3 Stars for Curio Spirits at Great Taste 2017

Curio Spirits is pleased to be among just a handful of top tier winners at the Great Taste Awards 2017. Dubbed the world's most coveted food awards, the competition celebrates the very best in food and drink. The Great Taste has announced its stars for 2017. Out of over 12,300 products to be judged, Curio Spirits was awarded a 3-star Great Taste award, which means the product was described by judges as exquisite for its Cardamom Vodka. Just 165 products received the coveted highest award for produce this year. Judges said of the Cardamom Vodka: Bright appealing cardamom is immediately prominent on the nose with a green citrus note underneath and rich peppery depth. A silky texture with deep elegant cardamom characters shining through. Well-balanced with gentle pepper and brilliant layers. The initial spice heat dissipates beautifully. Curio Spirits also received a 1-star Great Taste award for their Rock Samphire Gin, which means judges dubbed it simply delicious in the recent awards. Judged by over 500 of the most demanding palates, belonging to food critics, chefs, cooks, restaurateurs and producers, as well as a whole host of food writers and journalists, Great Taste is widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers. As well as a badge of honour, the unmistakeable black and gold Great Taste label is a signpost to a wonderful tasting product, which has been discovered through hours and hours of blind-tasting by hundreds of judges. Rubina Tyler-Street says: This is the first year we have entered the Great Taste Awards and we are extremely thrilled to have received the highest star rating for our Cardamom Vodka! To be one of just 165 3 star awards out of so many entries is just brilliant. Recognised as a stamp of excellence among consumers and retailers alike, Great Taste values taste above all else, with no regard for branding and packaging. Whether it is gin, biscuits, sausages or coffee being judged, all products are removed from their wrapper, jar, box or bottle before being tasted. The judges then savour, confer and re-taste to decide which products are worthy of a 1-, 2- or 3-star award. There were 12,366 Great Taste entries this year and of those products, 165 have been awarded a 3-star, 1,011 received a 2-star and 3,171 were awarded a 1-star accolade. The panel of judges included; chef, food writer and author, Gill Meller, MasterChef judge and restaurant critic, Charles Campion, author and chef, Zoe Adjonyoh, baker, Tom Herbert, and food writer and baking columnist Martha Collison as well as food buyers from Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges, and Harvey Nichols. These esteemed palates have together tasted and re-judged the 3-star winners to finally agree on the 2017 Top 50 Foods, the Golden Fork Trophy winners and the 2017 Supreme Champion. Notes to Editors What is Great Taste? Great Taste is the largest and most trusted accreditation scheme for fine food and drink. Established in 1994, it encourages and mentors artisan food producers, offering a unique benchmarking and product evaluation service leading to an independent accreditation that enables small food and drink businesses to compete against supermarket premium own label brands. Since 1994 over 122,300 products have been assessed. This year 12,366 products were blind-tasted by panels of specialists: top chefs, cookery writers, food critics, restaurateurs and fine food retailers.