The Community Spirit wins global acclaim at The Spirits Business Awards
The Community Spirit project has been recognised its ethical contributions to the spirits industry in this year’s Spirits Business Awards. In a virtual event streamed from the United Kingdom in the early hours of the 2nd of December, the collaborative project received top prize. The initiative was launched by Nip of Courage and made possible with the support of Spirits and Cocktails Australia. In 2020, The Community Spirit embarked on a road trip with Nip of Courage national brand ambassador Abby Roennfeldt. The team captured stories of bushfire-affected distilleries and communities to share with the rest of the world to promote returning tourism to these regions. To further support these distilleries, Spirits and Cocktails Australia purchased products from fire-affected distilleries at retail value to donate to bushfire fundraising events.
“It is truly an honour to be recognised on a global scale for the work we have done in our own backyard,” says Kathleen Davies of Nip of Courage, “Aussie distillers had a tough year in 2020 and we hope that the message of The Community Spirit can be reinforced with this very exciting achievement.”
Nip of Courage have been long-standing advocates of Australian craft spirits, so it was only natural for us to be involved with the recovery of bushfire affected distilleries. The road trip covered 5000 kilometres across Australia and featured the stories of 10 distilleries; Kangaroo Island Spirits, Craft Works Distillery, Karu Distillery, Joadja Distillery, Stony Creek Farm Distillery, Wildbrumby Distillery, Billson’s Beechworth, Hurdle Creek Still, Corowa Distilling Co., and Reed & Co. Distillery.
“Spirits and Cocktails Australia is thrilled The Community Spirit has been recognised for making a positive contribution to the industry,” said CEO Greg Holland. “We’re proud to have partnered with Nip of Courage to bring this idea to life to support local distillers and bushfire fundraising efforts.”
The Spirits Business Awards was launched in 2019 and aims to champion the workforce of the spirits industry in a range of categories including marketing, sustainability, products, people and tourism. The judging panel is composed of a number of industry leaders including spirits journalists, marketers, and bar entrepreneurs.
“The Spirits Business Awards has been launched to celebrate outstanding achievements across the breadth of the spirits industry,” says Melita Kiely, editor of The Spirits Business, “Our sector is vast and complex, relying on the abilities of people spanning a range of disciplines – many of whom stay out of the spotlight. [These awards] seek to give praise where praise is due.”
We are thrilled to be this year’s Ethical Award winner in The Spirits Business Awards. We hope to bring The Community Spirit initiative to 2021 and beyond to assist and promote Australian craft distillers and their regional communities.
You can read more about the project at www.thecommunityspirit.com.au