LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

Today we welcome Sammy Hagar and Guy Fieri to the cover showcasing their spirits and live-for-the-moment attitude. It was an honor to meet Sammy Hagar at Nightclub and Bar Show in Las Vegas last month. The keynote address about tenacity and creating brands that make you feel good was his inspirational speech we all needed to hear at the heralded show, which was bustling with new brands, new gadgets, and a new refreshing attitude.

It is unbelievable how quickly 2021 has flown by, considering all that is happening. Nevertheless, we are just two months shy of PR%F Awards 2021, and this is my final letter before the competition to get you all to enter your emerging new brands and established favorites into the competition.

I want to thank our incredible family of partners, including Delta Sky Club®, Westgate Las Vegas, Food and Beverage Magazine, PR%F Live! with Jennifer English, and the NEAT glass. Our incredible team of judges: Delta Sky Club, Breakthru Beverage, Southern Wine & Spirits, Opulent Wine & Spirits, SPECS, CraftShack, Western Beverage, Vanderpump Cocktail Garden, Liquor World, Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, Stations Casinos, Sugar Factory, artist Michael Godard, and artist Kai Delgado—just to name a few. What’s makes our competition special and unique is that each judge is a buyer with the power to purchase your brand for their venue. They are the taste aficionados with access to what new brands are available to bring into their respective environment,

The judges are beverage buyers for a casino, resort, airline, restaurant, bar, nightclub, liquor store, distributor, online distributor, retail chain, and more. Nearly 100 judges will grace our competition this year with their wisdom, experience, and desire to find the newest brand, define the trends for tomorrow, and really help push our industry into the next phase.

This year we added a dual competition platform—enter one time, and your SKU gets entered into two separate competitions. PR%F Awards-Masked! is the coveted double-blind competition where our judges with impeccable palates rate and honor your brand with accolades based upon all senses of taste, smell, color, finish, and flavor. The next day, the judges come back for The Total Package Award. Our judges asked for this last year since they wanted a chance to taste your unique brands while viewing your logo, bottle, bottle shape and size, price point, origin, and more. In fact, part of our entry process asks for the brands to give a 400-word synopsis on why the brand was created and what makes it unique. This special competition allows the judges to get to know the brands more intimately. What’s great is that each entered brand gets a chance to win two medals.

We have included a whole new list of categories in the spirits arena and expanded our wine categories to include many from around the globe. We added CBD-infused spirits and drinks, expanded our non-alcoholic categories with energy drinks, infused waters, teas, garnishes, and more.

PR%F Awards is a private judging competition held at Westgate Resorts in Las Vegas on September 28-29. Entries and bottles/cans are due by Sept. 1. Please visit www.proofawards.com for information and our easy entry portal.

Namaste & Cheers!

Michele D. Tell Executive Director, PR%F the Magazine Founder, PR%F Awards