Puddingstone Distillery wins Distillery of the Year The Gin Guide Awards 2021

THE GIN GUIDE AWARDS

Puddingstone Distillery wins Distillery of the Year 2021

Global awards shine a spotlight on the quality of British gins

The Gin Guide Awards 2021 attracted hundreds of entries from over 30 countries around the world in categories based on production methods, style of gin, countries of production as well as design & branding and environmental sustainability.

The Gin Guide awards 2021 judging process

The winners are selected through a rigorous blind tasting process conducted by an esteemed panel of distinguished gin experts with experience in production, marketing, events and mixology and on-trade and off-trade to achieve a comprehensive and widely relevant view of each entry. Judges included Paul Jackson, Founder & Editor, The Gin Guide; Jamie Baxter, Master Distiller & Distillery Consultant; Bernadette Pamplin, Spirits Writer & Judge (Under the Ginfluence); Bryan Rodriguez, Wine & Spirits Buyer, Harvey Nichols; Hannah Sharman-Cox & Siobhan Payne, Founders, London Cocktail Week; David T Smith, Contributing Editor of Gin Magazine, Consultant & Author; Emma Stokes, Spirits Author & Host of World Gin Day (aka Gin Monkey); Katie Hughes, Founder, What’s Katie Doing?; Sandra Lim and Julian Vallis, Co-Founders, Martini Club and Sarah Miller, Founder, Gin A Ding Ding. For a full list of judges visit The Gin Guide website.

Each gin is scored against The Gin Guide’s unique scorecard system with judges carrying out unhurried and thorough assessments without time pressures. To avoid influence there is no group judging. In blind tastings the only information available to the judges is the ABV, all entries are judged neat and judges may also sample with water or ice.

The scoring system considers key elements of:

  • Appearance
  • Aroma
  • Taste
  • Mouthfeel
  • Finish
  • Overall balance and appeal

Wins for Campfire Navy Strength, Cask Aged and Old Tom Gins

Puddingstone Distillery was awarded Distillery of the Year 2021 as we achieved the highest average score across all our entries. All five of our entries – four Campfire Gins and Domestique Gin were finalists and we were overjoyed when Campfire Navy Strength Gin was announced winner in the Navy Gins style category and a highly commended gin in the London Dry Gin production category. Campfire Cask Aged Gin was a winner in the Cask/Barrel Aged Gin production category and Campfire Old Tom Gin was a winner in the Old Tom style category. Sadly Campfire London Dry was only a Highly Commended Gin in the London Dry style category but we’ll take that given the tough competition from gins around the world and other strong British gin contenders. It did win a gold medal at the global London Spirits Competition just a week before!

Head Judge Paul Jackson, the Founder & Editor of The Gin Guide, commented on The Gin Guide Awards 2021 and the standard of entries:

“The quality and diversity of gins has been absolutely remarkable. British gins and international gins alike showed the depth of skill in distillation and product development that exists in the industry and that is undoubtedly becoming more prevalent in emerging gin markets. Gins from new and growing markets hugely impressed the industry-leading judging panels and showed that gin can truly cross borders and be an exciting product in markets across the world.”

“Huge congratulations and credibility go to all the winners and finalists. The Gin Guide Awards names a very small number of winners in each category to ensure genuine exclusivity and to protect the value of the awards and its proven ability to guide trade and consumer buying decisions. It is why being a winner in The Gin Guide Awards has become one of the most revered achievements in the industry and previous winners have used their success to take their businesses to the next level. I very much look forward to seeing this year’s winners enjoying the benefits of their achievements in the same way.”