GERMAN RUM AWARDS

The GERMAN RUM AWARDS are a competition in which professionals blind taste the rums submitted and make subjective, yet neutral assessments! To make the rating as simple and effective as possible, we’ve developed a points awarding system where each juror only has to make one mark within a particular scale. This enables the juror to focus on the essentials – without the distraction of having to figure out how many available points to award.

In order for a submitted product to be awarded and to receive a medal, a specific number of points must be achieved. The jury awards only one gold, silver and bronze medal in each category, which is different from many other competitions. Out of all the submitted products, there is also a “Best in Show“ award – it goes to the rum with the highest number of points, regardless of category.

CATEGORIES

These are this years categories.

THE JURY

What does “professional jury“ mean? All participating jurors have many years of experience in spirit tastings and are experts in all things rum. They participate in international competitions and hail from various different countries. To have a good mix in the panel, there’s always at least one jury member with excellent sensory but not necessarily subject-specific training. We also invite bartenders to the jury as they bring additional aspects to the overall assessment.

“However, what makes the jurors truly special is the fact that they work for free. We only cover their food & lodging” – The Untouchable Jury!

Susanne Simon

burns passionately for good distillates, works in the distillate manufactory fine distillery Simon’s, is trained Edelbrandsommelieré and experienced taster at various awards, including for Bayernbrand and the Bavarian Institute of viticulture and horticulture. Has a penchant for rum and barrel-stored fires.

Helmut Barro

Helmut Barro

Since 2015 Helmut Barro writes on his blog “schlimmerdurst.net” about spirits of all kinds and cocktails. For several years, he has been a juror in various spirits competitions and a writer for trade magazines on the side. It all started with rum for him, and the love for this very special brand in all its forms accompanies him to this day.

Richard Nicholson

From New Zealand, Richard is currently on a 12 month world tour of rum distilleries and related activity. In June 2022 he was a panel judge for Spirits Selection (by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles), held in Guadeloupe.
He is the founder of New Zealand Rum Society and consults on private collections and trading, and with Independent Bottlers.

Johnny Drejer

Johnny has been a rum enthusiast for many years and has visited several distilleries as a photographer for

the Danish Whisky & Rom magazine. Previously been judging rum competitions in Miami, Berlin and Copenhagen.

Primarily known in the rum community for publishing the “Hydrometer method” on the Internet.

A method that allows people, in a cheap easy way, to measure how much assumed sugar that has been added to some rums.

Occasionally you will find Johnny assisting one of the largest Danish rum importer at rum festivals.

Bernd Schäfer

Bernhard Schäfer

started his professional Spirit carreer behind a Cocktailbar 1985, during his studies of sociology. Some years later he began giving lectures on different spirits, mainly Whisky. Where he got the highest accolades as he became a Keeper of the Quaich in 1996, and a Master in 2007.

Jery Gitany

Rum judge, consultant, promoter and retailer…

Jerry is co-founder of The Rum Embassy, a society in charge of the promotion of the Agricole Rhum of Guadeloupe and Martinique around the world

Ingvar Thomsen

is a rum enthusiast living in Copenhagen, Denmark — known as “Rum Thomsen” by his friends.

Ingvar has been writing about rum for the Danish “Whisky & Rum Magazine” since it started I 2011. It a 100-page magazine which is published five times a year.

Maria Gorbatschova

is Bar Manager and Head Bartender at Green Door Bar Berlin.
As a consultant, she is also involved in product development, content creation and signature drinks for the beverage industry.
With her extraordinary sense of flavor and aromatics, she is the ideal fit to lead the Mixology Taste Forum and serves as a writer for Mixology Magazine.

John Barrett

John Barrett, MD of Bristol Spirits Ltd who for the last 20+ years has been promoting a selection of the finest rums under the Bristol Classic Rum label. Well known as a supplier of fine rums from around the world John is recognised as an experienced taster and promoter of rums in their most natural state especially those matured and bottled in the UK. He has selected a bottling of the cult Caroni rum, now a closed distillery  to show as well as a bottling from Haiti, two totally different styles of rum each with their own special story to tell.

Eugen Kasparek

Eugen Kasparek

has many years of experience in high-end restaurants, specialist retailers, in seminars, as a member of culinary associations, trade visitor at conventions, juror of any number of competitions and last, but certainly not least, as Master of Tasting.

You don’t have to be an exhibitor at the GERMAN RUM FESTIVAL to participate in the GERMAN RUM AWARDS.

Producers and importers can submit independently, and use the awards as a tool to see how their product is rated in comparison to their competitors.

The entire process is transparent: the GERMAN RUM AWARDS section lists all jurors and publishes all submitted rum brands. The winners receive a medal, as well as media templates for publication. We submit the results to the press, trade magazines and social media multipliers, such as blogs and leading instagramers.

Even as the organizers ourselves, we only find out the results after the scoring is done through detailed submissions; the preparation and actual competition is handled by an independent team.

And so, the GERMAN RUM AWARDS are unique in their independent positioning, which has made them highly important among international & professional experts. Last but not least – and this makes us very happy – they’ve become a guide for consumers who look at a product appraised by the GERMAN RUM AWARDS as a recommendation to buy!

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