Photograph: Lucie England-Duce

On 29th September, we gathered the six finalists at Roundhay Park in Leeds to battle it out for the champion mixologist title. Representing the north were Will Farquhar of Orchid Bar, Aberdeen; Tim Ward of Two Fifths in Newcastle, and Charlene Holt of Manchester’s Apotheca. From the south we had Kate Ling of The Bureau in Birmingham; Isaac Windsor of Pata Negra, Bristol; and Wayne Chapman from London’s City Social. We strongly suggest you visit all of the above, or at least begin with whichever establishment is the closest to you.

Our tripartite judging panel consisted of last year’s victor Matt Fairhurst, Amanda Humphrey from the Mixxit training team and, from Berry Bros. & Rudd Spirits, myself. The judging was not made easy by the fantastic range of homemade ingredients offered up alongside the inspired stories behind each cocktail, but after much deliberation we came to a unanimous decision.

In third place was Will Farquhar from Aberdeen, whose “My Fair Maiden” recipe was inspired by summer evenings around the fire in his aunt’s garden, the air thick with the scent of herbs. Narrowly missing out on the top spot was Tim Ward from Newcastle. His “The Mary Lennox” may be familiar to avid readers of Frances Hodgson Burnett, as it references the orphaned girl and lead character from the literary classic, The Secret Garden. All of which means our winner was Wayne Chapman from our hometown, London, who impressed us all with “Mr Tod’s Redemption”, based on the Beatrix Potter stories of Benjamin Bunny, made with largely leporid-friendly constituents…