The Beverage Forum awards recognize individuals and organizations that have made a real impact on the beverage industry. In today’s ever-evolving beverage landscape new challenges and opportunities constantly are emerging. These awards celebrate innovation and spotlight best practices within the beverage space.

The following individuals and organizations have risen to tackle challenges and greet new opportunities with excellence. Please join us in honoring the recipients of the 2018 Beverage Forum Awards.

Large Company of the Year – Constellation Brands
Award accepted by Paul Hetterich, EVP and President, Beer Division

In the history of The Beverage Forum, we have never had a company receive the Large Company of the Year award three years in a row, but when analyzing the performance of Constellation Brands, it was an easy decision to make this historic award run continue. A total alcohol beverage company operating in the beer, wine and spirits markets, Constellation showcased impressive revenue and volume growth during the last fiscal year. In addition, the company continues to give consumers more of what they want: high-end new products, new package options and much more. Please join us in congratulating Constellation Brands on its three-peat victory of Large Company of the Year.

Small Company of the Year – Essentia Water

In today’s beverage market, there’s no question that premium bottled water has become the darling of the market. But if you ask Ken Uptain, not all water is created equal. After being introduced to ionized water years ago, Ken took this investment idea to a whole new level when he brought Essentia to the mainstream. Now, the ionized alkaline water brand can be found throughout the country at over 60,000 retailers from grocery to convenience stores: www.essentiawater.com As Essentia continues to grow and resonate with consumers, the future looks bright for this premium water brand. Please join us in congratulating Essentia Water on receiving The Small Company of the Year award.

Lifetime Achievement Award – Muhtar Kent

Muhtar Kent, who served as CEO and Chairman of The Coca-Cola Company from 2009 to 2017, has a lengthy list of impressive achievements. In that role, he created a long-term plan to refocus the company on its core business with an accelerated bottler refranchising agreement, made disciplined investments to launch approximately 1,000 new products, shifted focus toward growing revenue instead of volume, and much more. Please join all of us in congratulating Muhtar as this year’s Lifetime Achievement recipient.

Collaboration of the Year – FEW Spirits, LLC and Chameleon Cold-Brew

the 25 years that we have been presenting The Beverage Forum, we have learned and experienced so many things. However, we were quite pleased to learn that last year’s Forum not only was valuable to our attendees, but also to our presenters. After participating as panelists at the 2017 Beverage Forum, Paul Hletko of FEW Spirits and Chris Campbell of Chameleon Cold-Brew combined their innovative spirits to develop a one-of-a-kind beverage collaboration. This dedication to innovation and evolution inspired the inaugural Collaboration of the Year award.

For more information, visit The Beverage Forum.