Hamish Smith expands on the three-step thinking that is at the heart of the annual Bartenders’ Brand Awards.
You’ll know as bartenders that the taste of the products you serve is the most important factor in your purchasing, but not definitive. When buying, you’ll also make a judgement on the packaging, the prowess of the branding, how much the bottle stands out on the back bar, and you’ll picture the product in the midst of service, shadow-pouring to test its functionality. Lastly, you’ll look at the price and the financial particulars surrounding it. When all is said and done, you’re running a business that won’t be a business much longer if the numbers don’t add up. At the BBAs we try to mimic this three-step thinking in our judging so we can provide the best possible guide to the best brands in the bar channel.
First comes the blind tasting, where our panels of bartenders score out of 50, considering aroma, complexity, taste and versatility in cocktails (where appropriate). Then the packaging is revealed and scored out of 25, and finally – taking into account the taste and design, coupled with abv and price – a value-for-money score is given, once again out of 25. Here, for ease and consistency, we work off rrps. We then total up the scores to give an overall number out of 100, but we split out what each product received for each of our three assessments. That way, if you’re a bar that prizes value for money over design, or taste over everything else, you can quickly see what works best for you. But it is the overall number – not the medals – that is the basis for our top-five lists, with the highest-scoring brand in each category given the not-too shabby moniker of Category Champion and, the best of the best, the even loftier title of Supreme Champion.
So, who are the BBA judges? Well, they’re all pretty big names in the United Bar-dom, but they are also skills appropriate to each category, chosen for their experience or specialism. We invite six bartenders to join each Zoom session, with each category having a chair – a bartender with considerable experience in the area - and a Class host to help things along. The sessions are lively affairs, with no quarter given to products deemed short of the mark. Indeed, when you look at the BBAs scoring versus other competitions, it’s clear that our bartender judges are pretty hard to please – medals are hard won. This year only two brands scored more than 90 points out of 100 and the average score across all products was 61/100. Only 15 received gold medals across our three measures and, drilled down, 16% of products received a gold medal in taste, 21% got gold for design, and 16% took top honours for value for money. In other words, medals mean more at the BBAs. The results that follow are a highlights package of the best five products in each of our major categories, but for a more extensive view of the products judged this year, visit bartendersbrandawards. co.uk
JUDGES
Alex Taylor, ex-Pennyroyal
Alison Taffs, The Hop Inn
Andreas Grammatikopoulos, Linthwaite House Hotel
Angelos Bafas, The Berkeley Restaurant
Anistatia Miller, The Dark Horse
Ben Thompson, Brewdog Cardiff
Cai Anderson, Herbie & The Llama
Callie Thirsk, Fox & Chance
Camille Vidal, La Maison Wellness
Carlos Garcia, Lusin Mayfair
Chelsea Ennes, Scaredy Cats Café
Connie Cain, Milk
Connor Rainsford, Ugly Butterfly
Courtney Dowd, The Barn at Moor Hall
Courtney Francis, Couch
Danny Morton, Golf Fang Liverpool
Deano Moncrieffe, Hacha
Drew Fleming, Kiki Lounge
Elon Soddu, Twice Shy
Emmy Pip Knight, American Bar at The Savoy
Eve Green, Passing Fancies
Ewan Grieve, Lab 22
Fredrik Olsson, Kosmopol
Georgi Radev, Laki Kane
Graham Suttle, The Finnieston
Gregorio Soriente, The Zetter Marylebone
Helen Anne Smith, Bacareto
Iain McPherson, Nauticus
Jack Williams, Golden Pineapple
Jake Burger, Portobello Star
Jamie Lewis, Kiki Lounge
Joe Millar, The Cocktail Service
John Ennis, Manolo
Josh Powell, The Natural Philosopher
Julia Thomson, Devil’s Advocate
Julian Rose-Gibbs, The Anchor Inn
Liana Oster, Nomad London
Lucia Montanelli, The Dorchester
Matthias Ingelmann, Kol
Mike Baxter, Gonzo’s Tea Room
Noah Villeneuve, Kore Drinks
Rebecca Bird, Bird at the Bar
Salvatore Calabrese, Donovan’s
Sam Moseley, Golden Pineapple
Sarah Luxon, Wiper & True Taproom
Sian Buchan, Uno Mas
Sophie Bratt, Nobu London
Steve the Barman
Susannah Mansfield, Durham Micropub, The Station House
Terry Leung Ling Chi, Roka Aldwych