MADD Virgin Drinks Craft Brewed Lager continues to garner national accolades.
The product, which was launched a year ago after being created by a student researcher at Niagara College, earned a special award in the beverages category of the Retail Council of Canada’s annual Grand Prix awards.
A total of 34 awards for innovative food and drink products were presented in Toronto last Wed., June 3, as part of the STORE 2015 conference.
The Grand Prix Awards are now in their 22nd year. The program is open to manufacturers and distributors of all sizes in Canada. This year’s awards recognize products introduced during 2014.
Finalists were chosen by a 30-person jury comprised of food industry professionals, including people working in grocery, consumer packaged goods, journalists and dietitians.
The non-alcoholic beer was created by Rebecca Griffin, who at the time was a student in the Culinary Innovation and Food Technology program, and a research assistant with the Canadian Food & Wine Institute (CFWI) Innovation Centre, as part of a research project involving faculty, students and the industry partner, MADD Virgin Drinks. Today Griffin is continuing her innovative work as a senior research associate with the CFWI Innovation Centre.
Launched a year ago, MADD Virgin Craft Brewed Lager now enjoys North American distribution through such outlets as Walgreens in the United States, and Shoppers Drug Mart and Rexall pharmacies in Canada. The product also won gold the newly introduced Non-Alcoholic Beer category of the U.S. Open Beer Championships in 2014.
For the full story on the Grand Prix Awards, see the announcement from Canadian Grocer.
