2025 marks the fourth year that I’ve served as a wine and spirits judge for the Proof Awards in Las Vegas. Not sure I would know that except that it’s not only been a fabulous experience sampling spirits, wines and making new friends – on the fifth year I get awarded with their black leather Proof Awards jacket! November 2026 can’t come soon enough. Now, back to what I want to say about the 2025 awards:
Due to an array of circumstances this year samples were sent to each judge to grade from their homes. Along with my nearly 100 spirit samples I also received all of the score sheets and a new Neat tasting glass. I was given several days to complete the task, so it wasn’t a problem for me to take my time and give each spirit equal time to evaluate. The medals – bronze and up – are calculated based on color, aroma, flavor and finish.
Of the two boxes I was sent I still had “leftovers” that I shared with pals after I completed my work. I now have my notes with some of their names – they wrote their names next to the numbered samples they liked the best so that when the brands are revealed I can let them know what they were.
All in all, favorites included a dragon berry flavored vodka, an orange liqueur, a café tequila, several Blanco, Anejo (a gran reserva and woman-owned topped a lot of lists) and Reposado tequilas, rye whiskies, tons of bourbons, single malt whiskies (including a solera finish single malt whiskey) and gins.
After I completed judging the spirits, about a week later I worked on one wine panel at a private clubhouse to taste over 50 wines, some non-alcoholic, a few canned low ABV drinks and some liquor-infused whipped creams! So much fun! My favorites were all of the whipped creams – so don’t skip a cocktail topped with any you see offered in a bar – and all of the German wine varietals we had.
At the end of both events, both the spirits and the wines, we judge what’s called “the total package”, again awarding bronze and up medals. Here we are looking at the appeal of the entire bottle, the label, how it might grab a patron’s attention from the bar, etc. Of course, we try and figure out if what we gave a great award to was also the bottle we might be giving an equal medal to – but we never know until…
Both the wine and spirit award winners will be revealed in an upcoming issue of Proof The Magazine. I can’t wait to see, what about you?
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How would you like to sample nearly 100 spirits? Fun, right? But it’s also work if you have to judge them for color, aroma, flavor, finish, and then the “total package” when you examine the bottles? I did just that in December for the 2025 Proof Awards. All will be revealed – the brand names that go to those samples as well as their medals – in an upcoming edition of Proof The Magazine. A few of my friends that stepped in to help me finish the samples have been anxiously waiting for the results so they can find the bottles they liked the most! (Also did over 50 wine samples on a separate date, those winners will also be revealed soon.) https://proofawards.com
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Eve Bushman has a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), a “certification in the first globally-recognized course” as an American Wine Specialist ® from the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), Level 1 Sake Award from WSET, was the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video (over 16k views), authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and has served as a judge for the Proof Awards, Cellarmasters, LA Wine Competition, Long Beach Grand Cru and the Global Wine Awards. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits. Follow on Instagram and Facebook.
