October 2007

InBev Celebrates Bartending Excellence - 11th edition of the Stella Artois® World Draught Master Competition

Brussels, October 26, 2007 - The 11th edition of the Stella Artois® World Draught Master Competition - a contest that rewards the world’s best pourer of Belgian beers - took place today in the Stella Artois brewery in Leuven, the hometown of Stella Artois®. InBev brought together 24 international finalists for the competition, which is the highlight of 12 months hard work in training bartenders from all over the world. This year’s Stella Artois® World Draught Master title has been awarded to Erin Carroll – New Zealand (1st place winner), Mozhalov Denys – Ukraine (1st runner-up) and Kate Gow - Australia (2nd runner-up).


First held in 1997, the Stella Artois® World Draught Master Competition assembles the best bartenders from around the world to rate their tapping skills, bottle-pouring finesse and table-serving protocol when it comes to serving Belgian beers. Every step of a competitor’s attempt to perform the “perfect pour” is carefully scrutinized by a panel of expert judges.

Always a fight to the finish, the competition heralds the importance of the Stella Artois® 9-step pouring ritual: a cleaning process, the position of the tap (not touching the beer, head or glass), the size of the head (no higher than two fingers), and a careful re-dipping of the glass in cool water to restore its proper drinking temperature – all of which ensure that a Stella Artois® will always taste its best. Even the shape of the brand’s signature chalice glass is chosen to release all of the beer’s multi-textured aromas.

This annual contest welcomes the winners of locally-held contests from more than 24 countries - from Kazakhstan to Hong Kong - a broad spectrum of international Stella Artois® brand ambassadors who reflect the widespread global appeal of Belgium’s premium lager.

Ligia Goncalves, Stella Artois® Global Brand Director says: “Without a doubt, a well-poured beer adds something special to the experience, which is why we are so proud to have today our yearly Stella Artois® World Draught Master competition, celebrating the fine art of pouring a perfect chalice of the world’s most popular Belgian beer.”

This years competition participants came from: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Gibraltar, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, UK, Ukraine and the United States.

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KWV 10 Year Old Brandy wins International Spirits Challenge Trophy

KWV 10 Year Old Brandy won a gold medal, the South African Brandy Category Champion and a trophy at the International Spirits Challenge (ISC) in London last week.

The ISC Awards, now in their 12th year, are the benchmark of quality for all spirit categories and attracted 745 entrants world wide of which only 57 received gold medals. Of these, only eight were trophy winners. A trophy is awarded only where judges felt a spirit demonstrated exceptional taste and character. Thus, the KWV 10 Year Old Brandy performed exceedingly well to receive the trophy.

KWV 10 Year Old has been produced for more than 70 years. It is a double distilled potstill brandy produced at the KWV House of Brandy in Worcester. The brandy is matured in selected small French oak barrels for a minimum of ten years before bottling.

It has a lively amber colour with spicy and nutty aromas that enhance the delicate floral and dried fruit flavours. This is a full-bodied brandy with a lingering dried fruit aftertaste.

The 10 Year Old has won many gold medals and trophies over the years. It was also judged the world's best brandy at another UK-based competition on several occasions.

Kobus Gelderblom, KWV's brandy master is delighted with this trophy. "I am passionate about producing brandies of the highest quality and when a benchmark brandy, such as the KWV 10 Year Old wins such an accolade, it fulfills my expectations."

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