Hamish Smith explains the process and how points are scored in the annual Bartenders’ Brand Awards. 

The Bartenders’ Brand Awards is a tasting with a difference. We attempt to reflect bar managers’ and owners’ real-life buying behaviour. So, while the taste of a product is fundamental to decisions, buyers consider the packaging, the strength of the branding, how much the bottle stands out on the back bar, and they’ll also imagine the product in service – functionality is key. They would look at the price too – bars are all about bang for buck. 

So, in the BBA’s three-part assessment, first comes the blind tasting, where our panels of bartenders score out of 50, then the packaging is revealed and scored out of 25, and finally – taking into account the taste and design, set against the price – a value-for-money score is reached, 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. 

So, who are the BBA judges? Well, they’re all bartenders who have skills appropriate to each category. The sessions, as you can imagine,  are lively affairs, with no quarter given to products deemed short of the mark. This year only two bottles scored more than 90 points out of 100 and the average score across all products was 72/100 . Only 13% received gold medals across our three measures and, while 12% of products received a gold medal in taste, 13% got gold for design and 9% 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 by total score in each of our major categories. But for a more extensive view of the products judged this year, visit bartendersbrandawards.co.uk   

HOW WE SCORE 

Total scores are out of 100 and determined by Taste (Gold: 41-50, Silver: 31-40, Bronze: 21-30, No medal: 1-20), Design and Value (both out of 25): Gold: 21-25, Silver: 16-20, Bronze: 11-15, No medal: 1-10 

JUDGES 

Aidan Beaumont, Arc Inspirations 

Anistatia Miller, Mixellany  

Alison Taffs, The Grape Society/The Hop Inn 

Cai Anderson, freelance/consultancy 

Chris Tanner, Dram, Câv and All My Gods 

Connor Arnold, The Grape Society/The Hop Inn 

Courtney Dowd, The Barn at Moor Hall 

Davide Segat, Nomad 

Daniel Waddy, Satan‘s Whiskers 

Deano Moncrieffe, Hacha 

Demi Harper, Commissioners Quay Inn 

Dereece Gardner, Desire Cocktail Bar 

Fredrik Olsson, Kosmopol 

Georgi Radev, Laki Kane 

Gracie Goggins, The Last Word 

Graham Suttle, No Gods No Masters 

Giuseppe Privitera, Fonda London 

Hebe Richardson, Drinks with Hebe 

Jere Vihervaara, Mr Lyan Studio 

Julia Thomson, between bars 

Liana Oster, The Chancery Rosewood 

Luca Cordiglieri, Two Spoons 

Lucia Montanelli, The Dorchester 

Mark Low, Mr Lyan Studio 

Matthias Ingelmann, IV Drinks 

Matteo Pesce, Bar Lina  

Mike Baxter, Gonzo’s Tea Room 

Noah Villeneuve, Kore Drinks 

Ozzy Ostap Giagkniouk, Nightcap 

Patrick Fogarty, Dark Bar Consultancy/Halulu Beach Bar 

Rachel Orang, between bars 

Rich Hamer, Over & Above 

Seb Fileccia, Same Again Bristol 

Sophie Mackay, Smoke & Ash Restaurants Birmingham  

Sian Buchan, Uno Mas/Keller 

Sotiris Konomi, Spy Bar, Raffles London 

Sly Augustin, Trailer Happiness  

Steve the Barman, YouTube Creator & Cocktail Masterclasses