Brakspear names winner of Barista of the Year
Ali Wilson, the Brakspear Barista of the Year, wins a trip to Monaco.
The company’s inaugural competition was held across its managed estate with coffee supplier Paddy & Scott’s. Ali Wilson, a team member at the George Townhouse in Shipston-on-Stour, and his general manager Pete Nicholas, win a trip to Monaco to visit the Conti Espresso coffee machine factory.
Coffee Champions from five pubs competed in three stages: a ‘three drink order’, making three different coffees in three minutes; a quiz testing knowledge on coffee in general and on Paddy & Scott’s, and finally a Signature Drink, where contestants created a new coffee serve.
Wilson’s winning coffee was ‘Half a Pint of Bitter’, a shaken mixture of espresso, hot water and a syrup made from honey, orange and ginger, all topped with steamed milk and served in a Brakspear half pint glass. The serve will now be sold across the managed estate.
The finals were judged by three experts from Paddy & Scott’s. As well as handing the Brakspear Barista of the Year title to Wilson, they also named two runners up, Matthew O’Reilly from the Running Horses near Dorking and Georgie Clarke from the Townhouse in Stratford-on-Avon, who each won a Paddy & Scott’s hamper.
The final judging was the culmination of a process that started in April, when Paddy & Scott’s visited all nine Brakspear managed pubs to assess their coffee offer. Following this, Brakspear delivered training, firstly for each pub’s Coffee Champion and then for other team members, designed to improve their coffee making skills and coffee knowledge.
Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said, “The quality of entries to this first Barista Competition and the high standards and creativity from our finalists were impressive and we’re delighted to reward our winner and runners up. All five signature coffees were exceptional and could have been sold across the estate.
“Serving a great cup of coffee is just as important as serving a great pint of beer and, with support from Paddy & Scott’s, we’ve invested in serious training this year to give our pubs the winning edge in the competitive out of home coffee market. We’re already seeing the benefits in improved coffee quality and increased sales and we look forward to this continuing – as well as to our next Barista competition in 2018.”
