After two days of judging spirits from around the world, the inaugural USA Spirits Ratings competition has revealed its 2018 “Spirit of the Year” – Coppercraft Distillery Straight Bourbon Whiskey from Coppercraft Distillery in Holland, Michigan. This entrant was a huge hit with competition judges, who gave it among the highest marks possible for quality, value and packaging, the three judging criteria used to rank and evaluate the spirits at the San Francisco event.

Established in 2012, Coppercraft Distillery in Western Michigan specializes in handcrafted premium spirits. In making its award-winning Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the company uses barrels of 10+-year-old whiskey masterfully blended to create a rich taste. In doing so, Coppercraft Distillery Straight Bourbon Whiskey combines flavors of sweet caramel and vanilla.

The USA Spirits Ratings competition was launched in late 2017 by Beverage Trade Network, which organizes alcohol beverage industry events all over the world. The goal of this event was to judge spirits the way consumers judge them. In contrast to other spirits competitions, where distilling ability and technical expertise sometimes receive primary consideration at the expense of drinkability, the goal of the USA Spirits Ratings competition was to award and celebrate the spirits that consumers actually want to buy, whether at a retail liquor store or ordering off the menu at a restaurant.

Chief executive of Beverage Trade Network Sid Patel said, “At all the major competitions, spirits are judged solely on the quality of what’s in the bottle. We wanted to take a different approach, by asking our judges to look at spirits the way consumers do, adding appearance and value for money into the mix.”

“The judges were impressed by every aspect of Coppercraft Distillery Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and especially the overall quality and packaging,” said Patel. In fact, Straight Bourbon Whiskey also won Best Spirits of the Year (By Quality) and Best Spirits of the Year (By Package) for receiving the highest marks in these two respective categories.

Based on the initial success of this year’s USA Spirits Ratings Competition, Beverage Trade Network plans to run the competition again in July 2019. The USA Spirits Ratings Competition was the first of several events that Beverage Trade Network will be hosting over the next 18 months as part of a global drinks initiative to introduce consumers to innovative and value-oriented spirits from all over the world.