Call for entries Download the pdf brochure

Judging

All products are equally judged by our panel of industry experts allowing for smaller producers to be compared alongside established brands.

Stage One

The initial shortlisting takes place over the period of a week at the end of April. Every product is judged equally by the panel who debate and discuss each entrant against the following criteria:

 

Stage Two

At the end of judging the panel decide on the finalists for each category. Each category will have a maximum of 6 finalists. From the shortlist the panel deliberate further over the winning product for each category.

Stage Three

The panel reconvenes to discuss and select the product to be awarded the coveted Platinum Q. This award is selected from all the individual category winners. It symbolises the product which the panel agreed was truly outstanding and worthy of this ultimate accolade. All winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at The Hurlingham Club on 22 June 2010. Every applicant will be contacted, regardless of the result.

The Judges 2010

Mike Dennis, Chairman, Quality Drink Awards 

Julie Arkell, Wine Writer

Julie is a respected national consumer wine journalist and broadcaster involved in both television and radio work spanning the worlds of drink, food and travel. A lifelong ambition to write about wine was realized in 1992 when two local newspapers asked her to write regular columns. Julie has been the drinks correspondent for both the Daily and Sunday Express and presented or guested in programmes for BBC1, BBC2, Channel 5… including many others. In addition, she judges annually at the New York Classic, Decanter World Wine Awards and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.

 Ray Donelan, Independent Consultant

Ray is ex-Trading Director at SPAR/Landmark with over 30 years off-trade business experience. Has travelled extensively to producers worldwide and has wealth of experience marketing beers, wines and spirits in the UK. He is currently writing and consulting within industry.

Tim Hampson, Freelance Beer Writer

Tim Hampson’s  work includes The Beer Book and Great Beer, both published by Dorling Kindersley; London’s Best Pubs and London’s Riverside Pubs (due for publication in 2011) both published by New Holland Publishers.

He is chairman of the Tesco Drinks Awards beer panel, chairman of the British Guild of Beer Writers and his work has appeared in numerous publications including What’s Brewing.

Hilary Knight, Taste of Sussex

Hilary had been manager of the local food and drink sector support group A Taste of Sussex for over 6 years, following a career spanning over 20 years in the food and drink industry.  Hilary has been a regular judge at the Annual South East Regional Beer Competition for several years. She works with several breweries in Sussex to help market and promote the quality local producers to the trade and to consumers.

Dom Lane, Bray Leino

Dom has worked in communications for 12 years, earning his food & drink stripes at the Soil Association before joining communications agency Bray Leino as Head of Food & Drink in 2003. His professional scrapbrook includes the award-winning Cheddarvision.tv and Cheese in Space, Eat in Colour, LoveOM and Tai Chi Farmers, Organic Everyday for OMSCo etc. Dom sits on the judging panel of several national food and drink awards and has acted as spokesman for a variety campaigns.

Phil Mellows, Freelance Drinks Writer

Phil Mellows has written about pubs and drinks for the industry for more than a quarter of a century and has worked for both leading pub trade press titles, the Morning Advertiser and The Publican. He was also editor of the award-winning in-house newspaper Bass Brewers News. He currently freelances, writing regular features for the MA and Retail Newsagent among others. In between he blogs about The Politics of Drinking on his website, www.philmellows.com

Angela Mount, Director, Mount Paul Wine Consultancy

Angela Mount is a wine expert and presenter and has been named as one of the top 50 most influential people in the Wine Industry. Angela is widely credited with revolutionising wine on the high street, making quality wine accessible to the masses. Angela’s taste buds were famously insured for £10 million by former Somerfield bosses, resulting in widespread appearances including Channel 4 News, The Independent and Radio 5 live. She is also a key judge at all the major UK wine competitions and more recently has been consulting on the launch of www.gondola.co.uk, an ambitious wine retail website by Peter Jones of BBC’s Dragons’ Den.

James Murray, Show Director, London International Wine Fair

James took the reigns of the London International Wine Fair in 2002 and has since driven the exhibition to critical acclaim and achieved an authoritative place in the international drinks calendar. Not content with spearheading one major drinks show James launched Distil, dedicated to the spirits business, in 2008 to run in tandem with LIWF. As part of his work he is also a member of the LIWF advisory board, a collection of the most influential professionals in the international drinks industry. In addition, James has judged a variety of drinks category awards in the past.

Glenn Payne, Independent Beer Writer

Glenn was beer buyer at Safeway from 1997 to 2004, bringing many new and different beers from around the world and within the UK to discerning customers.  After Safeway, Glenn became sales and marketing director at Meantime brewing in 2005 and 2006, and is currently Brand Ambassador and non-executive director. Glenn has a wealth of experience as a consultant to UK and American breweries and retailers. He is also part owner of importers and bar owner, Pangea Drinks, based in London’s Borough Market. In addition, Glenn has been a judge at the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup since 2002.

Nick Bradstock, National Association of Cider Makers

Nick has been a part of the UK cider industry all his working life, as a cider maker and in the area of general management. He is currently working for the national trade association. Nick brings a wealth of experience to the judging panel and is a regular judge for regional cider maker competitions.

Geoff Taylor, Corkwise

Geoff has over 30 years experience in the analysis, production and quality assessment in the alcoholic drinks trade. Founder of Corkwise in 1988, Geoff covers technical consultancy, auditing, expert witness plus project management.

Steve Williams, The Beer Justice Blog

Steve is a beer lover.  He was the Campaign for Real Ale’s Regional Director for Greater London from 2004 to 2009 and retains various CAMRA committee posts.  He is the author of The Beer Justice Blog (www.beerjustice.blogspot.com) and is a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers.  He has judged beer at various competitions including the Great American Beer Festival, Great British Beer Festival and The National Honey Show as well as various local CAMRA and SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) events.  He has judged the beer and cider categories at the Quality Drink Awards on a number of occasions.  He is also a Chartered Accountant and a Justice of the Peace.

Key Dates