Our Journey to Improve Our Knowledge in the Distilled Spirits World

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for us as we balance personal matters and running our business. However, behind the scenes, we have been working hard to improve our knowledge of the distilled spirits world. We announced that we were taking the WSET Level 1 distilled spirits course a few months ago, and last week we finally took the exam after missing the February date.

We have been studying since the beginning of the year, trying new spirits to keep up with current offerings and train our palates to detect more flavors and aromas. Going into the exam, we felt fairly confident, but we were not as comfortable identifying which cocktail belongs to which cocktail category. There were a few questions on the exam we had not encountered before, and we had to take our best guesses.

Despite the nerves, we learned a lot from the course that we had not considered before. In a business like ours, continuous education is crucial to improving our craft. We cannot afford to be stagnant and assume we know everything. An attitude like that could make our business look bad and even affect sales. We strive to give 110% to this business and continuous education is just one way we can do that.

While WSET offers in-person courses, they are located in London, which is not feasible for us at the moment. Fortunately, we discovered Napa Valley Wine Academy, whose headquarters are in the most famous wine region in California with a secondary location in Tampa, Florida. Napa Valley Wine Academy offers courses in wine, distilled spirits, and even sake.

Our plan now is to take the level 1 wine course next, which we will study online. We are excited to continue expanding our knowledge and skills to take our business to the next level to ensure we are giving our best advice and products to you. If you are interested in learning more about how to improve your palate we give the WSET course our recommendation, but you can't go wrong with any of the courses offered in the sommelier world.