The Bartender Spirits Awards has announced that Jared Sowinski, Director of Beverage at Upward Projects Restaurant Group, will join its 2027 judging panel in Chicago.

Sowinski is a highly experienced national on-premise beverage buyer responsible for helping create, implement and manage beverage selections and programming across the Upward Projects portfolio. The group operates multiple restaurant concepts, including Postino WineCafe, Joyride Taco House, Windsor and Federal Pizza.

Postino WineCafe, the group’s flagship wine-focused concept, has expanded to more than 30 locations across seven states. This national footprint gives Sowinski direct insight into selecting and managing beverages that must succeed across different cities, consumer demographics and restaurant environments.

His responsibilities extend far beyond selecting products for a single wine list or back bar. Sowinski evaluates wines, spirits, beers and cocktail ingredients for use across a large, multi-location hospitality business. Every purchasing decision must take into account quality, price, supply reliability, staff execution, guest appeal and the ability of a product to perform commercially at scale.

“Jared represents exactly the kind of judge the Bartender Spirits Awards is designed around,” said Sid Patel, CEO of Beverage Trade Network and founder of the Bartender Spirits Awards. “He is not only an accomplished beverage professional; he is also a major active buyer responsible for programs across a growing national restaurant group. He understands what it takes for a spirit to move from a supplier presentation to the back bar and, ultimately, into a drink that guests will order again.”

Bringing a Major Multi-State Buyer’s Perspective to the Judging

As Director of Beverage, Sowinski works across several distinct restaurant concepts, each with its own audience, menu and beverage identity. His role requires him to balance creativity with the operational and financial realities of running successful beverage programs at scale.

A spirit may taste excellent on its own, but for a national restaurant group, that is only the beginning. It must also work in cocktails, deliver value at the required menu price, remain consistently available across markets and be practical for bartenders to use during high-volume service.

This makes Sowinski’s experience particularly relevant to the Bartender Spirits Awards, where products are assessed for their suitability within the real on-premise market.

Judges consider the factors that influence whether bartenders, bar managers and beverage directors would realistically list and purchase a spirit, including:

- Mixability
- Balance and versatility
- Taste, mouthfeel and finish
- Value for the on-premise channel
- Packaging and back-bar appeal
- Commercial relevance to bars and restaurants

Sowinski’s multi-market buying experience will help ensure that entries are evaluated not only as tasting-room products but as spirits that need to earn their place within a working beverage program.

More Than Two Decades of Beverage and Hospitality Experience

Sowinski has more than 20 years of experience spanning wine, spirits, mixology, beer, and hospitality operations. Before joining Upward Projects, he held senior beverage roles at The Phoenician and The Canyon Suites in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he worked across luxury resort restaurants and lounges.

His career has given him experience at both ends of the on-premise market—from luxury hospitality and fine wine service to high-volume, multi-unit restaurant operations.

At Upward Projects, he works with beverage and operational teams to develop programs that are distinctive enough to attract guests while remaining consistent, executable and commercially sustainable across a growing national portfolio.

Connecting Spirits Brands With Real Buyers

The Bartender Spirits Awards is built to identify spirits that perform in the environments where consumers discover and enjoy them: bars, restaurants, hotels and hospitality venues.

Its judging panel comprises active bartenders, bar managers, beverage directors and on-premise buyers. For spirits brands, this creates an opportunity to have their products evaluated by professionals who make real purchasing and menu-placement decisions.

Sowinski’s participation strengthens that buyer-led approach. His position gives him a clear understanding of what large restaurant groups need from spirits suppliers and what makes a brand suitable for multi-location on-premise distribution.

For emerging and established spirits producers alike, feedback and recognition from a judge of Sowinski’s scale can provide meaningful validation of a product’s commercial potential within the U.S. hospitality market.

About Jared Sowinski

Jared Sowinski is the Director of Beverage at Upward Projects Restaurant Group, where he helps create, implement and manage beverage selections and programming across the company’s portfolio of restaurant concepts, including Postino WineCafe, Joyride Taco House, Windsor and Federal Pizza.

A trained sommelier with expertise across wine, spirits, cocktails and beer, Sowinski has built a career that combines beverage knowledge with national purchasing, program development and multi-unit hospitality operations.

About the Bartender Spirits Awards

The Bartender Spirits Awards is an international spirits competition focused on the needs of the on-premise industry. Held in Chicago, the competition evaluates spirits through the perspective of bartenders, bar managers, beverage directors and hospitality buyers.

The competition recognizes spirits that demonstrate the quality, value, versatility, mixability and presentation required to succeed in bars, restaurants and hotels.

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