A Night of Winners 

Market Maker Brands and Five Star Winners To be Honored at 'The Show'®

    Simply grazing over the surface of the industry is something Nightclub & Bar has strived to avoid over the last 21 years. The old cliché “where the rubber meets the road” is more than a cliché around our offices –– it’s the exact point of contact at which NCB aims to report. And, because the Nightclub & Bar Beverage and Food Convention & Trade Show (“The Show”) in Las Vegas, is the magazine personified, this year’s event (held March 5-8, 2006) will pare the industry’s best down to those beverage brands that account for the most dollars for our readers at the end of a given night and give them their due. “The Show” also will put on a pedestal those elite operators and concepts that make the industry tick exactly where the tires hit the pavement.
    At the core of all the promotions, events, VIP rooms, music programming, concepts and everything else that make a bar or nightclub profitable is one fundamental element: the beverage. And that’s what the first-ever Market Maker Awards are all about, honoring the brands that make registers ring on-premise. The Five Star Awards will recognize a handful of entrepreneurs and concepts, both on- and off-premise, that epitomize notions of excellence in the industry.

Making the Market Better
    Nightclub & Bar recently asked its Editors’ Top 100 bar, restaurant and club operators across the country for their feedback on what was lucrative for them in 2005. Voting concludes the same day this issue of NCB mails.
The Market Maker Awards will honor the winners and will be announced at the “The Show” during the Market Maker Awards Reception on Sunday, March 5, at 6 p.m. at Caesars Palace.

    For a complete listing of the 2005 Top 100 venues, please visit nightclub.com and click on the Top 100 button at the bottom right.

The Stars Are Shining
    Immediately afterward, the black-tie-optional Five Star Awards, also at Caesars, will pay ultimate respect to operators, suppliers and concepts in 11 categories: Operator of the Year, Best New Concept On-Premise, Promotion of the Year, Mixologist of the Year, Operator of the Year (Latin/Hispanic Concept), Promotion of the Year (Latin/Hispanic), Beverage Retailer of the Year, Best Retail Promotion, Best New Packaging for a Spirit Product, Best Casual Dining Beverage Program and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Market Maker Nominees and Winners All to Be Honored
The Market Maker Awards will honor the beverage brands that make the most profit on-premise as nominated by the Nightclub & Bar Editors’ Top 100 bars and clubs in America and voted on by our readers. Here are the brands the Top 100 nominated, by category:

AMERICAN WHISKEY
Gentleman Jack
Jack Daniel’s
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel
Jim Beam Rye Whiskey
Seagram’s 7
Wild Turkey Rye Whiskey

BOURBON
Jim Beam
Jim Beam Black
Knob Creek
Maker’s Mark
Wild Turkey
Woodford Reserve

CANADIAN WHISKEY
Canadian Club
Crown Royal
Lord Calvert
Seagram’s VO

DOMESTIC BEER
Bud Light
Budweiser
Coors Light
Miller Lite
Samuel Adams

GIN
Beefeater
Bombay Sapphire
Gordon’s
Seagram’s
Tanqueray

GLOBAL ENTRY
Hpnotiq
Caravella Limoncello
Ouzo
Pitu
Red Bull

IRISH WHISKEY
Bushmills
Jameson
John Power
Tullamore Dew
Tyrconnell

IMPORTED BEER
Amstel Light
Corona
Dos Equis
Heineken
Labatt
Stella Artois

LIQUEURS
Baileys
DeKuyper
GranGala
Grand Marnier
Jägermeister
Kahlúa
Midori
Tequila Rose

MALTERNATIVES
Bacardi Silver
Bacardi O
Mike’s Hard Lemonade
Skyy Blue
Smirnoff Ice
Twisted Tea

RUM
Bacardi
Bacardi Flavored Rums
Captain Morgan
Cruzan Flavored Rums
Malibu
Myers’s

SCOTCH WHISKEY
Chivas Regal
Cutty Sark
Dewar’s
Johnny Walker Red
Johnny Walker Black

SINGLE-MALT SCOTCH
Craggamore
Glenfiddich
The Glenlivet
Glenmorangie
The Macallan

TEQUILA
Cabo Wabo
Don Julio
El Tesoro
Herradura
Jose Cuervo
Patrón Silver
Sauza

VODKA
Absolut
Belvedere
Finlandia
Grey Goose
Ketel One
Skyy
Smirnoff
Stolichnaya

WINE
Cavit Pinot Grigio
Concha y Toro
Jacob’s Creek
Kendall Jackson Chardonnay
Kendall Jackson Merlot
Woodbridge
Yellow Tail

Market Maker nominees and winners will be honored at a special Awards dinner on Sunday, March 5, at “The Show” in Las Vegas and Five Star Award winners will be announced Feb. 15 and awarded at the Five Star Dinner. For more information, visit nightclub.com.