The Final took place at the Honorable Society of Kings Inns on Monday, January 26th, 2015.  Congratulations to all the Winners!

The awards, which included 40 finalists, saw Redmonds Off-Licence, Ranelagh awarded ‘National Off-Licence of the Year 2015’, The O’Donovan Group, Cork won ‘Responsible Retailer of the Year 2015’ and Agnieszka Niemiec of Baggot Street Wines won ‘RTC Online Trainee of the Year 2015’.

All 40 finalists were awarded certificates of either ‘Standard’, ‘Merit’ or ‘Excellence’ based on their performance and other awards on the night included:

Specialist Off-Licence Group of the Year 2015 – The O’Donovan Group, Cork
Best First Time Entrant 2015 – Number 21, Cork
Food Retailer Off-Licence of the Year 2015 – McCambridge’s, Galway
Customer Service Award of the Year 2015 – O’Donovans, Mallow
Spirit Specialist of the Year 2015 – Deveney’s of Dundrum
Beer Specialist of the Year 2015 – Martins Off-Licence, Fairview
Wine Specialist of the Year 2015 – Blackrock Cellar
Connaught/Ulster Off-Licence of the Year 2015 – Dicey’s Off-Licence, Ballyshannon
Leinster Off-Licence of the Year 2015 – The Wine Centre, Kilkenny
Dublin Off-Licence of the Year 2015 – McHugh’s Off-Licence Kilbarack
Munster Off-Licence of the Year 2015 – Next Door, Forum Waterford

Judging for the awards began in June 2014, which was the beginning of a tough but rewarding journey for all of this year’s award winners.   The process culminated in a blind wine tasting which involved participants answering questions about the unidentified wines. Final awards were allocated following this process.