Selecting the champions of Spirits, Wines, Brews & more…

Within just three years since its inception and notwithstanding the climate of pandemic during two of those three years, Spiritz Selection has garnered immense popularity and recognition as one of the most coveted ratings of alcoholic beverages brands through blind tasting process.

The blind tasting for the much awaited Spiritz Selection 2022 took place during 12th-14th May 2022. It was quite heartening to see the much larger number of participating brands in diverse categories of our ever evolving industry.

The tastings covered seven broad categories – wines, beers, white spirits, brown spirits, liqueurs, RTD and Sakes – and the interesting and invigorating process heightened the spirits of competitors and the judges alike. Of course, all these categories were divided into various subcategories to ensure fairness to the participating brands.

The blind tasting was held at Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport. Both the Spiritz team and the hotel staff worked in unison which immensely contributed to the success of the show.

The collective industry expertise and wisdom of the jury members, who are unattached with any company or brand showcased at the competition, ensured objectivity and fairness to the competition.

The nominated brands were judged on the basis of multiple parameters.

For example, the wines were judged on the basis of appearance, nose, palate and finish, whereas beers were judged on the basis of appearance, carbonation, aroma, mouth feel, taste and stylistic accuracy, and the quality of brown spirits and white spirits in the competition were evaluated on the basis of four parameters – appearance, nose, palate and conclusion (assessment of quality).

It was quite an onerous responsibility on the jury members. The sheer large number of brands in each category did surely put heavy burden not only on their palates and sensory senses but on their minds as well. But this did not deter the jury from painstakingly going through the drill of evaluating each of the nominated brands through the defined parameters. This all took a long time in finishing each category.

In keeping with the view of the growing importance of packaging in the alcobev industry towards influencing the purchase of the products, the judging process not only included the liquid products but also their packaging.

Overall, the third edition of the three-day-long event was not only a platform to judge the best in the industry but also of celebrating the revival of spirits of India’s alcobev industry from the trying times.

The blind tasting of wines & Sakes was conducted by Col. Ravi Joshi while beers’ blind tasting was spearheaded by Ishaan Grover. The blind tasting of brown & white spirits were conducted by Kunal Kaul. These three gentlemen are masters in their respective domains.

I know you all are now eager to know the brands that make to the award’s lists. Chances are that your favourite brands are among them…