Chili's Margaritas Take Home the Gold for Best New Product of the Year at ECRM Global Wine, Spirits and Beer Show

CARROLLTON, Texas, Sept. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Chili's famous margaritas and cocktails are about to launch in retailers across the country and they are already Gold Medal winners.  At the ECRM Global Wine, Spirits and Beer Show held August 27-29^th in San Diego, Chili's Margaritas in ready to drink packaging walked away with the Gold Medal For Best New Product of the Year.  Judged by a panel of industry experts against peer products from all alcohol beverage categories, the Chili's Classic Margarita received rave reviews.

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Meridith May, publisher of prominent The Tasting Panel Magazine, commented, "The Chili's Classic Margarita had an astounding smoothness, flavor and authenticity that really impressed the entire expert panel.  Consumers and retailers are going to love this entire line of products."

According to Steve Englander, Senior Vice President of Sales at Cocktail Crafters LLC, the Chili's line of margaritas and cocktails is the result of over 12 months of collaboration between the chefs at Chili's and a team of experts at Cocktail Crafters.  Each margarita and cocktail under consideration was put through over 6 rigorous consumer panel cycles until consistent blind tasting wins were achieved.  Proprietary wine, agave and other ingredient blends were used so that the cocktails could be sold in grocery and other channels where spirits are typically not allowed.  "The process took twice as long as expected but the results are clearly worth it.  We are very excited," said Englander.

Chili's On The Rocks Margaritas are all 6.5% alcohol by volume and are available in Classic, Mango and Skinny versions in a novel, convenient 1.75L stand up gusset pouch with a tap dispenser built in.  A larger 3.0L size is also available.   Both sizes also feature Chili's Hard Lemonade and Chili's Classic Mojito. 

Chili's Frozen Margaritas are also included in the line due to the exploding popularity of freezable cocktail pouches.  At 5.0% alcohol by volume, they are available in 10oz freezable, squeezable pouches in Classic, Mango, Skinny and Strawberry versions as well as Hard Lemonade, Strawberry Daiquiri, Pina Colada and Classic Mojito.

And to top it all off, the new large gusset pouches turn out to be tremendously eco-friendly.  "Our larger pouch carbon footprint is 80% less than two glass bottles.  And 1 truck of our empty pouches equals 14 trucks of empty glass bottles so there are advantages for everyone," commented Englander.

Cocktail Crafters LLC is a Carrollton, TX based supplier of ready to drink alcohol beverages and non-alcohol cocktail mixers.  The company has partnered with Brinker International to exclusively license and develop the Chili's brand name in all off premise channels using state of the art equipment.  Cocktail Crafters is also a leader in providing premium wine-based solutions for spirits, cocktails and other beverages for retailer private label products and restaurant on premise products.

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SOURCE Cocktail Crafters LLC