La Quintinye Vermouth Royal Rouge has been awarded the Chairman’s Trophy at the prestigious Ultimate Spirits Challenge, which took place in New York.
This year’s competition, the seventh overall, saw over 670 entries and just 40 Chairman’s Trophy awards; the Royal Rouge was the only sweet vermouth to take one of the top honours.
Jean Sébastien Robicquet, creator and master distiller of La Quintinye Vermouth Royal was understandably delighted with the award.
“As a new French vermouth, I am thrilled with the enthusiastic reception we have received from the industry thus far,” he said.
“Having only launched La Quintinye in France two years ago, and with just one year in the U.S. market, we are truly honoured that such a respected panel has recognised our creativity and has awarded La Quintinye 97 points, an absolutely incredible score at this competition, especially for a vermouth.”
The judging panel for the Ultimate Spirits Challenge comprised 21 key influencers from the spirits industry. Led by chairman judge F. Paul Pacult, other judges included mixologists, educators and buyers such as Jeff Bell, Jacques Bezuidenhout, Tad Carducci, Gregg Glasser, Don Lee, and Andy Seymour.
The Chairman’s Trophy and Finalists were determined by the judging chairman based on the number of entrants and overall category scoring. The winners of these titles are identified as the best representations of their category.
As well as winning the Chairman’s Trophy for the Royal Rouge, the La Quintinye Vermouth Royal Extra Dry was named as a finalist after scoring 94 points.
Earlier this month b&c revealed that West Winds gin, The Cutlass, took out the Chairman’s Trophy for the best gin at the challenge.