Hayman's Cocktail Competition 2025

Hayman's The Original Gin is again inviting professional bartenders around the world to create cocktails using their award-winning gin, and, as an incentive, they are offering cash prizes and an all-expenses-paid trip to their London Distillery. Simply create a tasty cocktail and upload it to Difford's Guide. You've little to lose and potentially a lot to gain!

The aim is to find new contemporary classic gin cocktails which both bartenders and home cocktail enthusiasts worldwide can make. Hence, the ingredients must be easily available without the need to pre-combine ingredients. I've produced an extensive list of commonplace ingredients, and along with any of these, naturally, cocktails must be based on at least 30ml (1oz) of Hayman's Gin: Hayman's London Dry Gin &/or Hayman's Old Tom Gin &/or Hayman's Sloe Gin.

Cocktails may be in the form of long or short drinks (not shots) with a minimum of 90ml (3oz) liquid volume.

Cocktails based on less than seven ingredients are preferred, including fruit juices, syrups, drops, or dashes. Solid garnishes are not considered ingredients. If citrus fruit zest is specified as a garnish, it is acceptable to spray it over the drink.

This competition is open to professional bartenders only, working anywhere in the world.

Enter

Please complete the short form on the ENTER page. If you are already a Difford's Guide member and logged in, we already have your name and email. If you are new to Difford's Guide, then you'll be asked for this additional information to become a member and upload your cocktail recipe.

Prizes

The winner receives £1,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to the Hayman's Distillery in London, England, to include a 3-night stay in a boutique hotel. (If the winner is UK-based, then they will receive a whopping £2,500 to make up for the lack of expensive jet-propelled travel) plus a two-night hotel stay (no jet lag!).

In addition, two runner-ups will receive £500 each.

Key Dates

Monday 3rd March 2025 – Competition open for entries

Wednesday 30th April 2025 midnight G.M.T. – Competition closes for entries

Wednesday 21st May 2025 – Shortlist of top 50 announced

Thursday 12th June 2025 – Top 15 Finalists announced. Each will be requested to produce a 1-minute film (this can be using a phone) making their cocktail to be shared on Hayman's and Difford's social platforms.

Monday 23rd June 2025 – Final filmed at Hayman's Distillery. (Competitors not present - Alexa Farrow, Hayman's Brand Ambassador, will make the recipes submitted for the judges to assess.)

Tuesday 24th June 2025 – Winner and runners-up announced

Judging

A panel of judges, including fifth-generation members of the Hayman family and yours truly, will assess all 15 finalists' cocktails and accompanying one-minute videos. The cocktails will be made according to the recipes submitted by Alexa Farrow, Hayman's Brand Ambassador.

The most delicious yet easy-to-replicate recipes will receive the highest scores, awarded for:
Taste = out of 50 points
Ease to replicate = out of 20 points
Name = out of 10 points
Photo/video = out of 10 points
Broad appeal/potential to become a contemporary classic = out of 10 points

Rules

1. The competition is open to professional bartenders worldwide.

2. Recipes entered must be the original creation of the competitor, and if a competitor is thought to have plagiarised a known, existing cocktail, they will be disqualified. [Please use Difford's Cocktail Finder to check for combinations of the same ingredients.]

3. Ingredients must be easily available the world over and cannot be homemade.

4. Batching, infusing and pre-combining of ingredients is not permitted.

5. Recipes must be submitted with an accompanying photograph, which will be included in the judge's evaluation and contribute to scoring.

6. Cocktails may be hand-stirred, hand-shaken, thrown or blended, served hot, straight-up, or served over cubed, cracked or crushed ice.

7. Garnishes must be edible but may be mounted on sticks, skewers, straws, forks or other such common bar accessories. Use of edible fruits, herbs, leaves and spices may include sprigs, peels, barks, fruit shells etc. Any flowers and petals used must be of an edible variety.

8. By entering this competition, competitors agree to assign the copyright of their recipe and drink name to Hayman's.

9. Drink names, including rude, lurid, sexual words or words associated with narcotics or motor vehicles, are prohibited.

10. The competition organisers reserve the right to make the final decision on any matter relating to the competition's judging.

11. The 15 finalists will be required to film the making of their cocktail to be shared on Hayman's and Difford's social platforms (1-minute maximum).

For more information, please see FAQs and Ts & Cs