2023 San Diego Spirits Festival
International Bottle Competition
September 9th 2023
The Blind Tasting
The 2023 San Diego Spirits Festival International Bottle Competition is open for entries from emerging craft distillers, American merchant bottlers and large distillers alike; and it is open to all classes of spirits, domestic and international – whiskey, bourbon, gin, brandy, vodka, rum, agave spirits and liqueurs. The competition will bring renowned experts from the worlds of spirits and hospitality together to determine the best tasting spirits in a blind analysis, the double blind competition will be based on a 100 point scale the competition will be held SEPTEMBER 2ND 2023
We are the most cost-effective International Spirits Competition
Design Awards are also judged at no additional cost
Winning brands have full use of their medals and graphics
Our judges are free of any ties to specific brands,
they include distributors, educators and bartenders
The Process
Spirits will be presented to judges in coded NEAT glasses in a blind tasting format.
No spirits bottles will be visible to judges at any time until the competition is finished. Staff members will be prohibited from mentioning any spirits brand names entered in the competition.
The integrity of San Diego Spirits Festival International Spirits Competition starts with the quality and expertise of our Esteemed Judges. Our Judges have a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds and this facilitates a true, unbiased quality of judging of all the brands that have entered.
Vip Tastings
Brands will have the added opportunity
at no additional cost
to be featured at the San Diego Spirits Festival
in the VIP Pavilion.
VIP attendees will be asked to sample the top brands
and give there rankings and comments.
We ask brands that want to be included
to submit an extra bottle
Advisory Council
GEORGE MANSKA inventor of the Neat Glass is the Advisory Council for the San Diego Spirits Festival International Spirits Competition. George is the Chief of Research and Development, Corporate Strategy officer of Arsilica, Inc., Las Vegas, NV and inventor of the NEAT glass, and NEAT science of nosing and evaluation.
Why we use NEAT as our official judging glass:
NEAT eliminates nose burn and numbing, displays all aromas, and delivers competition level performance, letting every spirit speak for itself. NEAT improves credibility of spirits, judges and ratings.
Awards will be issued to the Best of Class in:
