UK Bartenders’ Guild Announce the Winner of The Great Honkaku Shochu & Awamori Contest 2026
The UK Bartenders’ Guild has announced that Miley Kendrick, from The Domino Club in Leeds, is the winner of The Great Honkaku Shochu & Awamori Contest 2026.
Held on 9th March at The Caley Bar in Edinburgh, in partnership with Japanese Sake and Shochu Makers Association, the event brought together some of the UK’s most innovative bartenders in a celebration of culture, connection and creativity, all channelled into outstanding mixology.
The contest began in January with three live seminars in some of the UK’s most dynamic cities, Edinburgh, Birmingham, London. The seminars were led by Samuel Boulton, a Japan Sake and Shochu educator and previous competitor. He shared his knowledge and cultural insights on the category for bartenders taking part in the competition, and the recordings of the seminars are available on the UKBG website.
“Congratulations to Miley for securing first place, an incredible achievement in a competition where the level of talent was truly outstanding,” said Claudia Carozzi, UKBG president. “We are honoured to continue our collaboration with the JSS in growing awareness and appreciation of this category in the Western world. Every year, we see the standards rise, the bartenders’ knowledge deepen, and the level of interaction during the classes increase. The number of entries this year was remarkable, and the overall standard was exceptionally high. So much so that selecting only ten finalists became impossible. For this reason, we decided to extend the shortlist to twelve. The creativity, passion, and commitment demonstrated across all entries were truly inspiring. For me, everyone who took part is a winner.”
Winner, Miley Kendrick, from The Domino Club in Leeds, impressed the judging panel with her cocktail, ‘What’s The Story with Awamori?’ As part of his prize, Miley will attend an educational trip to Japan. Miley comments, “It was an absolute honour to present at the UKBG The Great Honkaku Shochu & Awamori Contest, even better to take home the win when being judged by three of my personal industry inspirations. The best competitions are ones that form connections, and I’m glad to have fostered old and new connections with my fellow bartenders and can’t wait to meet more people in Japan and, of course, drink more Shochu.”