To conclude our highlights of the BBAs 2023 we have our best of the best list - the top 10 products from the entire BBAs competition, which is headed by ths year's Supreme Champion.
This is quite the list, formed of the well-known, lesser-known and almost unknown brands – which brings us to the winner. The Supreme Champion of the BBAs 2023 is Savanna Lontan Grand Arôme. Yes, a rum from Distillerie Savanna on the French department-island Réunion – on the world map, little more than a speck in the Indian ocean.
Our rum panel best summed it up as “banging” - more expressive tasting notes can be found in our rum section – and scored it a mighty 92/100.
In second was a vodka, but not one from the traditional heartlands of the spirit. Boatyard Distillery from Northern Ireland seems to fare well under blind conditions – its vodka took a gold in the tasting, as it did for both design and value for money assessments. It was one of five products to register golds across the board.
While we’re talking vodka, the category also contributed two others to our best of the best list: Holyrood Distillery’s Charmed Circle Strong Waters: Chevalier, which finished fourth, and its stablemate Golden Promise, which took 10th overall.
But joining Boatyard on the podium was a big-name bourbon, Wild Turkey 101, which also took 86/100 (it was pipped by Boatyard on tiebreaker). With a solid gold medal on taste and a high-scoring silver in design, it was the value for money measure that Wild Turkey impressed most on – with an almost perfect gold medal.
Worth a mention was another North American whiskey in our top 10, WhistlePig PiggyBack, which edged into gold medal positions across all three of our measures. For more, head to our league on American whiskey.
The mixer category’s explosive growth in recent years normally sees some highplaced products in the upper echelons of the BBAs. Three tonics made our crosscategory top 10. Look out for the retrostyled Goldberg Tonic Water (gold in taste and value for money) which finished fifth in our best of the best league.
Franklin & Sons Rhubarb & Hibiscus Tonic Water is another to try – it took three golds and seventh spot overall. Lixir Classic Indian Tonic did well again too – eighth overall this year.
Perhaps the biggest change from last year was the fast-improving low-no category, which contributed Nona Spritz to our top 10, with the second highest taste score in the entire BBAs. Tried and tested by bartenders, it’s one of the many BBAs-recommended products this year