With all the doom and gloom hovering over the drinks industry (sales down, tariffs, etc.), it’s time to remember something a very smart editor once told us: “Drinking is supposed to be fun.” With that in mind, we present The Spill Awards, the second annual ode to all the things we love in the drinks world, from favorite bottles to the best winery to our favorite viral drinks moment. Helping us for the first time? A team of superstar drinks professionals (bartenders, bar owners, distillers, execs, publicists and more) and journalists, who you can meet here.

How did we choose the following categories and nominees? It was a three-month process that involved selecting the judging panel and having each person fill out a comprehensive questionnaire. From there, the editors at The Spill curated a list of finalists and (along with a few of our journalist friends) set about interviewing the winners.

Click on the category winners here, and you’ll get a deep dive into these Spill Award-winning distillers, mixologists and drinks masters. And if you get a chance, visit these amazing people and places and buy a drink or two in appreciation.

A New Generation Revives an Ancient Practice in Japan

Twenty years ago, Yoshiyuki Tamura was living in Tokyo, working at Uniqlo, and had no aspirations of taking over his family’s tea farm back in Suruga. That’s despite being the first-born son and thus the first in line to do so. Tea farming, he thought at the time, was just so boring. Too boring to make up a life.

Tamura’s story isn’t an anomaly. Not in the world, not in Japan, not even in Suruga. Interest from younger generations in ancient trades like tea farming has been tapering off for years now. I heard a similar story while in India last October: Crafts that the country is renowned for, like carpet-making and tapestry-weaving, which have been passed down through generations, are now at risk of dying out due to a lack of buy-in from young family members. Instead, kids are moving to bigger cities, getting college degrees and ultimately forging their own paths. That’s exactly what Tamura intended to do.

Yet, once he was away from home, something unexpected happened. He began finding joy in sharing his family’s tea blends with friends in Tokyo.

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From Our EIC: Is There a Difference Between a Spring Jacket and a Fall Jacket?

BY MIKE CONKLIN

Ok, so this is something I’ve been thinking about for a very long time, and I don’t know that I’ve ever tried to explain it, except maybe to my wife, who was probably politely listening and nodding along but secretly wishing I would stop talking: What is the difference between a spring jacket and a fall jacket?

Both are meant for shoulder seasons, when the weather is ostensibly neither too hot nor too cold. This alone would lead you to believe, then, that they are one and the same. And, sure, if you’re not inclined to own quite as many jackets as I am, you could certainly get away with having one that pulls double duty. But I always think about it in this very specific way, where I factor in not only the current weather, but which way the weather is headed.