By Amy Looker
The Liquor Stores Association of NSW (LSA NSW) hosted a record-breaking Retail Liquor Industry Awards for Excellence gala dinner at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth last Friday night (27 November).
With attendance up over 50 percent on last year’s event, over 270 liquor retailers, suppliers, representatives and key industry stakeholders gathered together to celebrate the retail liquor industry’s best performers.
Chambers Cellars were big winners on the night, taking home the gong for Top NSW Liquor Store, beating out ten liquor stores for the title, including two other Chambers Cellars stores in the top ten.
Cellarbrations at Wingham and CBD Cellars were runners up in the Top Regional and Metro NSW Liquor Stores categories respectively, while Jarrod Ronan from Liquorland Bathurst was announced as the Liquor Store Manager of the Year, and Paul Heilman from Cellarbrations at Cowra took out the Liquor Store Owner of the Year award.
Driving home LSA NSW’s commitment to industry training, this year also saw the launch of a new retailer award, the Award for Excellence in Training. Presented in conjunction with the Retail Liquor Development Foundation (RLDF), the award went to the Maynew Group, who run Bottle-O Beaumont, Bottle-O Whitebridge, Bottle-O Nelson Bay and Bottle-O Kahibah.
In the supplier categories, the top awards were given to Foster’s Group (Beer Supplier of the Year), Constellation Wines Australia (Wine/Champagne Supplier of the Year), Pernod Ricard Australia (Spirits Supplier of the Year) and Australian Liquor Marketers (General Service Supplier of the Year).
Andrew Hill of the Foster’s Group took out the Beer Representative of the Year, Graeme Lever of the Foster’s Group was named Wine/Champagne Representative of the Year, and Cara Keily from Pernod Ricard Australia won the Spirits Representative of the Year category.
RETAILER CATEGORY WINNERS
Top 10 NSW Liquor Stores
Top NSW Liquor Store – Chambers Cellars Newport
Runner Up: Top Regional NSW Liquor Store – Cellarbrations at Wingham
Runner Up: Top Metro NSW Liquor Store – CBD Cellars
Finalists:
CBD Cellars
Vintage Cellars Dural
Cellarbrations at Abbotsford
Porter’s Liquor Greenpoint
Cellarbrations at Wingham
Old Bar Cellars
Chambers Cellars Neutral Bay
Dan Murphy’s Alexandria
Chambers Cellars Newport
Chambers Cellars Winston Hills
Liquor Store Manager of the Year – Jarrod Ronan, Liquorland Bathurst
Liquor Store Owner of the Year – Paul Heilman, Cellarbrations at Cowra
Award for Excellence in Training – Maynew Group
SUPPLIER CATEGORY WINNERS
Beer Supplier of the Year – Foster’s Group Australia
Wine/Champagne Supplier of the Year – Constellation Wines Australia
Spirits Supplier of the Year – Pernod Ricard Australia
General Supplier of the Year – Australian Liquor Marketers
Beer Representative of the Year – Andrew Hill, Foster’s Group
Wine/Champagne Representative of the Year – Graeme Lever, Foster’s Group
Spirits Representative of the Year – Cara Keily, Pernod Ricard Australia