Your Booze Knowledge Could Win You $500 At Anvil Bar & Refuge’s First Public Blind Tasting

Considering how much booze most of us consume on the regular, it’s hard to not think of yourself as a bit of an alcohol expert. If you’re serious about putting your money where your mouth is, you’ll finally have your chance next month at Anvil Bar & Refuge.

Next month, Eater Houston’s Bar of the Year will open its “Blind 50” tasting up to the public for the first time ever. It’s the test that Anvil bar staff have to pass after months of training behind the bar, and involves correctly identifying at least 47 of 50 spirits just by smell and taste.

Here’s how the competition will work for civilians, according to a release from Anvil Bar & Refuge:

Competitors will compete in a first round with 20 pours selected from a list of 80 spirits and liqueurs. Eight to ten finalists will advance to a more difficult final round with 10 additional pours. Competitors are responsible for naming both the type of spirit AND its specific brand name. Every competitor will receive a sealed copy of their results, including what specific spirits they correctly identified and which they failed to recognize accurately.

You’ll get the list of 80 possible spirits in advance, and Anvil has plans to announce hours that they’ll open in order for competitors to practice. If you think you’ve got what it takes, you’ll want to enter in a hurry — only 30 entrants will be accepted, and you’ll have to pay $55 in order to cover the costs of the pours and the bar’s labor.

First, second, and third place prizes will be awarded, with the #1 spirits taster taking home $500 in cash. Even if you don’t win, you’ll be able to participate in the setting of a “world record,” as the bar plans to attempt to shake the world’s largest Ramos gin fizz.