 Looking for a new gig as a #distiller? Then, one of our great customers has an opening for you! Read about South Carolina’s Burnt Church Distillery in our not-so-long-ago article:
https://www.stolzle-usa-glassware.com/news/burnt-church-distillery-the-spirit-of-the-low-country And, if you’re interested in joining their team as an Assistant Distiller, check this out: https://jobs.distilling.com/job/distiller/58357667/ #LoveOurCustomers More smiles on more faces. #BornInFire #StolzleForLife  As the summer season begins it's turn towards fall, we know that that means the Las Vegas Global Wine & Spirits Awards event cannot be far off. We recently caught up with Founder & Event Executive Director Eddie Rivkin to see how things were going for this year's awards program. Here's what he had to say: Back in May, we caught up with you to talk about the upcoming Las Vegas Global Wine & Spirits Awards. Where do we stand now? How are those 2 events shaping up and are we just about ready to go? Eddie Rivkin: Right now, we're about seven weeks out from the competitions and everything is pretty well going on track. Well, as well as on track and be considering we're in a COVID world. I've been forced to continue to adapt on a day-to-day basis based on information that's coming out of Washington and information that's coming out of the state of Nevada, out of Clark County and out of the city of Las Vegas, where the competition is actually held. With regards to entries, we are on track to exceed last year's pool total. The thing that I'm most excited about this year on the spirits side, especially is the incredibly diverse group of entries. We have entries from different companies that we haven't had in the previous years and also from different parts of the world that we haven't had spirits entries from previously. So, the judges are going to have an incredible opportunity to try a very large number of spirits that are not available anywhere in the United States and spirits that are actually making their debut in the United States at this year's Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards. As far as being ready to go, I would say I'm as ready as I can be seven weeks out. My staff and volunteers are coming together. The hotel aspect of it is in order. We still have some COVID protocols that we have to work through and disclaimers and things like that and safety precautions that we're going to include for this year's competition in addition to the ones that we used last year. All in all, for seven weeks away from the competition, I'm at the exact right level of nervousness. The quality of your judges has always been a huge differentiator for the Las Vegas Wine & Spirits Awards. What can you tell us about the judges you’ve got lined up for this year’s events? ER: The key to the success of the Las Vegas Global Wine and Spirits since its inception has been the quality of the judging panel and the singular focus of the competition. There are a number of ways that competitions around the world handle their judging. The Las Vegas Global Wine and Spirit Awards has been and will always be a very singular function competition. We only judge what's in the bottles. My judges have an enormous background in both the wine and spirits industry. The chairman of my spirits judges, Steve Beal has been a world-renowned scotch and whiskey expert for over 50 years. The chairman of my wine judges panel, Tim McDonald has been in the wine industry for over 40 years. I've been incredibly blessed to have them open up their Rolodexes to bring the most qualified judges on both the wine and spirits side into the competition each and every year. The significance of only judging what's in the bottle is of great benefit to the suppliers, the distillers, the wine makers, anybody who's involved in the process of bringing a spirit or a wine to market. There are plenty of experts who can judge the quality of a label or the design or the price or the value or the perceived price or value on a spirit. Those concerns are, frankly, not concerns of mine. I want my entrants to know how good a product they produce because when it comes to moving forward in the process, trying to sell and trying to get distribution in three tier states, distributors will look at not only the scores and what medals you win, but they'll look at who judges and awards these scores. And when you look at the judges panel that the Las Vegas Global Wine and Spirit Awards, you see one thing and one thing only, and that's industry experts. Because of that, the credibility that goes with winning a medal in either of the competitions is significant. I don't want to say leverage, but perhaps value to a brand going forward, trying to get from the incubator stage to the sales stage, to the optics of growing a brand in an incredibly complicated and a very, very competitive market, especially here in Las Vegas. Since their beginning, the Awards events have increased their worldwide visibility. This year, are there any new “twists” to continue that growing global presence and popularity? ER: I think twist is kind of a misnomer for how these competitions tend to grow every year. I have to adjust the categories and all of the other factors that go into the competition. The best example of that is right now in the spirits world. And, to a certain extent in the wine world, ready-to-drink cocktails and seltzers are the hottest, fastest growing spirits in the market. And on the wine side, there's canned wines, which nobody would ever have thought was a category as well as wine-based coolers. People of a certain age would remember Bartles & James coolers, for example. So, it's not really a twist that makes things grow. It's basically understanding the market that I work in and being able and flexible enough to adapt to the changes that happen every year. I will give you this one twist because in this new world, there are influencers. And influencers, though they may not have the most outstanding palate - and spirit or wine education - they do provide a value. And this year in the Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards for the first time, basically in any competition around the world, I'm flying in two influencers from Colorado who have hundreds of thousands of followers. And they are, with no disrespect, a couple of housewives who love to talk about alcohol and they have a huge following. One of my volunteers is friendly with them and these two women are going to come down and they are going to participate in the judging of the ready-to-drink cocktails and of the seltzers. And we are going to incorporate their B2C consumer-forward facing opinions into the judging equation with the experts. And they're going to broadcast live from the Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards on October 11th through 13th to their followers. And they're going to have a couple of cocktails, I guess, is the best way to say it because our judges generally sample and then spit out because they sample so many of the course of the day. These ladies indicate that “we're going to be drinking”. So, their scores will count. Their opinion will matter because they're consumers and seltzers and RTDs are the hottest thing going. So, if you want to talk about a twist, I would say that's probably pretty significant. I don't know how it's going to work. It's going to be “a something”. I promise you that it's going to be “a something” and that people will notice it and know about it. And, they’ll either wave their finger at me and call me an idiot - or say that was a pretty clever idea.  Once again, Stolzle Glassware and RAK dinnerware are sponsors to the Awards events. How does having these products involved help elevate the awards programs overall? ER: Having Stoelzle as the glassware sponsor was probably the most important change that I've made in the competitions so far. You can't overestimate the importance and the value of the vessel that the judges use to rate and score and award medals in a competition setting. When I made the decision to enter an agreement with RAK and Stoelzle, it was made because the quality of the glassware that they produce is unparalleled. The German crystal is dependable, it's strong, it's perfectly constructed and manufactured. The judges have the best opportunity to look at a spirit and judging color is part of the judging process. To have a perfect, incredibly well-manufactured glass that the judges can see color clearly is an important point. Having superior glassware is an important key to the success of the competition and the ability of the judges to give a fair score and rating to any entrant on the spirits side. It's especially important because we use the nosing glass from Stoelzle and the design of the glass funnels, the aroma of the spirit from a wide bell bottom up to a taller, thinner flute that allows the judges to get a very accurate sense of the aroma - the true smell of a spirit. The design of the wine glass is perfect also for the competition. And again, to be repetitive, it's the quality and the manufacturing of the Stoelzle glassware which made it a no-brainer for me to decide to make the switch two years ago. What are the dates of this year’s competition and how can people find out more information about the Las Vegas Global Wine & Spirits Awards? ER: This year, for the second year in a row, the Las Vegas Global Wine and Spirit Awards will be conducted on the same dates. This year's competitions are on October 11th through the 13th. And if you want more information, you can look up either competition www.vegaswineawards.com and www.vegasspiritawards.com. If you're a brand that's interested in entering, and you have a very specific question that you would like addressed, you can email me directly [email protected]. I am pretty much a one man show. That is my personal email address. And the response that you get from me - will be from me, not a staff member. Anybody that has any questions, wants more information or specific information, the websites introduce you to the complete judging panels. They give you all the important reasons why you would want to enter the competition. And if you have something specific in mind, that's not addressed on either of the websites - by all means, shoot me an email and I will answer your question.   Enjoying your summer and drinking your #wine al fresco?
Then, finish the season strong with these 12 great wine suggestions from Liquor.com. And, along with that great new wine selection, be sure to choose the right glass. Our EXPERIENCE wineglass collection is sure to have the #perfectglass for your newfound favorite #BornInFire #StolzleForLife https://www.liquor.com/best-summer-wines-5119393 Our colleagues over at the Stoelzle Prestige Spirits Group are among the world’s leading manufacturers of prestige bottles for premium spirits and liquors. They have an exceptional design team who have expertise in both standard glass and any unique design needs. Their experienced team of designers work closely with clients, taking elegant concepts and producing outstanding products. All their departments work collaboratively, using their combined skill and knowledge to bring your ideas to life.
They know that with premium products, brand and bottle come hand-in-hand and their team of experts are equipped to support you through your design journey. Whether you are a client who desires a full packaging solution or simply product development, be it bottle, brand, labelling, stoppers and exclusive touches, the team at our Prestige Spirits Group can fulfill all your design needs.  Rüdiger Eilers, Director of Education at New York’s The Sommelier Society of America sharing some Stölzle love with students from their most recent wine education class. The SSA was founded in 1954 and is exclusively based in New York City. We do not offer our certification course or advanced tasting workshops outside the city. Instead of multiple levels, the SSA certification program covers a broad foundation, and their deductive tasting method is compatible to what is taught in the WSET Level 4 and CMS Advanced programs.
The SSA does not require any prerequisite courses to enter their programs where they discuss every major wine region on the planet, review current market trends that are relevant to sales as well as train their students on notable and challenging vintages. If you’re in the New York City area and are interested in upping your knowledge of wines and networking with other kindred spirits, you can find out more information on their various programs by visiting their website: https://sommeliersocietyofamerica.org/ |
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