Hamish Smith was the insider on the syrups, cordials and purees BBAs tasting - he reports back.
This year the BBAs was awash with entries in its syrups, cordials and purées and the quality was high – these were some of the best-scoring products in the whole of the BBAs.
Bristol Syrup Company’s Green Chilli scored a huge 46/50 on taste. Our judges thought it was a great way to control the contribution of chilli to a cocktail and described it as having a “great chilli kick, “green but vegetal” – “almost perfect”. They loved the simple design and branding – adding one unexpected quality: the bottle is perfect for being repurposed for pre-batching. Throw in some of the most competitive pricing out there and you have a score of 93 – the highest of any product in the BBAs.
The British brand’s vanilla syrup was similarly loved, described as “velvety smooth” and by one judge as “possibly the best vanilla syrup” they’d tasted. Throw in that understated, smart bottle and cheap-as-chips prices and you have 92/100.
Bottlegreen might be considered more of a consumer-facing product, but maybe it shouldn’t be? It’s always done well in the BBAs – this year its Pink Grapefruit cordial was the sku that impressed most.
Boiron’s purées – created with no added sugar – stood out. The tasting notes were consistent across all of its range, not least the White Peach and Raspberry.