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.
Who were the judges?? I can’t find anything on the internet such as pictures comments results etc?Very poor organization and marketing.
Hello Anthony, this is the contact info on their website: Vintage Productions, Rebecca Murphy 214-319-7000. I don’t see much either and the event was slated for yesterday.
Hi Eve,thank you. Maybe they did not do it??
Interesting. I emailed the two contacts that were attached to the press release. Will let you know what they respond with.
Thanks!
They do not even bother to reply..I left a voice message yesterday and sent an email to Ms.Murphy too.I wonder if she is going to refund the entry fees and sample bottles received or what…?
Oh, now I see why you are interested. That is bad business. Maybe do a shout out on your social networks to see if anyone else is having a problem and/or found a solution? Our website is based in California so they are a bit out of my reach Anthony.
Well, will see if Ms.Murphy will have the courtesy to inform the entrants of The Spirits competition about it And when…… as per today she did not do anything …Also, when she will refund the entry fees she cashed and return the liquors recieved for The competition…You are right that is bad Business indeed.
Has anyone heard the results yet?
Any updates?
I received this email Bill:
Hi Eve,
Please accept my apology for non-response and for the concern it has caused you. We did indeed have the spirits competition on February 19. It was a small competition, but we had a great judge panel and they found medal winners among the entries. I have included bios of the judges below.
We have been holding the results until we confirm if The Dallas Morning News will be publishing a list in Salut!, which is scheduled for March 23. We will be notifying entrants of their results today or tomorrow.
I appreciate your letting us know about the comments you have received. I am aware that there are many things we could have done better. I take full responsibility for that. There are many reasons, but bottom line is I was trying to do too many things at once. That said, I’m pleased with the results we have and grateful for the companies that participated in our first competition. It will not be the last.
Thank you for contacting me and again, please accept my apology.
Rebecca
Judges:
Jack Robertiello, Writer, Consultant, Wine & Spirits Judge. Drinks Ink, Brooklyn NY
Jack Robertiello has worked with or written about wine, spirits, food and restaurants most of his adult life, and for many publications and websites, both consumer and trade. He speaks frequently at conferences and meetings, and judges at numerous competitions, including the annual Spirits of Mexico, the Ultimate Spirits Challenge and the Ultimate Wine Challenge. Robertiello also gives private classes and seminars on tasting wine and spirits, and has advised producers, importers, marketers and publicists about the field. He lives in Brooklyn, NY
Andy Hubbard, Executive Director of Purchasing/Education Sigel’s Fine Wines and Great Spirits, Dallas, TX
Andy Hubbard has truly learned this business from the ground up. More than 22 years ago, after attending college, he began his career in the Liquor industry as an inventory stocker/clerk in one of Sigel’s Beverages many retail locations. Within 3 years, he was promoted to General Manager of that very same store. His passion for the industry helped elevate him to where he is now, the Executive Director of Purchasing/Education for the entire chain.
Holding numerous industry certifications, he strongly believes that the key to success in any business is the education of its staff. This is why, in 2009, he created the new ‘Employee Education & Training Division’ for Sigel’s. ”Taking over the responsibility of educating our staff only made sense. I make decisions every day as to what we put on our retail shelves. But in today’s extremely competitive market, it’s not good enough to just put an item on our shelves. Our entire staff needs to know what the product tastes like, how it’s made, and the story behind it, in order to make intelligent recommendations and better serve our customers”
David Commer, President, Commer Beverage Consulting, Dallas, TX
David Commer is a chain account specialist with over 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Since 2001, Commer Beverage Consulting has provided independent and unbiased beverage services and strategies to clients, including T.G.I. Friday’s, Applebee’s, Maggiano’s, Uncle Julio’s and Cheddar’s. On a project basis, Commer provides sales and marketing strategy services, product analysis and recipe development to many major beverage manufacturers. He brings deep and diverse experience in all aspects of restaurant management and operations to his clients.
David can be reached by e-mail at dc@liquidassets.org
Jeffrey Yarborough, Owner, Big Ink PR, Co-Author, Prohibition in Dallas & Fort Worth, Dallas, TX
Jeffrey Jarborough’s first entertainment accomplishment (Concept Nouveau, Inc.) was Dallas’ original four-clubs-in-one complex, including Art Bar, Blind Lemon, Club Clearview and Red. Its diverse club settings, friendly atmosphere and service, and creative marketing campaigns made the complex a role model for nightclub establishments throughout the nation.
Jeffrey’s innovative entrepreneurial spirit led him to launch Liberty Noodles in 1998, the first pan-Asian noodle house in Texas. Liberty Noodles opened on Lower Greenville in Dallas, and the whimsically chic restaurant received rave reviews. As if that isn’t enough, Yarbrough also co-wrote the nationally distributed “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Asian Cooking” with Liberty Noodles Founding Chef Annie Wong.
In 2004, Jeffrey took his knowledge of the hospitality industry– and all the booms that come with it — and opened bigInk, using his experience to help other restaurateurs and business owners avoid painful mistakes and reach sweeping success.
Thank you Eve.
You’re welcome!
Medal Winners Announced for
The Dallas Morning News and TEXSOM International Wine Competition
Results available online; prestigious event celebrates 30 years
DALLAS (March 25, 2014) — It was another busy year for The Dallas Morning News and TEXSOM Wine Competition judges as 2,729 wines from 27 states and 20 foreign countries were tasted February 17-18 with medal winners now officially announced.
Held at the Irving Convention Center near Dallas, the two-day competition is one of the largest outside the state of California. Medals were awarded to 1,708 wines, with 227 gold, 629 silver and 852 bronze winners.
In addition to serving as a buying guide for consumers, our goal over the past couple of years has been is to make the results relevant to sommeliers and other restaurant professionals as well, said Rebecca Murphy, the competitions founder and chairman. So while many popular and well-known consumer brands continue to win plenty of medals, we have very high-end wines as well.
Considered one of the top competitions in the industry, the event had 14 judging panels comprised of wine critics, distributors, importers and sommeliers, including 13 Master Sommeliers, and seven Masters of Wine, more than any other U.S. wine competition.
California once again claimed the top spot with 882 medals, 125 of them gold, from its 1,445 entries, accounting for more than half of all competition entries this year. Washington state was second with 119 medals, 15 of them gold, out of its 169 entries. Texas had 105 medals, 11 gold, from 172 entries.
We saw a greater diversity of wines from all over the world, said Murphy. Entries from South Africa and Greece increased from 2013 with every South African wine awarded a medal. The 18 Greek and 45 New Zealand wines entered also did extremely, with 89% of those entries winning medals. We encouraged sake entries this year with two taking gold medals.
Italy once again claimed the international top spot for total medals with 103, nine of them gold out of its 145 entries, followed by Australia with six gold out of 60 medals from 98 entries, and France with seven gold out of 49 medals from 71 entries.
A list of the events gold medal winners was published in the Sunday, March 23 edition of The Dallas Morning News Salut! special section. A searchable database of winners is available at https://enofileonline.com/search.aspx and downloadable files for 2014 are on dallaswineomp.com.
For more information on the competition, go online to http://www.dallaswinecomp.com.