The all-time leagues are where we sort the bar-world fads from the fixtures. Over the nine years we’ve been polling the world’s best bars to find out which brands they buy, we’ve seen many come and go. It becomes important then, that we take stock and recognise those that have consistently performed at the top table – brands that are built to last.

For our All-time tables we assigned 10 points for a first place finish in a single year, counting down to one point for finishing 10th. Rankings are therefore based on aggregates of a brand’s points accrued over the years of polling.

BARTENDERS’ CHOICE

This is a cross-spirit question – simply what is the bartender’s favourite spirit? You might expect a wide range of answers, and you’d be right, but top of the pile more often than not is Tanqueray. Out of the thousands of brands on the market, the world’s best bartenders have said Tanqueray is their favourite five times out of six years. Now that’s love.

In second, Havana Club remains, though mainly because bartenders polled in the early days were much more smitten by the brand – it hasn’t featured among the top 10 for Bartenders’ Choice for three years. Jumping ahead of Bacardí, we have a new brand in third spot – Del Maguey. The mezcal brand grew in popularity under founder Ron Cooper and, with Pernod Ricard’s might behind it now, we should see it reach its potential. Whether mainstream popularity will also see it fall down the love charts among the elite is anyone’s guess – for now, it’s on the podium in our Bartenders’ Choice All-time league.

VODKA

The vodka All-time tables have been updated but the story is the same. Absolut’s consistency sees it maintain its place at the top, in spite of Ketel One’s flawless six-year record – it will be a long time before it can make up for its fallow years of 2011-2012. Grey Goose also remains ahead of the Diageo/Nolet-owned vodka, pitching in with high-ranking points through the nine-year life of this poll of the world’s best bars.

GIN

It’s the same top three in gin as the big bar brands of the category continue to dominate. Tanqueray and Beefeater were neck and neck last year, but the Diageo brand has stolen a march this year. Hendrick’s, which is in fourth among the All-time gins, was the second most voted-for in the gin league this year, thus putting distance between Tanqueray and Beefeater. In a comfortable third is Bombay Sapphire, which has a solid points base after top spots in 2010-2011.

SCOTCH

Few brands in the All-time lists have perfect records, but Johnnie Walker is one. At this point its lead seems unassailable. Chivas Regal in second has seen its scotch league positions drop in recent years, but it is not in much danger of being leapfrogged by The Macallan, which lies some way back in third. Though that’s an achievement in itself – the malt has become a must-have member of the inventory at the world’s best bars, ahead of big brand blends.

NORTH AMERICAN WHISKEY

An illustration of the slow-burning nature of the all-time leagues is that Bulleit has been the no.1 American whiskey in our poll from 2016-2018 but has no place in the all-time top three. Instead the ever-present and ever-consistent Maker’s Mark tops the chart. Each year from 2010-2018, the brand has been among the top four American whiskey brands in the world’s best bars. Jack Daniel’s was the pace-setter early on, with three top spots and two seconds, but is now falling behind after four indifferent years. Woodford Reserve, which didn’t get going in our poll until 2013, has accrued enough ranking points to fend off Bulleit for the next couple of years.

RUM

The duopoly of Bacardí and Havana Club has been broken by Plantation in each of the past two years but it will take some time before this year’s rum champ leaves a mark on the all-time league. Bacardí and Havana Club took turns to be the rum leader for the first seven years of the poll, but now compete for second and third. Runner up status was enough for Bacardí to

edge ahead of the Cuban brand this year – 84 points to 83. Meanwhile, Ron Zacapa has the same ranking points as Appleton but makes the podium on tie-breaker – this year’s performance was fourth to Appleton’s seventh. Plantation, with back-to-back first spots in the rum category, is now up to fifth in the All-time league.

TEQUILA

Diageo’s Don Julio may seem a fixture at the top of this list, but it has only this year displaced Jose Cuervo, which dominated the tequila charts for the first four years of this poll. It’s almost as if Diageo cutting its ties with the brand and concentrating on Don Julio made a difference…

Jose Cuervo looks like it will continue its slide, posting middling rankings in recent years. Some day soon it could be replaced by Calle 23, which is just ahead of a tightly packed group consisting of Patrón, Olmeca and Ocho.

LIQUEURS

Classic brands do well in the All-time lists – no more so than in the liqueurs charts. Cointreau in first place is a back-bar staple and a consistent performer in the liqueurs category – it hasn’t finished worse than fourth in nine years. Chartreuse, meanwhile, has finished second in each of the past four years and climbs into the top three for the first time at the expense of Bailey’s, which was a favourite of the early years. St-Germain, in comparison the upstart, maintains its place in third. So where is Campari? It’s been the top liqueur from 2016-2018 but was very much out of favour at the start of the decade.

BRANDY

Nine years of number one spots have seen Hennessy achieve a perfect points tally. The LVMH brand (part-owned by Diageo) is clearly the choice in the world’s best bars, despite some competition from Rémy Martin, Martell and, more recently, Pierre Ferrand. With Courvoisier and Pierre Ferrand a way back in fourth and fifth, this top three is unlikely to change in the coming years.

BEER

Heineken didn’t win the beer stakes this year – that was Peroni – but its nine-year run has seen it collect enough points to hang on to the top spot in the All-time list. Peroni may have taken the bragging rights this year but it will need to put a run together if it has designs at the summit. Asahi, another bar-centric beer, remains in third, a little ahead of Corona in fourth.

CHAMPAGNE

Moët & Chandon and Perrier Jouët continue their tussle for the hall of fame top spot, finishing on 57 points apiece. We gave the nod this year to Perrier Jouët because of a stronger 2018 ranking, though next year it could easily swing the other way. In third is Veuve Clicquot, which neither looks like breaking the duopoly or ceding its place to Mumm.

WATER

San Pellegrino has the perfect five out of five and thus it looks safe to call it the bartenders’ water brand. Perrier drives a wedge between it and stablemate Acqua Pana in third, while Evian looks too far back to make a dent in the top three next year.

TONIC WATER

In the four years we’ve been asking bartenders about tonic water, the answer has been Fever-Tree first and Schweppes second. Fentiman’s is normally the third most-stocked but not this year – East Imperial took that title. Regardless, the all-time pecking order remains Fever-Tree, Schweppes and Fentiman’s.