Our Awards
Each award of Craft Spirits Berlin is based on a rating. Each assessment is based on a 100-point scheme. Or let’s put it that way: There is a number of points behind each of our medals. A single product can achieve a maximum of 100 points.
The submitted products are judged by our expert jury in a blind tasting. “Blind” means that the judges know the product category and the alcohol content, but do not know which product and which manufacturer is behind it. Also important: Each product is assessed individually – i.e. not in comparison with other products.
Smell, taste, balance, visual appearance and typicity are judged. The criteria are weighted differently:
- Nose: clean aroma (maximum 7 points), typicity (5 points), balance aroma/alcohol (14 points)
- Palate: clean aroma (8 points), typicity (5 points), balance aroma/alcohol (16 points)
- Visual appearance: 5 points
- Overall opinion: 40 points
How to win …
… Gold, Silver or Bronze?
Gold is awarded to all products which achieve more than 93 points, Silver requires 87 points and Bronze 80 points. So there can be several gold, silver and bronze medals within a category – if various products obtain 93, 87 or 80 points.
… “Best in Class”?
The product with the highest score within each category receives the “Best in Class” award. There are 22 product categories.
… “Craft Spirit of the Year”?
The “Craft Spirit of the Year” award goes to the product with the highest score in the entire competition. This award is given only once a year.
… “Craft Distillery of the Year”?
The “Craft Distillery of the Year” award in bronze, silver and gold is given to the distilleries with the most medal points. We have a counting principle for this in order to weight the different medals: Best in Class = 5 points, Gold = 3 points, Silver = 2 points, Bronze = 1 point.
… “World’s Best Craft Distilleries”?
To become part of the “World’s Best Craft Distilleries”, producers must win three gold medals within three years. This can be gold for three products in one year, for example. Or it could be three golds for one product in three consecutive years.