Licensee Programs
Welcome to our Licensee page, filled with information specifically for Virginia ABC Licensees and industry partners. Here you will find information about current and upcoming programs, campaigns and opportunities for you and your company to partner with Virginia Spirits.
Trade Tastings
The VSBMO is hosting a series of regional trade tastings across the commonwealth to put Virginia distillery products in front of bar managers, restauranteurs and hospitality partners.
Join us on Tuesday, April 15 at Murphy & Rude Malting Co. for our first trade tasting in 2025! Sample spirits from 9 local distilleries and hear from industry expert Beth Dixon about professional development and entrepreneurship in bartending. Plus, learn about local grains and the malting process while touring the Murphy & Rude facility, led by owner and maltster Jeff Bloem.
Virginia ABC’s Sale-A-Bration
During Virginia Spirits Month in September, many Virginia-made spirits are on sale for 20% off regular retail pricing all month long. This is a great opportunity to sample new items, stock up on items you regularly carry and build your Virginia Shelf.
Sale items are available in both Virginia ABC stores and at distillery locations with bottle shops. Each year, a complete list of all SKUs on sale for the 2025 Sale-A-Bration will be published on this page once it is finalized and made available from Virginia ABC.
The Virginia Cocktail Games
In 2024, Virginia Spirits launched the inaugural Virginia Cocktail Games, a competition celebrating Virginia’s mixology community and local distilleries. After advancing through a competitive submission process, twenty-five talented bartenders took center stage, each presenting a unique craft cocktail that showcased a Virginia-made spirit and followed the theme “Olympic Greatness.” Out of the twenty-five competitors, only one from each of the five regions advanced to the final, live round, which took place at Virginia Distilled at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture during Virginia Spirits Month in September.
At Virginia Distilled, the finalists all participated in a thorough judging process and public voting round. Henry Hill Jr. from Hotel Roanoke rose to the top with his cocktail “No Place Like Home,” featuring Brady’s Distillery Prohibition Gin and Cirrus Vodka, earning the title of 2024 Virginia Cocktail of the Year.
Join us in 2025! We are excited to host The Virginia Cocktail Games again this year. Applications will open in May 2025.
Virginia Shelf Program
The Virginia Shelf program is a new endeavor designed to highlight licensees that support local spirits producers by carrying and promoting a minimum number of Virginia-made spirits on their bar, thereby creating a “Virginia Shelf”.
Benefits:
- Listed in the appropriate regional section on a dedicated web page on VirginiaSpirits.org. Our consumer newsletter and social media campaigns will regularly encourage consumers to visit the web page and seek out Virginia Shelf restaurants when dining out or planning travel.
- Opportunity to partner with Virginia Spirits on marketing, social media and other campaigns designed to highlight your brand and drive traffic to your location.
- Opportunity to have your social posts that feature Virginia-made spirits shared across @VaSpirits social media.
Restaurant Weeks
In an effort to support our licensee partners, Virginia Spirits was pleased to be a sponsor of various Restaurant Weeks across the state throughout 2024 and 2025. We have secured the following sponsorships and look forward to finding more opportunities to support Virginia’s hospitality industry in 2025 and beyond.
- Roanoke Bevs and Bites (tentatively May 2025)
- Virginia Beach (January 20 – February 2, 2025)
- Lynchburg (June 2024)
- Charlottesville (June 2024)
Trade Tastings
The Virginia Spirits Board is in the planning process to hold regional trade tastings throughout 2025, the first being in Central Virginia this April.
The purpose behind these trade tastings is to provide an opportunity for local restaurant, bar owners, bar management and staff to learn more about the distilleries in your own backyard as well as those across the state.
Stay tuned for more details about the event.
2024 Virginia Spirits BarPro
The Richmond Chapter of the US Bartenders Guild (USBG), with sponsorship from the Virginia Spirits Board, hosted the Virginia Spirits BarPro in October 2024 as part of USBG’s Education Week.
This three-day conference offered Virginia’s bartending community educational and professional development opportunities, covering topics from new techniques and self-care to the history of Virginia spirits production and profitable bar management. The event also provided a wide range of other sessions and networking opportunities to support and strengthen Virginia’s bartending community.
We look forward to working with the bartending community to plan and execute BarPro again and other educational programming in the future. Subscribe to our Trade newsletter to stay in touch and learn how you can be involved.
Sign up to stay in touch!
The Virginia Spirits Board recently launched a quarterly email newsletter to help inform and stay in touch with our licensee and industry partners. The best way to learn about new partnerships and promotional opportunities is to sign up for this new and exciting source of information.