Which gins did best at the Bartenders' Brand Awards? Here's our top five.
There’s a new gin Champion at the BBAs and it comes in a familiar form. Boatyard Double climbed from last year’s third place finish to topple the reign of Edinburgh Gin’s Cannonball after two years at the top.
The Northern Irish spirit took gold in the blind tasting with an impressive 45/50. Judges praised the gin as “elegant and balanced”, with “very nice citrus on nose”, and a “really good heat that works for long drinks”. It repeated the trick in the design and value rounds with judges awarding gold in each.
Two Edinburgh Gin entries complete the podium, with each scoring 85/100 points. It’s the distillery’s The Classic that just pips Cannonball to second place by virtue of a fractionally superior performance in the blind tasting.Our judges praised Edinburgh Gin’s The Classic as a “good benchmark London Dry” that tastes “as it should”.
The brand’s navy strength Cannonball in third place took plaudits for its “really good heat” that makes it “good for mixing”.
In fourth was Jawbox Small Batch, which performed well in the blind tasting but a bronze in design and silver in value prevented the brand from challenging the medal positions and Citadelle Jardin d'Été which took gold in design for its “great bottle, label and colour palette”.