enjoyed very much. And I've had the $hit i turned in to the Mazer Cup. Enormous difference between 2 honeys labeled as "Buckwheat." My understanding is that it varies greatly based on the region it was collected. I was happy with a 40, just wish I knew where that landed me in the pecking order.
The competition took place the last weekend in October. From what I can see, it looks like late October is typical. Now that I know that, I will get to work. I didn't turn anything in that was older than 4 months.