The Buyer | London Spirits Competition opens entries to cocktails

The entry process for all the London Drinks Competition is now open. To enter the London Spirits Competition click here.

A key feature of the London Spirits Competition is how closely it works with the bar and spirits sectors to ensure its awards are rewarding and representing the key trends driving the overall spirits industry.

It’s why its judging panel is made up of bartenders, bar owners and spirits professionals directly involved in the buying and selling of drinks in the bar community.

One of the key recommendations the organisers of the London Spirits Competition have had from producers and bartenders alike is to find more ways to bring the products that win medals to life. To help them better promote their awards to the final consumer.

The London Spirits Competition wants to bring consumers closer to the products that win awards by offering a cocktail serving suggestion with each product entered

It’s why it has introduced a new initiative for the 2022 competition that allows every brand owner, distiller or supplier entering the awards to submit a cocktail suggestion for each of the products they enter.

That way it hopes to give bartenders a quick, easy way to showcase any winning brand they list by working with that cocktail in their bar, or adapting it to one of their own. But crucially it also gives consumers a new way to enjoy that brand in a way the producer wants them to do.

Sid Patel, head of the London Spirits Competition, and founder of the London DrinksCompetitions, explains: “The competition prides itself on being one step ahead by thinking like the consumers who, after all, are the potential buyers for any of the top awarded spirits in the event. By allowing drinks producers to enter a bespoke cocktail for each of the products they enter it is effectively creating a bridge to connect brands with consumers through the bars they are visiting. As organisers are are constantly listening and adapting our offer to give producers, suppliers and importers clear and added benefits to enter their spirits.”

Cocktail opportunity

Click here on how to enter the London Spirits Competition

Any cocktails entered will be included when the results for the 2022 competition come out in April 2022 and made a key feature of the London Spirits Competition website.

The cocktail recipes will also be featured on the London Drinks Guide, the dedicated consumer website set up by the Beverage Trade Network, organisers of the London Drinks Competitions, to help promote drinks, producers and suppliers that take part in its events. They will also be included on the Bartenders Business website and the other digital platforms that the Beverage Trade Network runs around the world including: Los Angeles Drinks Guide; Chicago Drinks Guide; New York Drinks Guide; and San Francisco Drinks Guide.

“This is a massive feature benefit enhancement we are doing for all the 2022 spirits entrants by giving them a platform to showcase their cocktails to end consumers and to trade,” adds Patel, who is also chief executive of Beverage Trade Network.

Judging Process

Entries for the 2022 London Drinks Competitions covering spirits, beers and wines, are now open. Each category is only judged by leading professionals in those fields that have direct buying and selling responsibilities.

You can click below to see the judges for this year’s competitions.

Judging at the London Spirits Competition

Scoring System

The London Drinks Competitions are unique in that they judge drinks on three key criteria: quality; value for money; and packaging and design.

A separate weighted score is given for each of the three parts of the judging process (Quality gets twice the weight. The scores are calculated with other judges for the same product on the team to give a final score from which individual prizes will be awarded.)

Quality score: marked out of 100

Value score: marked out of 100

Packaging score: marked out of 100