36 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2016
drinksint.com
BARTENDERS’ CHOICE
TANQUERAY HAVANA CLUB GREY GOOSE
VODKA ABSOLUT GREY GOOSE KETEL ONE
GIN
BEEFEATER TANQUERAY BOMBAY SAPPHIRE
SCOTCH
JOHNNIE WALKER CHIVAS REGAL DEWAR’S
AMERICAN WHISKEY MAKER’S MARK JACK DANIEL’S JIM BEAM
WORLD WHISK(E)Y
JAMESON YAMAZAKI BUSHMILLS
RUM
BACARDI HAVANA CLUB APPLETON
TEQUILA JOSÉ CUERVO OLMECA PATRÓN
LIQUEURS
COINTREAU BAILEYS GRAND MARNIER
BRANDY HENNESSY RÉMY MARTIN MARTELL
BEER (2012-2016) HEINEKEN PERONI ASAHI
was the gin to drink in our polled bars, from 2012-2013 Beefeater was the top seller in the world’s best bars, but over the past three years it’s been Tanqueray’s time. Where does that leave us? Well, Beefeater’s four second-place finishes put it ahead, just, of Tanqueray, which is only a whisker ahead of Bombay. It’s a huge gap down to Gordon’s, Hendrick’s and Plymouth.
The scotch all-time league is something of a cakewalk for Johnnie Walker. The 20m case titan dominates pretty much every channel it plays in, and bars are no exception. Johnnie Walker has been the best- selling scotch every year since we began polling. Chivas Regal – another international blend – had a poor year in our 2016 poll, but it has consistently been the second best-selling scotch among polled bars and is a solid runner up to Walker. Meanwhile, Dewar’s has been chalking up decent sales over the years, even if this year’s list was one to forget. In American whiskey Maker’s
Mark has consistently led the way. It was our top seller from 2013-2014 but it has been up at the business end of lists every other year. The renaissance of the Old Fashioned and its classic friends has rejuvenated the bourbon category, driving sales.
While you won’t find many bars without Jack Daniel’s, the Tennessee whisky doesn’t find its way into as many cocktails as the big bourbon brands. Having said that, in 2010- 2012 JD was the top American whiskey brand in our poll. Its heavyweight foe Jim Beam is a mainstay in our whiskey lists over the years but has never been a top seller among our polled bars.
In world whisk(e)y Jameson towers over the competition. It has routinely been ahead of the Japanese, Taiwanese
and Indian competition in our polls – except for this year when it lost out to Nikka. Still, this small, catch-all category is always going to be dominated by a brand that sells 5m bottles of premium spirit. Havana Club may have had the last laugh after its rum victory this year but Bacardi has the longer-lasting laugh as it hangs on to to our all-time best-selling rum title. The Bermuda-
headquartered brand has been the top seller in four of our seven polls (2010-2012, 2014), while Havana Club has taken top spot in three editions (2013, 2015, 2016). No rum brand has managed to break this duopoly since we’ve been asking the question, but
You won’t find many
bars without Jack Daniel’s, but it doesn’t feature in as many cocktails as big bourbon brands
Appleton is the pick of the distantly following bunch, with Zacapa making up ground too. José Cuervo, for so long aided by Diageo’s distribution network, cuts the figure of a great monument crumbling at the edges. From 2010-2013, it was the top-selling tequila in our poll, but the past two years it has finished seventh in its category.
Olmeca, meanwhile, had an unexpected blank this year, neither its original or Altos variants being among the top 10 best-selling tequilas this year. With a solid performance in the previous six surveys, Olmeca is still a way above Patrón, which seems to be stuttering at a time when 100% agave has become the standard in elite bars.
The brand finished fifth in our list and is a cigarette paper ahead of Don Julio, which is the form tequila and will likely take a place in the top three next year.
Cointreau, a classic brand of the cocktail world, maintains its dominance of the all- time liqueurs list. Baileys, in second, is a throwback from our early polls – from 2010- 2013 it was the top seller – but has failed to be named a top 10 liqueur in each of the last three years. Grand Marnier was another not to show up in the survey this year but has a back catalogue of sales in the world’s best bars and is a comfortable third in our all- time list, ahead of St Germain. In the brandy category, Hennessy has uninterrupted first places in our poll and what seems an unassailable lead over Rémy Martin and Martel.
We’ve only been polling on beer for five years, but in that time Heineken has been found to be the champ brand of the world’s best bars every time except this year.
Peroni won the latest round and, with two second places in its locker, it is a strong runner- up in the all-time list. Asahi, a popular brand in elite bars, always performs well in our poll, without ever being named the number one beer brand. Tanqueray has been named Bartenders’ Choice three out of seven years, with one second-place finish, so takes top spot in the all-time league. Havana Club has attracted warmth among the bartender community and normally scores well – until this year. Meanwhile, Grey Goose’s third place is mostly down to high praise five years ago, rather than of late. Del Maguey is a little way back, but with a no.1 and no.2 finish in the last two years, it could yet take third spot next year.
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