Are Awards Ceremonies Beneficial?

[MDH]

I've spoken to a many bartenders in the past as well as some small retail outlets about this and some are becoming skeptical about award ceremonies around the world.

Several of the reasons I've heard is the myriad of award tiers just confuses people and leads them to not care. What one person from retail has told me: There are bronze, silver, gold, double gold, best in class and spirit of the year tiers for many of the competitions - SF, NY, London, China, etc. So very harsh, poor products still "Awards", which diminishes the meaning of the award. Eventually after telling customers what this all meant, they would shrug and go back to their usual bottle of Beam. In other words, this kind of awarding diminishes the repeatability of what an award means to people who are not "Core drinkers" and turns the award into an abstract symbol that doesn't mean anything significant.

The second is that I've heard from many distilleries that they believe the awards are being purchase or that submitted samples are being doctored. I will not point fingers, but I have to admit that I have walked away disappointed from many Double Gold and Best in Class winners and wondering how they ever won any award at all.

Now, the part I am curious about. For those of you who have participated in these competitions and done well - did you find that you directly benefitted from recieving high accolades? Was your name published in magazines or papers as a direct result of this?

There is no pressure to reveal it if you consider this information a competitive advantage you would like to keep personally. I'm genuinely curious about the effectiveness of entering a competition if you know your product is excellent, that's all.

[Mash]

For me, I only enter competitions that are of my peers; Craft Distillers. Secondly, paying $450 per spirit to enter a competition is beyond my sensibility. I may change my mind over time, but I am most proud of the awards I have won that are judged within the Craft Distilling Industry.

[Jedd Haas]

I think Mash has a good point. Every award should be given consideration (or lack thereof) based on the particulars of the competition. One statistic to examine is how many spirits are entered vs. how many win awards. Some competitions give awards to over 80% of the entrants. In other cases, there are fewer than 100 spirits entered in a competition. Do such competitions provide something worth touting? That's up to you.

[Natrat]

Rigor of the competition is always a problem in these circles. Because the consumer has no real idea of the competition landscape, any award seems great...it's not limited to booze. There are at least 5 spots I can name that claim "voted best hamburger in Utah." The beer world has this same problem. It wasn't too long ago that I went to an awards ceremony at a large competition where the organizers bragged that "every brewery that entered got at least one medal," which cheapens the entire idea of a competition, really. No one who enters wants a silver just for showing up...the companies that don't care about competition don't enter, and those that do want to measure themselves against the field. It's because medals and ribbons translate into sales that this has happened.

Soon, we will end up with the same problems as the beer world...only the breweries that get up early enough on registration morning will have a chance at a medal, because the limited number of entries allowed has been used up. I think it's up to the state guilds and national craft organizations (looking at you, ADI and ACDA) to ensure that proper rigor and rules are introduced, which enhances the value of the award. I am always impressed when a judging table refuses to even give a gold out...when no one met their gold standard.

As for cheating by putting a product with extra effort in the bottle...perhaps the samples should come from distributors, or randomly off the shelf. Or maybe some distilleries have poor consistency batch to batch. Or perhaps the judges like something YOU don't like. I once tasted a grappa that won a gold two years in a row (ADI judging) and to me it tasted the way Scrubbing Bubbles smells.

Maybe we should table our OWN competition, with distillers from craft distilleries chosen at random. And instead of medals, just go with points...

[schnit]

I think it depends on how it's marketed and how knowledgeable the customers are.

If it's not marketed well, even the highest, most respected accolades in the industry won't matter very much.

[MDH]

I am of the same ilk, Schnit. I think that advertising thoughtfully with a target market that matches your product's image well is a sure way to help versus competing.

But since I haven't been through the process of submitting a spirit to a competition before, or winning an award, it's still a great unknown to me whether or not this actually assists the sales of those who perform well (e.g. Double Golds or Best in Show, etc). I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath-water.

[schnit]

I am of the same ilk, Schnit. I think that advertising thoughtfully with a target market that matches your product's image well is a sure way to help versus competing.

But since I haven't been through the process of submitting a spirit to a competition before, or winning an award, it's still a great unknown to me whether or not this actually assists the sales of those who perform well (e.g. Double Golds or Best in Show, etc). I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath-water.

Here's my general outlook on advertising (I was in the business for a couple years). I sometimes had clients who were struggling small businesses, they were profitable but still didn't have a lot of disposable income. Oftentimes a client would be interested in joining some association (like the BBB for example) where they might spend $500-1,000 each year hoping it would generate them more business.

I look at it like this. For a small business that $500 could probably be better used on some targeted advertisements (liquor store posters/fliers) which would generate much more revenue than the affiliation. Once you have begun to exhaust the advertising and you have a steady flow of liquid cash, then put it towards the contests, memberships etc.

Others may see things differently.

[Jake Holshue]

I dunno I think it depends on the competition. Admittedly, I am kind of a competition whore.... I want to get a feel for how my spirits compare to my peers as well as the big guys. I think its more for me than my customers, but I make sure they know how many/where we've won. The one thing I dislike on some of these competitions is that most of these we don't get tasting notes back. Coming from the beer side, thats THE benefit of competition is to get back your scoring sheets to see how you can improve your method and product. Granted any kind of marketing that you over do will get lost on your customer base, so enter a few here and a few there. (Some are less expensive then others)

I wont make any public judgement on which ones I like or dislike. But here are a few worth considering:

San Francisco World Spirits Competition

American Distilling Institute Spirits Competition (held at convention)

American Craft Distilling Association Spirit Judging (held at convention)

International SIP Awards (this one gets a lot of flack, but make up your own mind)

There is also the Washington Cup... and the Denver International Spirits Awards...

Best of luck!

[MDH]

I'm just curious for those from out of the state where a competition was held, or even the country - what was the cost to you to enter your product, overall?

[wadewood]

I've spoken to a many bartenders in the past as well as some small retail outlets about this and some are becoming skeptical about award ceremonies around the world.

Several of the reasons I've heard is the myriad of award tiers just confuses people and leads them to not care. What one person from retail has told me: There are bronze, silver, gold, double gold, best in class and spirit of the year tiers for many of the competitions - SF, NY, London, China, etc. So very harsh, poor products still "Awards", which diminishes the meaning of the award. Eventually after telling customers what this all meant, they would shrug and go back to their usual bottle of Beam. In other words, this kind of awarding diminishes the repeatability of what an award means to people who are not "Core drinkers" and turns the award into an abstract symbol that doesn't mean anything significant.

The second is that I've heard from many distilleries that they believe the awards are being purchase or that submitted samples are being doctored. I will not point fingers, but I have to admit that I have walked away disappointed from many Double Gold and Best in Class winners and wondering how they ever won any award at all.

Wow for once bartenders and small retail and hopefully consumers got it right. 99% of the award shows are nothing but pay for play advertising and carry no merit with me. I could point out one award show where one of the judges is listed as Master Distiller/consultant for 2 companies that each won awards at that show.