Salt Flats Beer & Spirits is proud to announce that no sooner had it merged operations with Salt Flats Spirits, that its Spirits division has received multiple awards from the 2020 American Craft Spirits Association award competition. The distillery’s Bartender To Go™ Sturgis Lemonade made with its Bonneville Bourbon and fresh lemonade won a Bronze Medal in the ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktail category while its Bartender To Go™ Kentucky Mule made with Salt Flats Spirits Bonneville Bourbon and Salt Flats Ginger Beer not only won a Gold Medal for Best In Class in the RTD category but was awarded a Silver Medal in the overall competition across all competition categories. Also winning an award was Spirits’ 622 Vodka, a clever fusion of wheat, corn and other grain spirits named for the land speed record of 622mph on the Great Salt Flats which garnered a Bronze medal in the vodka competition which had the largest number of entries.
“We are extremely pleased with the recognition we received albeit against the landscape of the country and our industry’s struggle with the economic shutdown forcing restaurants and bars to close and with us having virtually no distribution in Utah” said Jeremy Ford, Salt Flats Beer & Spirits GM. “Owner Steve Pruitt was quick to see the emerging market for RTD when Spirits began operations in 2019 leading to the development of our Bartender To Go™ portfolio that also includes our Tequila Sunrise, Cuba Libre and Long Island Ice Tea canned cocktails. Each cocktail was developed from a decade of being in the bar and restaurant business and ran parallel with our distilling of bottled spirts that includes our Bonneville Bourbon, GT Gin and Parabolica Rum where each was developed from our customer’s input and being able to convert what customers most want in flavor and mouthfeel from their particular spirit or cocktail” continued Ford.
Awards from American Craft Spirits Association represent the pinnacle in peer awards in the craft distilling industry where the 2020 judging included judges from across the industry including distillers, bar and restaurant operators, journalists and educators where the judging is continually evolving to provide meaningful detailed feedback for all entrants. Spirits were scored on aroma intensity and complexity, appearance, palate complexity and concentration, body, character and nature of alcohol, texture, and finish. Each judge was asked if they would pour the spirit for a peer. Prior to the tasting panels, judges participated in a palate calibration seminar to bring a more narrowed focus to the tasting approach. This calibration seminar helped to ensure that scores across all judges and panels fell close to one another.
Though still unavailable to its Utah customers except through the Salt Flats Beer & Spirits package agency in Salt Lake City, all of the company’s products will soon be available in Nevada, Wyoming and Idaho while Utah awaits.