After thirty seconds of silence, a spotlight shone on the tightly closed entrance of the venue.
It was just like a wedding, with everyone holding their breath for that special moment when the bride makes her appearance.
A girl with a cute face and a devilish figure, holding a skull-shaped microphone encrusted with pink diamonds and wearing a mini dress designed by MOSCHINO's creative director Jeremy Scott.
Walked gracefully from where Sean Lowell had just entered towards the center of the stage.
The brand representatives who were originally staring at the screen waiting to watch the introduction video of the winery had their attention instantly diverted.
The pink and white little dress the girl wore, highlighting her curves, the cute colors and devilish cut perfectly matched her face and figure.
Amidst the high-contrast design, there was a unique sense of harmony.
With whimsical humor and scribbled graffiti, it perfectly blended elegance and cuteness with punk individuality.
The representative from the 22nd winery returned to their seat upon noticing someone entering.
This girl who was testing the microphone while walking seemed to be stepping in to save the show.
Even though the winery representatives were curious about what kind of failure had happened on the screen.
No curiosity could surpass the visual impact brought by this girl with a cute face and devilish figure.
Such a face and figure shouldn't belong to the same person naturally.
"Hello everyone, I'm from Winters Spirits Group..."
Before the girl could finish her sentence, all the gazes from the boys in the audience had already focused solely on her.
The girl's voice was soft and sweet, with an electric undertone that struck right into the hearts of every straight guy.
This girl, this outfit, this voice captivated everyone, leaving them at a loss for words.
Of course, the girl didn't give anyone a chance to search for words in their minds.
After a second of stunning beauty, she magnificently, without warning... fell.
She stumbled right next to a very low and almost negligible step on the edge of the stage.
The atmosphere in the venue instantly became somewhat awkward.
Is one supposed to laugh?
Or perhaps, should one laugh?
Probably should laugh, right?
In any slightly formal liquor tasting event, the aroma of the liquor to be tasted would be distinguished first.
For example, soy sauce aroma, light aroma, strong aroma, and phoenix aroma, these four main aromas.
Then, within the same aroma type, the quality of the liquors would be distinguished.
The blind tasting event of Winters Spirits, however, threw together the four main aromas, along with less mainstream aromas.
Such as rice aroma, cheese aroma, special aroma, soy aroma, medicinal aroma, mixed aromas — with soy holding strong, mixed aromas — with strong holding soy, old white dry aroma, rich aroma... and so on.
Including every type in one grand sweep, all spread out together.
Drinking has always been a very personal affair.
How can putting different aroma types together not be controversial?
Which is better between the soy aroma representative Mountai and the strong aroma Five-Grain Liquor?
This would always be a subjective question.
If you say Mountai sells well, then rewind ten years, Five-Grain Liquor's sales were much better than Mountai's.
If you say Mountai is the national liquor, Luson Heritage Cellar will tell you that when they were the national liquor, Mountai was just an errand runner.
If you talk about manufacturing techniques, Grain alcohol will tell you that Westmount Grain alcohol is the "father" of Mountai.
If it's amateur to such a degree and still not criticized, that would indeed be strange.
But, what can you do?
For every expert questioning the legitimacy of Winters Spirits' blind tasting event, there are 10,000 fans questioning the "expert" sour grapes mentality.
According to industry norms, liquor tasting, after distinguishing aroma types, should also distinguish price ranges — comparing tens, hundreds, and thousands of dollars separately.
The Winters Spirits annual fest, however, mixed Mountai, Aurora Wine, Grain alcohol, Yellow Crane Pavilion Wine, Treasure Wine, Five-Grain Liquor, Luson Heritage Cellar Special, Blue River Liquor, Western Phoenix Liquor, Three Flowers Wine, Scenery White Dry, Four Specials, Frosted Jade Liquor, White Wine, White Cloud, Jade Spring Wine, White Wine, Drunken Liquor... All kinds represented by notable wineries, poured into undifferentiated liquor tasting glasses with random numbering.
Putting all aroma types together for a blind taste test is already unprofessional enough, comparing a thirty-dollar liquor with a three-thousand-dollar one is even more shocking to industry insiders.
One winery, one representative; no matter how big the winery, no extra seats, no matter how small, there won't be absent seats.