Tastings

What Tastings does

Tastings, operating under its legal entity Beverage Testing Institute, Inc., is an independent, privately owned beverage ratings and competition company founded in 1981 and headquartered in Chicago, IL. The company conducts professional blind tastings of alcoholic beverages — spirits, wine, beer, cider, mead, sake, and increasingly non-alcoholic, RTD cocktails, mixers, and hemp/THC beverages — in a purpose-built tasting room using standardized methodology: products are tasted blind, neat, at room temperature (68°F) in Riedel stemware, in flights by category and random order, with 15–30 products evaluated per 2–3 hour session. Scoring uses a 100-point proprietary rating system that produces point-based awards (e.g., 95 points, 94 points), Best Buys, and Cellar Selections. Flagship competition programs include the World Wine Championships, World Beer Championships, and World Spirits Championships, supplemented by specialty competitions (Zero-To-Low Proof, Hemp Beverage, Cocktail, Water, Cider, Sake, Mead), an annual Packaging Winners compendium, and a Best Of Year Awards cycle. Supporting editorial properties include The Slurp blog, the Drinkipedia encyclopedia, and the Nightcap email newsletter; consumer traffic is captured via Tastings.com while industry-facing services run through a separate BevTest.com trade portal.

The business model combines three revenue streams: standardized per-product registration fees paid by producers, brand owners, and marketers to enter tastings or competitions; licensing of Tastings/BevTest medal logos to winning producers for use on packaging, point-of-sale materials, websites, and social media (with separate U.S. basic and international licensing options); and licensed media reprints of tasting results for advertising use. The company does not accept advertising or sponsorship from producers or commercial entities, preserving the independence that underwrites its rating credibility. Distribution is global via self-serve web access for consumers and a trade portal for industry submissions, with marketing conducted through content (blog, video), email (Nightcap newsletter), and organic social (Facebook, X, LinkedIn).

Name

Tastings

Legal name

Beverage Testing Institute, Inc.

Website

https://tastings.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tastings (Beverage Testing Institute, Inc.), founded 1981 and headquartered in Chicago, conducts professional blind tastings and ratings of alcoholic and emerging non-alcoholic beverages for producers seeking third-party validation and for consumers seeking trusted purchase guidance.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Beverage Review and Rating Services

NAICS

Beverage Manufacturing (3121), Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (445320)

SIC

Beverages (2080), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro primary industry

Beer, Brewery & Craft Beverage Tastings (THAJAGAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Spirits/Cocktail Bars Operated by Producers (THAFALAJ), Spirits Distillery Tours & Tastings (Whiskey, Rum, Gin, Vodka) (THAJAGAF)

Keywords

• Alcoholic beverage reviews
• Blind tasting services
• Beverage rating platform
• Spirits wine beer reviews
• Beverage competition programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Product Registration Fees: Producers pay standardized per-product registration fees to enter beverages into tasting sessions or competitions. These fees cover administering the tastings and overhead associated with distributing tasting results through various media.
2. Logo Licensing: Licensing of Tastings/BevTest logos (medal ratings) to producers for use on product packaging, point-of-sale materials, websites, and social media. Basic license covers U.S. market; international options available.
3. Media Licensing: Licensed reprints of tasting results for advertising purposes for a specified period. Includes approval of press releases and advertising using Tastings content.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Tastings (powered by the Beverage Testing Institute) conducts professional blind tastings and reviews of alcoholic beverages including spirits, wine, beer, cider, mead, and sake in a controlled tasting room. Producers pay per-product registration fees to enter beverages into monthly tasting sessions or competitions, and the resulting scores and medal ratings are licensed back to winners for use on packaging, POS materials, websites, and social media. A consumer-facing searchable review database and a separate trade portal (BevTest) distribute the ratings across channels.

Product overview

Tastings, powered by the Beverage Testing Institute (BevTest) since 1981, operates a unified platform for professional blind beverage tasting and review services. The core offering is Tastings.com, a searchable database of expert-rated spirits, wines, and beers, supplemented by three flagship competition programs: World Wine Championships, World Beer Championships, and World Spirits Championships. The portfolio includes supporting content properties (The Slurp blog, Drinkipedia encyclopedia), annual awards programs (Packaging Winners, Best Of Year Awards), and curated value collections (Spirits Best Buys, Wine Best Buys, Wine Cellar Selections). All products operate under a blind tasting methodology using standardized scoring, with results published across multiple media channels including the consumer-facing website and trade platform at BevTest.com.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tastings.com Beverage Reviews Platform
• World Wine Championships

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Whisky Advocate: Spirits-focused ratings and reviews publication covering whiskey and other distilled spirits with a point-based scoring system. Closely comparable to Tastings' International Review of Spirits and World Spirits Championships in methodology and spirits producer audience.
• The Spirits Business: Spirits trade publication with reviews, ratings, and competition programming (including The Spirits Business Awards). Comparable to Tastings in spirits focus, expert ratings, and producer trade services.
• International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC): UK-based international blind-tasting competition awarding medals across wine and spirits categories with producer entry fees. Direct competitor to Tastings' World Wine/Beer/Spirits Championships in the paid-competition segment.
• Wine Spectator: Long-established wine review and ratings publication covering global wines with a points-based scoring system. Directly comparable to Tastings in methodology (blind tasting, scored ratings), producer fee economics, and consumer audience for purchasing guidance.
• BeerAdvocate: Leading beer ratings community and publication covering craft and commercial beers with structured scoring. Comparable to Tastings' World Beer Championships in beer evaluation focus, though more community-driven than purely blind expert tasting.
• Wine Enthusiast: Major wine, spirits, and beer ratings media brand publishing blind tasting reviews and licensing scores to producers. Comparable to Tastings through its points-based ratings, producer licensing program, and consumer-facing review database.
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition: Annual blind-tasting spirits competition with medals widely licensed by producers. Directly competes with Tastings' World Spirits Championships for spirits producer entry fees and downstream logo licensing revenue.
• Decanter: Global wine and spirits media brand with expert blind tasting reviews and international competition programming. Comparable to Tastings in editorial methodology, multi-category beverage coverage, and producer competition services.

Emerging players

• SevenFifty Daily: Beverage trade media covering wine, spirits, and beer for industry professionals with editorial reviews and industry analysis. Comparable to Tastings' BevTest trade platform but more digitally focused and ad-supported.
• VinePair: Digital-first beverage media covering wine, spirits, beer, and cocktails with content, reviews, and consumer-facing discovery tools. Comparable to Tastings' content properties (The Slurp, Drinkipedia) but positioned as a digitally native, advertising-driven counterpart.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BeverageTesting
• Facebookfacebook.com/TastingsBTI
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/beverage-testing-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tastings