GENEVA, Switzerland, February 8, 2010 – Rogue Spirits was the most honored distillery at the 2009/2010 World Beverage Competition, winning a total of six medals including three GOLD in competition with the top distillers from over 30 countries in “The Largest Beverage Competition in the World.”

The World Beverage Competition was founded on the premise that beverage products should be judged not by the strength of their marketing or the budget of their sales force, but rather on the quality and innovation of the product itself. All spirits in the World Beverage Competition are judged by a panel of industry experts from 6 different continents in a double blind tasting method.

Rogue Spirits won three GOLD medals for Spruce Gin, Dead Guy Whiskey and Dark Rum. Other competition participants included Tanqueray, Bacardi, Corsair and Svedka.
 

 
Rogue’s Spruce Gin won the GOLD Medal in the flavored gin category. Spruce Gin is distilled using 12 Ingredients: Cucumbers, Angelica Root, Orange Peel, Coriander, Lemon Peel, Ginger, Orris Root, Grains Of Paradise, Tangerine, Juniper Berries, and Free Range Coastal Water. Rogue Spruce Gin was also a Double Gold medal winner at the 2009 and the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Dead Guy Whiskey won a GOLD Medal in the whisky competition. Rogue Dead Guy Whiskey is distilled using 6 ingredients: Northwest Harrington, Klages, Carastan and Rogue Micro Barley Farm DareTM Malts, Distiller’s Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water Dead Guy Whiskey was also a Gold medal winner at the 2009 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Rogue’s Dark Rum won a GOLD Medal in the dark rum category. Rogue Dark Rum was distilled using 3 ingredients: 100% Pure Hawaiian Cane Sugar, Distillers Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water. Dark Rum also received a Gold medal at the 2009 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

In October Rogue will sponsor the 6th Annual Great American Distillers Festival – a gathering of small distilleries from across the country who come to Oregon, the Mecca of craft distilling, to share their products, their passion, and their expertise in hand-crafting spirits.

Celebrating six years of distilling, Rogue Spirits creates award winning multi-ingredient small batch spirits, artisan distilled in traditional hand-crafted copper pot stills. Rogue Spirits have 75+ awards for taste and quality and is distributed in 35 states and four countries. No chemicals, additives or preservatives are used. Visit our website at WWW.ROGUE.COM for more information.


The Rogue Ale Story
In Feb of 1989, construction began on the Bay Front Brew Pub. Making this a step up in the world by going from a basement in Ashland to a garage in Newport. The front of the house also was being readied. The back bar was originally from the old Elk Tavern.

In May of 1989, John Maier joins Rogue after a stint with Alaska Brewing. John is a former Senior Technician with Hughes Aircraft Co. in El Segundo, CA from 1975 to 1986 and Seibel Institute graduate.

The Pub opened in May of 1989, with a small but enthusiastic customer base, made up of curious locals who dropped by to see what was going on and never left. Many joined in and helped with the construction and other projects as needed. The names of many of these early customers have been immortalized with brass plaques that grace the bar today. One of the most notable of these future customers was Chuck Linquist. He was retired, was a home brewer, and had an interest in microbrews. He was also bored and wanted to do something useful. We consider him one of our first employees. His handiwork is still visible at the Pub, the shelves that line the bar area, the light sconces, as well as the memorabilia on the shelf above Mo's picture, that Chuck brought back from Europe.

So begins the story of Rogue Ales, enjoy!