Ergo, we poll bars on the subject and have been for the best part of a decade. This year, 90% of bars said they stocked one brand, two-thirds had two, while more than half had three or more at their disposal. Not bad for a sub-category of sparkling. The league has seen a duopoly since its debut – Moët Hennessy’s Moët & Chandon…

That’s across category – no holds barred. It takes some achievement then, that in the past three years one brand has risen above the thousands around the world. Take a bow Plantation – more than a third of respondents said it was in their top three favourites. While other sectors might prize luxury and all the branding and packaging trimmings, in the…

It was the house scotch in just under a quarter of cases and among the top three in more than a third. Through its spectrum of styles – from peat-forward to more subtle blends – this brand is the international benchmark for blended scotch. Monkey Shoulder is that protagonist for the blended malt sub category. If ever there was a…

Most stock Pernod Ricard’s Jameson (three-quarters put it in their top three) and a slim majority relies on it as their house Irish whiskey (53%). Why? Jameson is a strong proposition for the bar operator for a number of reasons – it’s got an everyman taste profile, it’s affordable (and might well come with incentives) and, while being well-known, it’s premium enough…

The vodka of choice in the world’s best bars is more likely to be Ketel One than any other. The jointly owned (by Diageo and the Nolet Distillery) Dutch pot still vodka was a top-three choice in more than half of bars polled, with 30% making it their house pour. Ketel One has topped this list for nine years now. Also top…

This year almost two thirds of our sample of the world’s best bars stocked a brandy that wasn’t cognac, with more than a third attesting to offering two and just under a third with three or more. Not, then, an insignificant category in the world of bars. Torres Brandy, as last year, tops our list. The wine and brandy producer has refocused…

More interestingly, two-thirds of our sample said they stock two lines and a half three or more. The brand that is most likely to be pulled from the fridge is Fever-Tree. And these days, that could be any one of nine different models, though its Premium Indian tonic water is the benchmark. Forty per cent of polled bars said Fever-Tree was their…

The Brands Report is a snapshot of the buying habits of a sample of the best bars in the world. The poll is by invitation only and the number of respondents is restricted to 100 – the object is not to gain a wide insight into thousands of bars but just those that operate at the most influential end of the pyramid. We…

How did it manage it? Well, not only through the rail, where it dukes it out with Tanqueray and Beefeater (each taking about a fifth of the share), but because it is more likely than its big-brand competitors to be on a bar’s gin undercard, our survey suggests. In almost a quarter of bars polled Bombay was recorded as the number two…

So the name is: Yellow Triangle, Red Square, Blue Circle? Yes, but no, says the bar’s co-founders Remy Savage and Paul Lougrat, “the shapes are the name”. If you’re not shaking your head right now, you’re probably scratching it. That’s not the intention, but it’s not not the intention either. When Savage is involved, you can always expect more questions than answers. His curiosity is…