MannCave digs for gold
April 30, 2024
It’s come to our attention that one little West Virginia distillery has been racking up the awards at national spirits competitions. If you haven’t been following MannCave Distilling in Weston, you should be.
These guys are making a real positive mark for our state. Look no further than them just winning two medals at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. And one of them was Double Gold. A Double Gold means that all the judges rating a particular spirit scored it at least at a gold medal level for its category.
This year the San Francisco World Spirits Competition had close to 5500 entries including, but not limited to, over 300 Vodkas, 450 Gins, 280 Rums, 450 Tequilas, 500 Bourbons, 260 Scotch Whiskies, 200 Brandies, and 250 Liqueurs. It is considered among the world’s largest and most prestigious spirits competitions.
DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL, Score: 96 out of 100
MannCave mines medals
MannCave Straight Bourbon 4 Year Cask Strength Distillers Reserve,
99 proof. $74.99 for 750 ml.
BRONZE MEDAL
MannCave Ambrosia,
110 proof. $64.99 for 750 ml.
at 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition
Our Q&A with Stephen Mann
We had lots of questions for Stephen Mann, the distillery founder/leader, about his experience with the distillery and on entering the spirits competitions. He gave us the complete scoop.
Brilliant Stream’s Question: How did you get interested in entering the San Francisco competition?
Stephen Mann’s Answer: We have entered the World Spirits Competition on two other occasions. In [2020] we got a double gold on our Cinnamon Moonshine. However, I was looking to push our Bourbon to the next level. After we earned silver on our whiskey in previous years, we basically figured out what the competition was looking for.
This year, we decided we had a Bourbon that might be good enough for a gold, so we entered two products in the competition and won a Double Gold on our Bourbon and a Bronze on our Ambrosia.
Q. How does it feel to win that double gold for your bourbon?
A. Achieving a Double Gold with 96 out of 100 possible points is amazing. We know how hard it is to win at these competitions, as we have to get through dozens of judges, and every judge has to agree that the spirit is gold to get a double gold.
Q. Would you describe this Double Gold winning bourbon for us?
A. Our cask-strength bourbon came from two specially picked barrels that my family and I felt deserved their own product. The Bourbon is ultra smooth with a progression of flavor, its does not burn or have that waxy feel on your palette. It is a very pleasant caramel flavor with notes of vanilla and honey. All of our bourbons are meant to be enjoyed from the first sip to the last, with no need to throw back the first shot.
Q. How do you plan to use this award in marketing your spirits?
A. These awards assist us in many ways, but first, it shows customers that we are consistent taste and quality, it also tells our customers that they can be confident in purchasing our products and that the product is good by multiple standards. Competitions and medals are a third-party measure of quality, We here at MannCave can tell you all day how good our product is, but until that claim is validated, and validated on the world stage by market experts, and market consumers, multiple times, that claim is not generally valid.
We chose to invest in putting our products up against the best in the world to show the world that we can and do compete, and our quality is something you can count on.
Stephen Mann, April 2024
The competitions we entered are the largest, most prestigious, and most coveted competition awards available in the world—and these competitions are worldwide, not national or state. We decided to go to the Olympics of the spirits competitions.
Q. You seem to have a knack for winning medals with your spirits.
A. These awards are just the last two in three competitions we have entered: San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Sip Awards, and Bartender Spirits awards.
This World Spirits Competition entry was actually a last-minute entry, as I wanted to see if the bourbon was as good as I personally thought it was. In the other two competitions, we entered all of our products available when we entered, which I believe is 11. To date, we have won a medal on every bottle we have entered, which is 29 medals. With the Sip Awards, we entered last year and won medals on all entries, plus another award—so 8 awards on 7 products.
Q. What are a couple of key things you’d like the public to know, generally, about your products and operation?
A. MannCave is unique in the fact that we make and have won major competitions in multiple categories, We have won in Whiskey, Moonshine, Bourbon, Rum, Vodka, and Gin. We have attained double gold with our moonshine and Bourbon, Gold with our Rum, Vodka, Moonshine, and we have multiple silver and bronze medals. Not to mention an Innovation award at the Sip Awards for exceptional product on our MoonShine.
Visit the MannCave distillery
The Distillery is open daily (except Tuesdays). It offers free tastings, free tours of the distillation area (upon request), and sales of their spirits. It has a Weston address but is actually located a few miles out in the country from the Jane Lew exit of I-79. Check their website for directions to the distillery.
You’ll find MannCave’s complete product listing on the company website. The website also has product descriptions and lists all of their awards since they opened in December 2018.
Beyond at the distillery store, MannCave spirits are available at many liquor stores in West Virginia. Their website has a listing of store locations.
www.manncave.com
San Francisco World Spirits Competition link
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