Whiskey
Winners of the Masters of the Famous Blend announced
Three bars from across the UK have been selected from an original shortlist of 300 sites and were awarded cash prizes at an event at The Famous Grouse Experience in Crieff, Perth & Kincross, on Thursday 18 August.
Cheers Bar in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, was crowned champion and took home the top prize of £3,000, with second prize of £1,500 being awarded to the Chequers Inn in Dorset and third prize of £500 going to the Maypole in Cambridge.
Customer marketing and category controller from Maxxium Jenifer Spinks explained how they came to the decision: “Cheers Bar really impressed the judges having introduced both The Famous Smoky Black and The Famous Mellow Gold whiskies to its bar menu, rolled out Masters of the Famous Blend training across its full team, increased sales of The Famous Grouse by 50% in January as well as running its own Facebook promotion and creating a PoS. A very worthy winner of the top prize.
“I would also like to congratulate the Chequers Inn and the Maypole as well as our three runners-up and extend a huge thank you also to all of the outlets who took part in the Masters of the Famous Blend programme.”
Perfect-serve training
All shortlisted sites were provided with a special ‘Masters of the Famous Blend’ training session where bar staff were educated on the blended whisky category.
This included how a blend is made, maturation, the influence of wood, distillation and the art of blending. They were also given a range of The Famous Grouse PoS products and training on the perfect serve – The Famous Grouse and Ginger Ale, garnished with a wedge of orange.
After a ‘mystery shopper’ assessment that tested the bar team’s knowledge and quality of the signature serve, six finalists were chosen for the final where they stayed overnight in Glasgow and visited The Famous Grouse Experience and were given a cocktail masterclass, three-course meal and VIP distillery tour.
Passion sought
Spinks added: “As the UK’s number one-selling blended Scotch, we are keen to reignite the trade and consumer passion for the category, educate on the quality credentials of the blended Scotch category and reward our loyal customers.
“The Masters of the Famous Blend trade activation has been a great success and we now have 300 fully accredited ‘Masters of the Famous Blend’ outlets across the UK as well as securing important new listings for our new premium expressions, The Famous Smoky Black and The Famous Mellow Gold."
