Predicated on a global survey of a 100-strong sample of the world’s best bars – those which have been nominated or won international awards – the Report offers insight into the drinks brands used at the elite end of the bar trade.

Respondents - bar owners, bar managers and head bartenders - were asked to rank their three best-selling products in each category of spirits (plus wine and beer), offering insight into the brands that are selling best. The Trending lists offer an indication of the brands that are hot right now.

The Report also delves into the most-used spirit categories at the world's best bars, the top-50 most-made classic cocktails and the brands most frequently used in key serves.

Hamish Smith, editor of the Brands Report, said: "If 2021 wasn't the recovery year we'd hoped for, it was a marked improvement on 2020. In the majority of major markets, we saw the lockdown of bars as a last, rather than first resort, and other restrictions – curfews, alcohol restrictions and distancing – became less and less defining interventions as the year grew old. It wasn't uninterrupted trading by any stretch, but bars were doing business in most markets in 2021, most of the time.

"The question this report seeks to answer, is how bars’ – and by corollary consumers’ – buying decisions changed? If our report is anything to go by, social and economic volatility has created no revolution among bar brands;  those that pass through the pages of the Brands Report 2021 are in the most part, much the same as they were in peace time. But around the edges and in the details, there has been an evolution, with gains and losses across all our lists."

To view the page-turner edition of the Brands Report click here.

The Brands Report was a supplement to the January 2022 edition of Drinks International and will be serialised on drinksint.com throughout January.