The 2nd annual KEGGY Awards, honoring wineries, restaurants, bars and suppliers for excellence and sustainability in wine on tap, will take place on October 22 in Napa, CA.
The KEGGY Awards were created to recognize those individuals who are committed to the environment as well as their wine on tap programs,” said Jordan Kivelstadt, Founder and CEO of Free Flow Wines.
Napa, CA (PRWEB) September 02, 2015
Free Flow Wines, the pioneer of premium wine on tap, today announced that the second annual KEGGY Awards (#KEGGYAwards), honoring wineries, restaurants, bars and suppliers for excellence and sustainability in wine on tap, will take place on October 22 at the company’s headquarters in Napa. In advance of the awards ceremony, Free Flow Wines announced that the winner of the first KEGGY “People’s Choice” award is Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill of Little Rock, AR. All KEGGY Award winners will be presented with their trophies at the October event.
“The KEGGY Awards were created to recognize those individuals who are committed to the environment as well as their wine on tap programs,” said Jordan Kivelstadt, Founder and CEO of Free Flow Wines. “We are thrilled to expand this year’s awards to include the most exceptional wineries, restaurants and distributors.”
The 2015 KEGGY Awards include:
- The KEGGY "People's Choice" award - recognizing one exceptional wine on tap program.
- KEGGY Winery Awards - recognizing sustainability achievements for the wineries that have saved a minimum of over 100,000 bottles from the landfill by packaging their wine in stainless steel kegs.
- KEGGY Distributor Awards - recognizing the distributors who have saved a total of 100,000 or more bottles from the landfill, based on the number of kegs they have sold to date.
- KEGGY Ambassador Awards - recognizing individuals who have impacted and grown the wine on tap category in a substantial way.
“As of today, Free Flow Wines and our partners have saved 5,805,618 bottles, corks and foils from the landfill, totaling almost 9 million pounds of trash,” added Kivelstadt. “That’s a significant reduction in waste and as an industry we should all be very proud of that accomplishment.”
Free Flow Wines began accepting online and social media nominations for the “People’s Choice” award in June 2015. Over the summer, the company received thousands of votes and nominations for six locations including: Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill in Little Rock, AR; Bar Viñedo in Queen Creek, AZ; The Bleu Garten in Oklahoma City, OK; Brick+Wood in Fairfield, CT; Highball & Harvest of The Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando, FL; and The Wonderland Ocean Pub in San Diego, CA. Samantha’s was chosen for going above and beyond in the wine on tap category and is the first restaurant in Little Rock to offer all wine and beer on tap. Through a top-of-the-line tap system, the restaurant offers 32 beers and 20 wines on tap.
“Free Flow Wines have allowed us to develop our downtown Little Rock restaurant around all things on tap,” said Chris Tanner, Owner of Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill. “Our customers know that each glass of wine they order will be fresh, delicious, and from a premium winery. This exciting concept has changed so much for us, especially with critical, behind-the-bar issues like storage, waste and speed of service. Wine on tap is the most progressive bar concept I’ve ever seen.”
“Chris is a respected restaurateur and true innovator in the restaurant business,” said Dan Donahoe, Founder and Chairman of Free Flow Wines. “We congratulate him and his team on their People’s Choice award and we look forward to continuing to work with them to offer the best in wine on tap.”
Free Flow Wines created the annual KEGGY Awards in 2014 to recognize wineries for their achievements in wine on tap, especially sustainability achievements. 2014 winners include Au Bon Climat, Qupé, Constellation Brands, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Hahn Family Wines, King Estate Winery, and The Wine Group. These wineries each saved at least 100,000 wine bottles, for a total of well over 1 million bottles, from landfills since they began kegging their wine with Free Flow Wines.
About Free Flow Wines
Free Flow Wines is the pioneer of premium wine on tap and delivers the world’s wine brands to the taps of restaurants and venues nationwide. Free Flow Wines' kegging and logistics services have allowed the wine and hospitality industries to move away from bottles to a sustainable, environmentally friendly way of serving wine on tap, while maintaining wine integrity from the barrel to the tap. Free Flow Wines was founded in 2009 and has more than 220 wine brands in kegs, such as Frog’s Leap from the Napa Valley, King Estate Winery from Oregon and Diseno from Mendoza, Argentina. Their clients' wines are offered to a variety of restaurants, premium hotels, sports and entertainment venues nationwide. The company is located in Napa, California, and you can find them online at FreeFlowWines.com, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr @FreeFlowWine.
