The awards, now in its third year, celebrates the best of UK food and drinks writing and communication and drew a throng of industry stars including Michel Roux Junior, Jay Rayner, James Martin, Pierre Koffmann and was hosted by Claudia Winkleman.

There was a record 400 entries across 12 categories, mainly from national consumer newspapers and magazines.

The shortlist of three for Drinks Writer of the Year was chosen by an expert panel of judges including Bee Wilson, Lucas Hollweg, Monica Galetti, Nina Caplan, Russell Norman and Tim Atkin MW. It was chaired by Fortnum & Mason chief executive Ewan Venters.

Roskrow’s winning articles included a piece on absinthe and flavoured spirits. 

He told DI: "I am really honoured to win this award particularly because the Fortnum & Mason Awards are consumer awards and are entered by the country's finest food and drinks writers. It says a lot about the high editorial standards of Drinks International that it can compete with the best drinks writing in the country. I am proud to write for it, and grateful that the editorial team has allowed me to write not just about my pet subject whisky but also on subjects such as absinthe and flavoured spirits, for which I won this award."

Also among the winners were Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley for their spirits book Distilled and Pete Brown won Online Drink Writer of the Year for work on petebrown.blogspot.co.uk.