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The UK’s largest drinks supplier, Matthew Clark, has announced Bréagha Wolfgang from the Bird & Bear Bar in Dundee, as the winner of its 2019 Stir It Up Competition.

Now in its second year, Stir It Up is run in collaboration with 12 leading spirits brands, designed to give aspirational bartenders the opportunity to be experimental and creative, whilst also helping the On-Trade deliver industry leading cocktails and boost sales.

The theme of Stir It Up this year tapped into Matthew Clark’s ongoing focus on ‘discovery’, with the selection panel looking for serves that encapsulated new trends, or delivered a ‘futuristic’ take on a classic. Bréagha’s cocktail, Puget Rock, which was inspired by the Dundee Antarctic Whaling Expedition of 1893,  met the judges criteria on many levels with its fusion of Cherry, Orange, Black Pepper and Seaweed flavours with Reyka Vodka.

Ceri Lewis, Trade Marketing & Promotions Senior Manager of Matthew Clark said: “With cocktail drinkers spending £28 more on average out of home[1], the cocktail market represents a significant sales opportunity for licensees. Through the Stir It Up competition and our ongoing training and education programme, we’re dedicated to helping our customers make the most of this exciting opportunity. We’re delighted that the Stir It Up competition has been a great success again this year,  and would like to congratulate Bréagha and all the finalists on their fantastic achievements”.

As well as the accolade of Stir It Up 2019 champion, Bréagha won a two-night stay in Reykjavik for two, provided by Rekya Vodka, the lead sponsors of this year’s event.

Corrina Wong, Customer Marketing Manager, On-Trade at William Grant & Sons said: “We are thrilled that Reyka Vodka is the major sponsor for Stir It Up. It’s been exciting to see all the creativity coming out of the heats and we’re looking forward to Bréagha coming to visit us in Iceland.”

The competition was open to Matthew Clark customers only, however, anyone working in On-Trade was also eligible to enter the competition as a ‘wildcard’ entry via social media. Sponsored by Pernod Ricard, four shortlisted bartenders competed in the ‘wildcard’ round at the live final. Sam Trevethyen was crowned the ‘Wildcard Winner’, and won a trip to Dublin and Cork, courtesy of Jameson Whisky.