HBI Staff | Hyderabad 
ProWine Mumbai, the largest event in India for the wine, spirits, craft beverages, and hospitality industry as well as for wine enthusiasts, recently announced spectacular show features that will take place in November this year. The ProWine Spirits Challenge and The ProWine Bartenders’ Competition are exciting show highlights that will open doors to all spirit brands and skilled bartenders to put their best foot forward on India’s strongest platform for the wine and spirits industry.
The ProWine Spirits Challenge will facilitate a contest between the makers of alcoholic beverages, in which spirit brands can compete to substantiate the quality of their products. The Challenge invites all premium spirit categories including whiskies, vodkas, gins, rums and agave to participate. The Challenge will run alongside the ProWine Mumbai, on the 24th & 25th of November 2023 at the Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai. ProWine Mumbai has firmly established itself as a one-stop destination for both buyers and sellers of wines and spirits to meet, learn, network and taste. The tradeshow is a part of the globally iconic ProWein World and is jointly organised by Messe Düsseldorf India and All Things Nice.
The Challenge is founded on a rigorous and independent judging process, which serves to encourage the high calibre of spirits entering the competition. Spirits will be blind tasted by trade and consumers who will attend ProWine Mumbai and will judge by category the quality of each spirit and will score them accordingly. The audience at ProWine Mumbai includes importers, distributors, retailers, hotel food & beverage managers, mixologists, bar & restaurant owners, members of wine and spirits clubs across the country and consumers. The trade buyers are responsible for buying large investment inventory and determine which brands are carried in bars, restaurants and retail shops. The consumers are the actual end users of the brands and are critical for the judging process.
“In a short span of time, ProWine Mumbai has been successful in creating an extraordinary platform for the international wine and spirits community to meet and network. Adding new dimensions to the event, The ProWine Spirits Challenge and The ProWine Bartenders’ Competition will bring many opportunities both for the participating brands as well as the buyers to position themselves and their brands as leaders of the industry. We encourage all eligible brands and bartenders to participate and make the most of these contests” says Thomas Schlitt, Managing Director, Messe Düsseldorf India.
“The ProWine Spirits Challenge will not only present an unbiased platform for brands but also provides a strong marketing value that is associated with participation and the fact that it has been conducted on the ProWine platform. We felt adding the Spirits Challenge to the show at this point will add value to the participating brands at the show as well as to the buyers and the discerning consumer”, says Nikhil Agarwal, Founder, All Things Nice.
The judging process will take place over Day 1 of the show (24th November) and part of Day 2 (25th November); winning brands will then be announced at ProWine Mumbai and certificates will be given away by affluent Spirits Specialists and publicized through media.
The winners of the ProWine Spirits Competition will also receive medal stickers for adding to their bottle packaging. The medal is an ultimate endorsement in the global spirits industry.
Alongside the Challenge, ProWine Mumbai will also be the first to host a contest for bartenders. The ProWine Bartenders’ Competition will provide a huge platform for talented bartenders from the country’s leading bars and hotels to showcase their forte and skill. Winning cocktail competitions is one of the fastest ways to become well-known as a skilled bartender/mixologist. It opens the door to tons of career opportunities – from private consulting gigs to jobs as prestigious as brand ambassadorships.
“The flair of your bartender impacts the brand value and recall to the ever-discerning consumer. The skill that goes behind making that perfect margarita or negroni deserves recognition. We envisioned ProWine Mumbai as the platform for the wine and spirits industry to shine and so we chose to include the people that have a significant impact on what consumers in India drink”, says Agarwal.
The ProWine Bartenders’ Competition will be judged by a panel of globally recognized spirits experts. Winning bartenders at ProWine Mumbai will receive cash prizes and certificates and above all get a chance for a bar takeover at a leading international bar; courtesy of ProWine Mumbai.
ProWine Mumbai 2023 will also showcase an invigorating panel discussion on ‘The future of international craft spirits in India and taking Indian craft spirits globally’. The panelists will include producers of craft spirits, global brand ambassadors and heads of multinational brands available in India.
