Spiritz Selection Awards brings good cheer in difficult times

The Covid-19 pandemic could not prevent the annual Spiritz Selection Awards 2020 from taking place. These awards in the realm of India’s alcobev industry evoke a lot of interest, given the alcoholic beverages’ widespread appeal to huge numbers of people.

But for people or establishments entrusted with such awards, there is an onerous responsibility to fulfill, something that doesn’t come easy. The sheer diversity of products and personal preferences makes it so. Spiritz Magazine has been measuring up to this challenge over the years and has done so, admirably well.

For the uninitiated, Spiritz Selection Awards is a big-ticket competition in India’s alcobev sector that recognises domestic & international products.

Organic Growth

Over the years, Spiritz Achievers Awards has been continually evolving in sync with the feedback received from jury members. Such evolution  accrued some palpable payoffs like extensive scoring sheets that give due weightage to all important parameters of judging; classification of products into various price segments to ensure ‘apple to apple’ comparisons.

The need to expand the erstwhile ‘Spiritz Achievers’ Awards’ by recognising different malts, blends, brews & wines and to cater to constant demand  suggestions by many industry leaders and professionals led to the conceiving and birth of Spiritz Selection Awards.

This year, apart from beverages evaluation, branding and packaging found their rightful place where bottles, labels and closures were given a close look in terms of both their visual appeal and functionality.

Despite Covid

But in 2020, the clouds of Covid-19 have been hovering around, impacting one and all, and Spiritz Selection Awards has been no exception towards being exposed to this challenge. For starters, the Spiritz team grappled with unavailability of a venue to carry out the blind tastings, owing to the lockdown phases.

Even after lockdown, issues like licensing, safety drills and other logistical constraints made the task an uphill one. Thankfully, the unrelenting efforts of the Spiritz team bore fruit and all issues were resolved well in time. The venue for ‘Spiritz Selection Awards’ Jury meet was eventually finalised at Radisson Blue Plaza Delhi Airport, a hotel that satisfied all requirements of service and security by the Spiritz team.

A big concern this year was the stringent adherence to Covid-19 guidelines. Hence, we saw the mandatory use of ‘Arogya Setu’ app, temperature check before entering the venue, use of masks during interactions, sanitisers at all touch points and single person occupancy at each tasting table.

Distilled, Fermented, White and Brown

Three days of marathon blind tastings saw jury members record their impressions on around 150 alcoholic beverages, which were divided into four major categories viz. Brown Spirits, White Spirits, Wine and Beer. The jury panels for each of these categories were drawn from accomplished people of the alcobev ecosystem.

I was humbled to find my place among these distinguished panelists. Competent and well-known hosts from the hospitality world steered different categories of these tasting sessions. While Ankur Chawla, Co Founder, ScopeBev, hosted the White and Brown Spirits’ tastings,  sommelier Kriti Malhotra and beer entrepreneur, Ishan Grover took care of the Wine and Beer legs, respectively.

I know you are anticipating the results of Spiritz Selection Awards 2020 with bated breath. Despite the challenging times, it is a good time to get the winning beverages in your glasses. Pronto!

Col Ravi Joshi a.k.a Colonel Joe is a renowned wine & spirits expert