STAMFORD, Conn., USA – Moonlight Barista, the ready-to-drink nitro espresso martini recently launched by The CoreBev Group, won ‘Best New RTD’ at BevNET Live 2022. The collaborative brand between Cylinder Vodka and RISE Brewing Co. was released in the fall of 2022 and has gained national appeal for its design and authentic taste.
“It’s a huge honor,” CoreBev founder and CEO Stelios Stavrianos said about the award. “The entire team worked so hard on this project, and to see it be recognized with this incredible accolade makes us proud.”
The espresso martini has gained traction in recent years and was one of the top trending cocktails of 2022. Stavrianos says that when he started working on the project in the summer of 2019, they worked diligently for over 3 years to get it on the market.
“We worked incredibly hard on Moonlight. We went through hundreds of formulations, hundreds of designs. Even a few name changes. Ultimately, we launched this product only when we were 100% confident it was going to be the best on the market.”
RISE co-founder Jarrett McGovern said: “I’m so proud of the CoreBev and RISE team for winning BevNet’s Best New Spirits award. We worked hard without compromise for years to develop the best tasting RTD Espresso Martini in the industry and it feels amazing to be recognized by our peers and Industry leaders.”
McGovern co-founded RISE in 2015 and met Stavrianos in early 2018. When asked about the relationship with coffee partner RISE, Stavrianos said: “it made sense from the start,” and that the two companies work very well together. “This award exemplifies the strong partnership.”
BevNET covered the release of Moonlight Barista in early August. “All of our Best of 2022 award winners continue to press the edge of innovation, quality, fresh design and are creating changes in the overall scope of the beverage business.” — John Craven, Founder & CEO of BevNET.
The CoreBev Group includes Stelios Stavrianos, Anthony DiChiara, Dimitrios Zahariadis, John Zachary, Alyssa Halton, Jesse Gallo, Brittany Jansen, and Jeffrey Spencer.
Moonlight Barista is available in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Southern Florida.
