The line up of judges for the 2021 London Spirits Competition is a roll call of some of the best bar talent in the UK. Discounted prices are available on all spirits entered by December 25.
There are Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers yet there is no similar accolade to reward and honour the best bar talents in the world. Yet spend any time with a top bar manager, mixologist or bar tender and their knowledge of their craft is unsurpassed.
It is also not just their knowledge about individual spirits categories, for example, but how you can work together and combine different spirits and ingredients to create unique drinks – time and time again.
That is what makes the line up of the judges for the 2021 London Spirts Competition so exciting.Here is a collection of names that would not be out of place if they were competing in one of the world’s most competitive bar tender competitions.
The London Spirits Competition has worked in the last few years to build up the pedigree of its judges and to ensure they all have direct buying responsibilities and understand the disciplines by which certain spirits are chosen to go on a drinks or cocktail list or not.
For it is those skills that the event is looking for in order to pick out the most commercial as well as best quality drinks being entered into the competition.
As the competition is focused on quality, design, packaging and value for money it requires judges that have the professional experience of analysing spirits in all aspects of their commercial competitiveness.
Points are allocated in all these key areas to come up with an overall score that will determine what medal, or not, a particular spirit is given.
It means any product that is picked out for a gold medal or trophy knows it has what it takes to get itself listed in all the key places.
This year’s London Spirits Competition is now open for entries with all those doing so by December 25 qualifying for discounted rates.
2021 Judges
Here is a selection of the judging talent that has been put together for the 2021 awards. They include:
Ivan Dixon is now running his own spirits consultancy business
Judging Procedure
All spirits entered are organised into flights and then assessed in the following way:
- Initially all spirits are tasted blind to determine its quality. Where appropriate they will also be assessed by variety, style, region, and country.
- Judges will then be given a briefing document setting out the spirits’ price and target consumer and trade channel where it wants to be sold. Only then will judges be asked to give their score for quality based on the initial blind tasting and then additional knowledge about the spirits’ price and market position.
- The judges will then be handed the bottle or format for them to be able to assess, in detail, the design, label, and packaging and determine how well that matches up to, or complements the quality of the spirits and its price point.
- The judges will then discuss the spirits as a whole to help allocate scores in the three judging areas.
- The Gold winning spirits and all special category spirits will be re-tasted by the spirits judges on the re-judging day to ensure the scoring quality.
Judging dates
Judging will take place on March 17, 2021, at a central London venue. To be considered in the competition all products must be with Sensible Spirits Solutions by February 26, 2021.
Key Dates:
Special Pricing Ends – December 25, 2020
Registration Ends – February 20, 2021
Warehouse Closes: February 26, 2021
Judging Date: March 17, 2021
Winners Announced: March 30, 2021
Fee Schedule:
£135 Special Pricing Ends – Now till December 25, 2020
£170 Regular – December 26, 2020, to February 20, 2021
Enter your spirits brand today to get special pricing.
New: Quantity Discount Now Available
3 to 8 entries: 10% discount
9 to 13 entries: 15% discount
14 or more entries: 20% discount
