Who will be the bartender behind the winning cocktail at this year’s fifth annual Drink of the Year Awards?
Held at the end of each year, the idea behind these awards is simple: we want to shine a light on the great drinks bartenders have brought to their bars over the last 12 months.
This isn’t a cocktail competition; instead, we’re looking for the drinks that bartenders sell over the bar, night in and night out, the type of drinks that keep the punters coming back for more.
Previous winners represent some esteemed company: Michael Chiem’s Africola at PS40 has won the top spot twice, in 2022 and 2024; Byrdi bar manager Samuel Thornhill’s Bad Apple won in 2023; and last year, Kitty Gardner and Darren Leaney, from Caretaker’s Cottage, took out the number one spot with their drink, Doublethink.
In addition to awarding the Drink of the Year presented by Bacardí, we’ll be handing out six other major awards:
- The People’s Drink of the Year presented by Club Suntory;
- Bartender of the Year presented by Glenfiddich;
- Breakout Bartender of 2026 presented by Hendrick’s;
- Drinks List of the Year presented by Belvedere Vodka;
- Martini of the Year presented by Sunchaser;
- and Non-Alc of the Year presented by Re’al.
Here’s how it works:
- Entries into the awards close this week, at 11:59pm AEDT on Friday night. You can enter your recipe and learn more at boothby.com.au/drinkoftheyear.
- The entries are then winnowed down to the Top 50 Drinks of the Year by Boothby and a select panel of industry advisors. These will be showcased online at boothby.com.au from Monday 26 October, when invites to the awards will be sent to the Top 50.
- The public is then invited to cast their votes for the People’s Drink of the Year presented by Club Suntory, while a 150-person panel of industry experts casts their votes to determine the order of the Top 50, the winner of Drink of the Year, and the winner of Drinks List of the Year presented by Belvedere Vodka. Bartenders with a drink on the Top 50 will cast their votes for the Bartender of the Year presented by Glenfiddich, while the Breakout Bartender of 2026 presented by Hendrick’s goes to an up and coming bartender on the list who shows the most promise, is gaining more attention, and has shown they’ve arrived. Two new awards in 2026, Martini of the Year presented by Sunchaser and Non-Alc of the Year presented by Re’al will go to the highest placed example of those styles on the list.
- Next, get ready to party at the exclusive, invite-only Boothby Drink of the Year Awards cocktail party in Sydney, on Monday 30 November. That’s the night when we’ll count from 50 all the way down to number one, handing out each of the seven major awards along the way. There will be great drinks, good tunes, and a room of the best and brightest bartenders in Australia.
But you have to be in it to win it — get your recipes in now at boothby.com.au/drinkoftheyear.
