On February 25-26, 2021, the international tasting competition of vodkas, alcohols & spirits “EURASIA SPIRITS DRINKS” was once again held at the Russian Research & Development Institute of Food Biotechnology.
Despite the fact that the last year was quite tough for manufacturers of the industry, interest in this competition has become much higher. This year the Competition attracted more participants and samples than the previous one. That indicates a high degree of reliability and interest to our Competition.
Likewise last year, the Competition was held at the Russian Research & Development Institute of Food Biotechnology and for the tasting panel top tasters of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan were invited.
One of the greatest achievements of the Competition has become geographic growth. Last year we have already gone beyond the borders of the CIS and this year a representative of the European Union - a manufacturer from Finland - participated in the Competition for the first time. Besides, we have achieved an agreement in principle from Vietnam manufacturers to take part in the Competition, but due to the tightening of quarantine measures in this country, it was impossible to get samples for tasting.
The main and major innovation of the Competition was the participation of representatives of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation in the work of the Supervisory Board. It's no coincidence because since 2021 the Competition has been positioned as a Professional Tasting Competition, which is held in accordance with GOST ISO 8586-2015 and methodological recommendations. Therefore, representatives of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation were able to ensure proper monitoring of compliance with all the necessary requirements for the Competition could hold the status of "Professional". Also, a significant difference from last year's Competition was the parallel tasting of samples by the members of the Supervisory Board. This tasting was non-competitive and did not involve any score assessment of the sample's taste, but was an opportunity for Supervisory Board members to taste any samples. This innovation allows us to confirm the principle of independence of the Competition and the principle of objectivity of submitted products evaluation. Alcohol samples kindled a particular interest from the Supervisory Board members. That's no marvel, because, among the Supervisory Board members in addition to the representatives of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, there were QC Heads of the leading distilleries such as BELUGA GROUP, Roust Holding, Syktyvkar Distillery, and Rosspirtprom representatives. Thus, the hosts of the Competition fulfilled their promise to the alcohols producers. This type of the Supervisory Board work was evaluated as a convenient and informative way for manufacturers to compare the products of their factories with the products of competitors.
The interest of the manufacturers towards special categories such as ECO Style and NEW Technology cannot go unmentioned. These categories not only allow to evaluate the taste of the samples but also consider the safety and environmental criteria. The manufacture of the safest and most eco-friendly products as well as the opportunity for the manufacturer to convey information about the quality of their products to consumers with the help of our competition awards is the main task of our competition.
Another important innovation was the broadcast of the Tasting Panel work online. This opportunity was used by many factories in Russia and abroad.
1On April 15, 2021, the award ceremony for the winners of the international tasting competition "EURASIA SPIRITS DRINKS" was held. The award ceremony was held at the RAIKIN PLAZA HOTEL’s Congress Hall as in the last year.
The award ceremony was attended by the Heads of the industry enterprises. It is a pleasure to know that many people noted that a professional competition appeared in Russia under the aegis of the Russian Research & Development Institute of Food Biotechnology. This Institution has rich scientific traditions and authority among professionals not only in Russia and the CIS, but also abroad. Many Heads especially noted that this year the Institute celebrates its 90th anniversary.
We were especially pleased that the organization of the Competition was highly appreciated by Irina Bushina, a member of the Supervisory Board of the competition and Assistant to the Head of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation. She also congratulated the staff of the Institute on this significant anniversary and wished success in achieving higher results in scientific and practical activities.
For their part, the hosts of the competition namely Irina Mikhailovna Abramova the Director of the Russian Research & Development Institute of Food Biotechnology, and Evgeny Yuryevich Popov the General Director of the Innovation & Trading Company “Medmark” confirmed their readiness to develop the "EURASIA SPIRITS DRINKS" Competition as a professional and independent competition, so that the awards of the Competition received by the manufacturers became a clear guide for the consumer when choosing high-quality and safe products.
