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| Bryan Davis and Joanne Haruta Founders so Lost Spirits Distillery |
The Distillery Masters is a
unique proposition in the wider Global Spirits Masters series, which is largely
comprised of blind spirits-tasting assessments. This particular competition
looks at the places behind the products – distilleries – and pays attention to
increasingly critical aspects of the spirits world: tourism, digital marketing,
experimentation in production, and sustainability.
The first round of the day was
Consumer Experience, which assessed tours, sampling experiences, visitor centers,
and other creative ways distilleries enhanced their visitors’ experiences. Panelists
were delighted to discover the first aster winner of the day, was Lost Spirits
Distillery. In 2015, California-based
Lost Spirits established industry-first technology to recreate the chemical
signature of aged spirits in a laboratory. The company’s distillery has been
described as a “journey into the mind of a madman”, and judges loved the
experience it offered consumers, which evoked the company’s creative processes
rather than bogging down visitors with heavy scientific detail. “They are
trying to make the distillery fun rather than just explanatory,” observed Roos.
Abbott, “The consumer experience evokes the craziness of what they do but
without the details.” Constable, meanwhile, praised the educational aspect of
the experience. “It makes science, not just distilling, fun,” she said. “It’s
the kind of place you would want to go back to.”
Congratulations to Bryan Davis, Joanne
Haruta and all of the crew of Lost Spirits on winning this prestigious award. Davis took an idea of scientifically recreating
the barrel aging process and making it happen in a very short time. In doing so they have created their award
winning rums and now the Distillery Master Award.
