Jefferson County Ciderworks wins best-in-class medals

Jefferson County Ciderworks won top honors at the The Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition, earning two best-in-class gold medals in the Botanical Cider category. The cidermaker’s Winter Botanical came in first place, and Hibiscus Rose placed second.

Held in Grand Rapids every May, GLINTCAP is the premiere U.S. cider competition. This year, there were over 1,000 entries in the commercial division. Only three ciders were awarded best-in-class medals in each of the 20 categories. Jeffco also won a gold medal for its Cranberry Orange, silver for Original Apple and Passion Orange Guava, and bronze for Sour Cherry.

“As the largest, oldest, and most prestigious cider competition in the US, GLINTCAP is always where we try to get golds. But winning the best in class with the top two ciders in the Botanical category was incredible and an unexpected treat,” said co-founder and cidermaker Jesse Narducci. “We certainly love our ciders, and our customers do too — but it's so rewarding to get results like this from an unbiased panel of judges who are tasting blind.”

Jefferson County Ciderworks has previously competed at GLINTCAP, winning medals in both 2017 and 2019 (the competition was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID), but this is the first time the business has won best-in-class.