Franklin & Sons scoop six stars at Great Taste Awards
Great Taste, the world’s most coveted blind-tested food and drink awards, described as the Oscars of the food and drink industry, has announced Franklin & Sons as winners of six Great Taste stars. Out of Franklin & Sons’ premium soft drinks range, Brewed Ginger Beer with Malted Barley and a squeeze of lemon was awarded 2 Great Taste stars, whilst British Dandelion & handpicked Burdock with Star Anise was awarded 1 star. The natural range of tonics and mixers did extremely well, taking home 3 stars out of the 4 entered mixers. Franklins Ginger Ale, Natural and Lemon Tonics each received 1 star, with judges saying “the flavour was sharp, not too sweet, clean and fresh”.
The awards are judged by over 500 of the most demanding palates belonging to food critics, chefs, cooks, restaurateurs and producers. Great Taste is simply about taste, not clever branding or smart packaging.
“We are delighted to receive such prestigious recognition from the Great Taste panel. The comments were even better than we hoped for”, explains Justin Horsman, Franklin & Son’s Brand Controller. “Winning these prestigious awards not only cements our credibility for creating only the most premium soft drinks, tonics and mixers, but also reflects the hard work and time invested into the Franklin & Sons range. It is really gratifying to see that such well-respected professionals appreciate the true heritage and provenance of our ever expanding range of products. We are so excited to see what the future holds.”
Steve Perez, Chairman of Chesterfield based Global Brands said, “I am very proud of the Franklin & Sons team, winning so many awards for the new range of soft drinks and mixers in our very first year. I thank them for their hard work and skills. They have produced World Class products true to the heritage of the brand and these awards are a great accolade to all of them.”
Out of over 10,000 products entered into Great taste 2016 only 878 received a 2 star award. Whether it be bread, honey, salami or cereal being judged, all products are removed from their wrapper, jar, box or bottle before being tasted. The judges then savour, confer and re-taste to decide which products are worthy of a 1-, 2- or 3-star award (only 181were awarded 3 stars in 2016). Franklin & Sons has been listed in Harrods for four months and it was fantastic to see the Harrods buyers agreed with the stars awarded.
A selection of the judges’ comments below:
“Bright and with distinct tonic notes and a bitter lemon dimension. The flavour is sharp, not too sweet, clean and fresh. Just bring on the gin.” (Sicilian Tonic)
“Love it! Brings back memories – made very well with a good carbonation, sweet and with spices – a delicious blend.” (Dandelion and Burdock)
“Fresh and with gentle carbonation – The Cinchona is botanical and very natural. There is a good dryness to this drink. (Natural Indian Tonic Water)
The panel of judges included; TV chef and author, Valentine Warner, MasterChef judge and restaurant critic, Charles Campion, fifth generation baker, Tom Herbert from Hobbs House Bakery, and Great British Bake Off winner, Frances Quinn; food buyers from Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols and Waitrose and chefs including, James Golding, chef director of THE PIG Hotels, and Kevin Gratton, chef director of HIX Restaurants.
Global Brands
