OREANDA-NEWS. November 20, 2007. An international jury of the European Beer Star Awards-2007 at the BRAU Bievale Exhibition in Nuremberg announced the results of a competition in which 575 varieties of beer from 28 countries around the world took part. Two of Baltika Breweries’ brands simultaneously received top awards from this highly prestigious competition within the worldwide beer brewing sector. Baltika Cooler won the bronze award in the "Mild Beer" category, while Arsenalnoye Zakalennoye received the bronze in the "Herb and Spice Beer" category. Previously Baltika №6 Porter won two silver medals at the European Beer Star Awards.

The organisers of the competition were the Association of Private Breweries of Germany and the Association of Independent Breweries of Europe. The European Beer Star Awards were carried out in the Munich suburb of Grafelfing in the world’s first Institute of Beer Brewing (Doemens Technikum). One of the conditions of participation is strict observance of the traditional laws of European brewing. The jury consisting of 54 judges evaluated the varieties presented to them in 40 categories. All tasting was done in blind tests.

Denis Tokmakov, Head of Control and Certification Group at Baltika Breweries who in 2005 became a member of the jury at another authoritative competition, the Brewing Industry International Awards (Great Britain), had the following comments on the process of competition tastings: "The jury at such well-known and prestigious competitions consist of experts in the field of brewing who professionally taste the varieties presented to the competition and are able to competently evaluate the quality and flavour of the samples. The guarantee of unprejudiced evaluation is the "blind" sampling method, whereby the taster does not know precisely which variety of beer he is evaluating."

Alexander Dedegkaev, Vice President for Supply Chain at Baltika Breweries said: "Every year different varieties of beer produced at the Baltika breweries participate in authoritative international competitions and receive awards based on merit. We are proud that the jury of the European Beer Star Awards has acknowledged such brands as Baltika Cooler and Arsenalnoye Zakalennoye. Both varieties have won popularity among consumers during the relatively short time that has passed since their launch."

Baltika Cooler is the youngest sub-brand in the Baltika brand line-up. It was brought to market in April 2006. This was the first time in the family of Baltika sub-brands that a beer appeared which was not given a number in the series. Thanks to the special assortment of yeasts used in the preparation of this variety, Baltika Cooler has an original refreshing taste and is easy to drink. The new yeast were specially developed by the Company’s brewers using a culture found in Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands, which are well known for their severe but unique natural conditions.