London Spirits Competition looks to connect with bar community

Spirit producers and distillers the world over are fixated on creating the best styles and blends of gins, vodkas, rums, whiskies or whatever. But however hard they work to get their products right it will all come to nothing unless they can find bartenders and bar managers who can equally believe in what they are making in order to use and sell them in their outlets. It’s that connection between award-winning spirits and the bar community that the London Spirits Competition works so hard to foster, as Richard Siddle explains.

The entry process for the 2021 London Spirits Competition is now open. Anyone entering by December 25 can take advantage of special rates. Full details here.

“The bar is the place where time stops, where people escape from the constant busy life and stop their time to seek rest and, perhaps, even have a laugh with friends.” That’s how Davide Urgese, head bartender at Isabel, the exclusive Latin and Mediterranean bar and restaurant in the heart of Mayfair in central London, describes what life is like for him working as part of the bar community in what is arguably the word’s most dynamic bar and drinks scene in the world.

The Isabel bar is focused on finding the right spirit brand that are going to work for its customers

It is a position that Urgese does not take lightly. In fact life behind the bar is something he has craved from when he was a boy: “Since I was a child I have always been passionate about this {bar] world. I remember when my father took me to a bar for the first time and I was immediately struck by how the bartender interacted with customers, so I promised my father that I would do that job even though he hoped his son would get a doctorate and not sacrifice every night for such a tiring job.”

It’s that passion and connection with the actual bar community that the London Spirits Competition wants to capture, grow and work with. Since it was launched three years ago this is a competition that looks to go beyond the blind judging, where little is known about how the products that are entered end up winning the top awards.

Professional judges 

It’s why the judges for the London Spirits Competition are mostly made up of bar tenders, bar managers, owners and consultants who are working in the industry, day in, night out in the best bars where the top spirits brands want to sell and list the products they work so hard to produce.

The actual judging process also means the brands and the spirits that pick up the medals and the top awards are all ideally placed to do well on whatever back bar they end up on.

For as well as being blind tasted to assess their quality, their style and their typicity of the spirits category they are in, all products entered are also then assessed for how much they cost, what value for money they offer at that price point, and, particularly for any spirit, what they look like standing proudly on the back bar, or on a retail shelf, vying for the attention of the consumer looking for something new and different.

Only professional spirits tasters are involved in the judging process

That’s what makes all the drinks awards in the London Competitions that stretches from beer to wine to spirits stand out. They are judged by professional buyers and assessed in the same way that the average drinker would do. Quality. Price. Story and image.

It is those stories that are at the end of the day going to convince David Urgese and his colleagues working across all the tops bars to not just list a product but to actively go out of their way to pick it up, promote it and serve it to their customers.

London Drinks Guide

To help do that the organisers and founders of the London Drinks Competitions, the Beverage Trade Network, has this year launched the London Drinks Guide, a new consumer website dedicated to promoting the brands and the producers of the products that win awards in their events, but, crucially the people and the places that sell them.

In fact the quotes here from David Urgese are taken from his own profile on the London Drinks Guide where he is able to share his background, his influences and what inspires him to be a bartender and create and serve the drinks he makes.

In the short term that it has been launched The London Drinks Guide has been able to share the stories of a whole host of bar tenders, and sommeliers that are the true working heroes of the dynamic London drinks scene.

The London Drinks Guide is a dedicated consumer platform to help promote and tell the stories of award winners in the London Drinks Competitions

These are also the individuals who help judge the London Competitions and test, assess and reward the products they believe deserve to be highlighted and promoted against their peers.

In this most difficult year for all restaurants, bars, pubs and hotels, that have been forced in about of national and regional lockdowns, the London Drinks Guide has been launched to act to help connect drinks lovers with the best, the coolest, the most interesting and newest bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels to visit and discover once those lockdowns are lifted.

The London Drinks Guide looks to pull up the curtain and allow wine, beer and spirit consumers to hear directly from the personalities, the characters, the hard-working individuals who are running the city’s most exciting venues.

What is it that influences them to buy and serve the drinks they do in their bars? What are the new style of spirits, wines and beers that they are discovering and looking to offer their customers? The London Drinks Guide has been introduced to not just help those consumers, but also provide a new platform for the producers, brand owners and distributors entering their products.

Entries for 2021

The entry process for the 2021 awards are now open and anyone entering before December 25 can take advantage of a reduced entry fee.

Key Dates for 2021 competition:

Special Pricing Ends - Dec 25, 2020

Registration Ends: February 20, 2021

Warehouse Closes for entries: February 26, 2021

Judging Date: March 17, 2021

Winners Announced: March 30, 2021

Fee Schedule:

￡135 Special Pricing Ends - Now till Dec 25, 2020

￡170 Regular - Dec 26, 2020, to Feb 20, 2021

2021 London Spirits Competition submissions are now open. Enter your spirits brand today to get special pricing.

• Click here for more details on how to enter the 2021 competition.
• For more information on the London Spirits Competition, please see: www.londonspiritscompetition.com.