The organising committee has taken a major step in regard to judging of the Australian Cider Awards 2012. Noted English cider expert Dr Andrew Lea who worked at the Long Aston cider research station will be travelling to Australia and joining the judging panel for the 2012 Awards.

Andrew is photographed being presented with an NACM medal by the Duchess of Wessex in 2010. The presentation was made at the Royal Bath and West Show at Shepton Mallet. The citation quotes   “A lifetime contribution to the cider industry”.

Photo courtesy of NACM – see link below for full background to the medal presentation.

http://cideruk.com/cider_news/view/a_lifetimes_contribution_recognised/

Max Allen and Neal Cameron  will again be a part of the judging panel and will again be joined by associate judge Lucy Maddox.

Max Allen has been writing about wine in Australia for almost 20 years. He is the wine columnist for The Weekend Australian Magazine, wine editor for Australian Gourmet Traveller Magazine, and author of The Future Makers: Australian Wines for the 21st Century – a groundbreaking new work about the people putting the heart and soul back into Australian wine. Other recent projects include The Wine Map of  Australia and, with international cheese authority Will Studd, the Cheese & Wine app for iPhone and iPad. Max is also Chief Judge at both the innovative Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show in Mildura and the Organic Wine Show in Sydney.

Neal Cameron. The architect of William Bull Brewing and Angus Red Pilsner, Neal Cameron is also an accomplished contract brewer, crafting beers for some of the best known boutique beers in Australia. Neal has recently moved to Sydney to start The Australian Brewery in Sydney’s northwest which has already produced medal winning beers under his tutelage. Neal is a regular judge at The Australian International Beer Awards, he writes for Beer & Brewer magazine (specialist subject cider) and is on the executive committee of the NSW Brewers Guild.