2026 American Autoflower Cup Recap!

The end of January marked the 4th annual 2026 American Autoflower Cup held at BeTrue Studios in Los Angeles, California. This event celebrates the intersection of autoflowers, home growers, and breeders by bringing together the community and showcasing the cutting edge of competition autoflower growing. This year, Mephisto Genetics was out in full force, with members flying in from around the world. In attendance was our fearless leader, Mitch, followed by a merry band including: Stan, Jerome, Marty, Jimbo, Brad, and Farmer Hatbeard. Flying in a few days prior, our festivities began on Friday afternoon with the team linking up just down the street from the venue at the PaliHotel. This would be our base camp for the upcoming madness. 

Meeting the Meph-Heads

Friday evening commenced with a quick bite at Yamashiro, Hollywood. Perched in the Hills, overlooking the L.A. skyline, we game planned while snagging some stunning sunset shots. That evening our team held a meet & greet over at The Woods, WeHo. This dispensary, bar, and consumption lounge provided an amazing backdrop for a community get-together. We took over the Garden Lounge, just off to the side of a stunning moonlit atrium surrounded by exotic foliage, winding pathways overlooking koi ponds, and integrated art installations. Beloved community members from our Discord and esteemed testers attended, including Terpenetix (savior of AAC), Sheridenne, xJawlz, TheBrain, Silent J amongst others. Several of whom submitted Mephisto flower, and hash to the competition themselves. Sprawled out across comfy chairs and a hardwood gathering table, we shared jars amongst ourselves while talking terps and calibrating palates. Being able to converse with fellow testers about flavor profiles and take puffs together was an invaluable experience. These conversations and collaborations are what fuels the very heart of the Meph-Heads community. A massive thank you from our team to everyone who came out and said hello. 

Saturday Night's Alright For Winning

To kick off event day, our team had brunch at Saddle Ranch before popping over to BeTrue studios for some preliminary setup. Leading up to the event, our priority was to bring the booth together and haul out all of our goodies to give away. We ended up preparing a ton of swag bags, filled with a myriad of goodies. We packed seeds, key chains, grinders, stickers, plant tags, hats & more. The team went all out at the booth with sample jars containing some of our favorite selections from the Mephisto catalogue. As the event kicked off, the space flooded with fans. The turnout this year was quite impressive, with the space filling out quickly. Our team spent the early half of the evening commingling with Meph-heads, fielding questions, gifting bags and seeds, all while having a good time and enjoying the ambiance. The heart and soul of the American Autoflower Cup is the community coming together in celebration of the plant and each other. Our team couldn’t be more humbled by the outpouring of love and support by those who attended and stopped by. 

Cup Winning Strains by Mephisto Genetics

Pre-award ceremony entertainment included a hilarious comedy bit from Stoney McBlaze. Jeremy Norrie, the curator for the American Autoflower Cup eventually took stage with his host, Adam Ill to present the awards. This year’s competition was judged in the days prior by an outstanding cast of Cannabis Icons. This included High Times legends Danny Danke and Kyle Kushman along with award winning journalist David Downs. A total of 75 flower samples were submitted and on display as well as 19 rosin samples. The awards included Best Looking, Best Smoking, Best Terps, Highest THC, Best Rosin, Best Overall Auto, & Best Breeder. Mephisto Genetics ended up securing 1st place for highest THC with the 505 Headbanger, grown by our very own Farmer Hatbeard. His sample tested at a whopping 33.88% THC! Huge congratulations to Hatbeard, the 505 is one of his absolute favorite strains from our library. Securing 3rd Place for Best Rosin was CommandO’z (Lemon O’z x Bear Force One) live rosin, a submission from our tester Inappropriately Large. Shoutout to Large, you can find him on our Discord as well as his Youtube channel where he has a video showing the live press of his legendary 3rd place winning submission. EDITOR’S NOTE: Honorable mention to Jimbo who took 7th for his Bear Force One, missing the podium by less than 2 points. Both CommandO’z and Bear Force One will be available later in March as a part of our Artisanal release. 

Mephisto Top the Charts for THC Dominance

Mephisto Genetics dominated the high THC leaderboard with 4 submissions taking the top 6 spots. Dan from Blue Ridge Roots brought home 6th place with his freebie strain Iced & Graped (Grape Walker Kush x Iced ‘n’ Baked) testing at 32.78%. Chef Jeff took home 5th place for his Gold Glue testing at 33.14%. I managed to snag 4th place for my Guava Fig, testing at 33.24% with HatBeard bringing it home with his 1st place 33.88% 505 Headbanger. A massive round of applause is in order. We couldn’t be more proud to see the leaderboard filled with Mephisto bangers! This is a testament not only to the strength that some our our strongest strains bring to the table, but to the growers who did a bang up job growing some crazy strong autoflowers.

As the evening winded down, we bid farewell to our peers and farm friends, sending promises for another year. We have a ton of love for the American Autoflower Cup team as well as all of the brands and fans who showed up and showed out. The competition was fierce this year and all of the winners deserve their flowers. We are so proud to represent the autoflower community and want to extend a thank you to the organizers and attendees. We will be back next year!

Sunday & Monday Wind-Down

Our team winded the weekend down some last minute festivities, including an Anaheim outing to watch the Ducks beat the Knights as well as a Venice crawl where we snacked on some food at Nalu Vida before walking the pier and catching one last California sunset. We have recap videos available on Youtube from myself and Farmer Hatbeard if you are looking for a vlog style capture of all of our 2026 American Autoflower Cup shenanigans. Again, thank you to everyone who attended, mad props to the winners as well as all of the competitors, and we will see you back for another one next year!

Mitch & Brad Do America

After AAC was over, Mitch and Brad headed north to Seattle to spend some more time with Jerome and meet-up with the rest of the shipping crew. Brad managed to have his first taste of Texas BBQ in the PNW, along with finding his favourite bar in the US; Screwdriver. From there they made their way back south to California for a short stay in San Francisco. They arrived right on Superbowl weekend, which, as two Brits, came as a bit of a surprise to them. It still provided the opportunity for more merriment, as they watched the game outside in the rain at Harry's Bar, cheering on the Seahawks after their trip to Seattle, it seemed to make sense. Clearly their support was the crucial 'kick up the arse' the Seahawks needed to win that game. Of course, San Francisco wasn’t just about a good night out; Mitch and Brad also spent time at our facility in NorCal, checking in on some of the latest and greatest projects currently in the works and making their way to you soon. 

And because it was mentioned above...

Bear Force One is our next addition to our Artisanal lineup, releasing on March 16th. With artwork by Meph-Head KillerKrayon, she's already placed only 2 points shy of the podium at AAC 2026 and one of our Bear Force One crosses CommandO'z (Lemon O’z x Bear Force One) took home 3rd in the Best Rosin category, courtesy of the genius of Inappropriately Large. You can check out his cup winning press here on YouTube.

Here's a little snippet of how Jimbo describes Bear Force One:

The Bear Force One gas notes translate impeccably to the palate, with that soapy and sour sweetness sticking to the tongue with a chokehold. It’s powerful, pungent, and remarkably consistent from nose to palate. The strength and dominance of the odor cannot be denied. This is one of the strongest gas notes in the entire library. The gas sensation is truly nose tingling with a tear jerking fuel forward punch. All of the candy goodness becomes a much welcomed compliment to the utter plastering of sour that this profile smacks you with. 

Unsurprisingly, as a complement to the extreme frost and offensively loud aromatic profile, Bear Force One also wrecks you with a blistering cerebral OG like stone. Effects are quick to onset and slow to fade with a classic heady forward relaxation that progresses to a hardly functional couch lock. This is the final boss of OG effects deserving of its own warning label. While strong, it’s functional enough to be a daily driver for OG aficionados.