Registration Opens for National Honey Board’s 2025 Mead Crafters Competition
Story by:
Editorial Dept.
The National Honey Board is once again inviting mead makers from across the country to showcase their craft in its annual Mead Crafters Competition. Now entering its seventh year, the event highlights the growing artistry and innovation behind honey-based beverages while celebrating excellence across multiple mead styles. With registration now open, producers have the opportunity to compete for national recognition and join a tradition that blends creativity, craftsmanship, and community.
A press release from the National Honey Board revealed that the online registration for the seventh annual Mead Crafters Competition is open now through Friday, October 31. The annual competition recognizes the best meads in the nation.
“As we head into the holiday season, there’s no better time to celebrate the artistry of mead,” Catherine Barry, VP of marketing at the National Honey Board, says. “The Mead Crafters Competition showcases how talented makers across the U.S. are not only turning honey into exceptional, festive beverages perfect for the season but also as a favored drink in 2026.”
The Mead Crafters Competition is hosted by the National Honey Board and includes categories for dessert mead, metheglin, pyment, varietal meads, braggots, cysers, traditional meads and more. The competition also has a design/packaging category.
2024’s competition saw a specialty dry mead with wildflower honey and aged in bourbon barrels take home the top prize. Fortitude of Bears Bluff Meadery in Wadmalaw Island, SC, bested more than 200 entries. Rounding out the Best of Show podium were Brocton, Illinois-based Treehive’s B.U.Z.Z. Cake, which earned Silver, and Prescott, Arizona’s Superstition Meadery’s Ma Petite Chouchen, winning Bronze.
This year’s entries must be submitted by Friday, Oct. 31, and entries must be commercially available in the United States. Meaderies may submit multiple entries per category, but each mead may only be entered in one category. The competition will be limited to 300 entries. To register, visit meadcrafterscompetition.com.
As mead continues to gain recognition among both casual drinkers and seasoned connoisseurs, the National Honey Board’s Mead Crafters Competition remains a benchmark for quality and creativity in the industry. This year’s event offers makers a platform to share their finest work and celebrate the evolving artistry of honey-based beverages. Mead producers interested in earning national distinction can register now through October 31 at MeadCraftersCompetition.com.
For more information on the Mead Crafters Competition, contact Jasmyne Harris at Jasmyne@honey.com.
About the National Honey Board
The National Honey Board (NHB) is an industry-funded agriculture promotion group that works to educate consumers about the benefits and uses for honey and honey products through research, marketing and promotional programs. The Board’s work, funded by an assessment on domestic and imported honey, is designed to increase the awareness and usage of honey by consumers, the foodservice industry and food manufacturers. The 10-member-Board, appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, represents producers (beekeepers), packers, importers and a marketing cooperative.
Comments 0
No Readers' Pick yet.