The Straight Up Texas International Spirits Competition, the first event of its kind in Texas, will take place February 19, 2014, at the Irving Convention Center. The event is inspired by the success of The Dallas Morning News TEXSOM Wine Competition, now in its 30th year.
“We are responding to the amazing growth in the interest of cocktails and spirits of all varieties and origins, as well as the growth of craft producers of spirits in the United States,” said Rebecca Murphy, the competition’s founder and chairman. “Our goal is to serve as a consumer guide to the best spirits in the world available here in the U.S.”
The spirits event will be held directly following the wine competition, and will be structured in a similar fashion with industry experts judging entries categorized by spirits type, and awarding medals to worthy entries. The results will then be made available to the public.
The success of the wine competition prompted Murphy to launch the spirits event.
“The list of medal winners from our wine competition provides consumers with valuable expert guidance,” said Murphy. ”Recognizing the amazing growth of spirits available, especially by craft distillers, I want to offer the same service for those interested finding quality spirits.”
Distillers with annual case sales over 52,500 can enter online at www.straightuptexas.com for a fee of $300 per entry, and will be required submit two bottles of each entry. To encourage the participation of small or craft distillers with annual case sales of 52,500 or less, the American Distillers Institute’s definition of a craft or artisanal distiller, a reduced entry fee of $150 is available to those qualifying. Entry deadline is January 24, 2014.
