Spirits & Wine Award Winners, Top Scoring Products, Beverage Industry Trends and Best Wine and Spirits Lists

Shochu is the most consumed alcoholic beverage in Japan. It is a distilled liquor that can be made from different bases, most commonly sweet potato, rice, and barley. It is usually bottled and consumed at around 25% alcohol by volume, though it can vary. When bottled at a higher abv, it is commonly mixed with water to be enjoyed under 20% abv. Single distilled, the idea is to preserve the unique flavors of the base ingredient and its distinguishing characteristics. With 90 Points or above, these are the top scoring schochus of 2018’s Ultimate Spirit Challenge.

Entries are now being accepted for ULTIMATE SPIRITS CHALLENGE 2019 (USC) and ULTIMATE WINE CHALLENGE 2019 (UWC). All entries to USC and UWC are rated on the easy-to-understand 100-point scale. Award-winning journalist, author, educator, and Judging Director F. PAUL PACULT supervises all judging for USC and UWC.

Banana is not the easiest fruit to work into a liqueur, but that hasn’t stopped Tempus Fugit from creating an award winning product! Their Creme de Banane Liqueur expresses the ideal balance of real fruit flavor with interesting undertones that make it a pleasure to sip while opening up a world of cocktail possibilities. With a score of 95 Points, it was one of 2018’s highest scoring liqueurs.

Craft tequila continues to trend with the Extra Anejo category experiencing a huge surge of consumer interest. Aged in oak for a minimum of 3 years, the layers of complexity that a spirit takes on from barrel are highlighted. The best examples retain their agave core and still taste unmistakably like tequila while fully expressing the wood flavors at the same time. 2018’s Chairman’s Trophy winner, Partida Elegante, topped the charts with 95 Points and an Ultimate Recommendation.