The United Kingdom Bartenders Guild (UKBG) is a fraternal organization for professional bartenders in the United Kingdom, with more than four hundred members in four regions of the British Isles as of October 2015.
Craddock, Harry Lawson. Though based mainly in London, the group included in its early rosters bartenders from much of the current and former British Empire, including in India, New Zealand, Kenya, and Jamaica, as well as aboard transatlantic ocean liners. It was initially famous for maintaining a library of all known cocktail recipes and registry of new ones at its London headquarters, which was almost destroyed by a German incendiary bomb during World War II. The war slowed the organization’s growth, but its many members who served in the armed forces received care packages of cigarettes, chocolate, soap, and issues of Bartender magazine throughout the war thanks to UKBG fundraising efforts.After the war, emigrant bartenders set up UKBG chapters in the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Africa that later evolved into those nations’ own national bartender guilds. A chapter was founded in southern California in 1949 by Egidio “Angus” Angerosa (1903–1982), a Neapolitan who had assisted Harry Craddock in running the guild in London. See Craddock, Harry Lawson. This was very active, sponsoring yearly competitions that were widely publicized. In 1961, it split from the UKBG to become the California Bartenders Guild, from which the United States Bartenders Guild would be formed in 1971. See United States Bartenders’ Guild (USBG).
In 1951, the UKBG was instrumental in the founding of the International Bartenders Association, with then UKBG president W. j. Tarling serving as the first president of the IBA. See Tarling, William James “Billy”. In 1952, the UKBG set up the first formal bartender training course in the United Kingdom, and the following year, it published the first edition of the UKBG Guide to Drinks, now called the UKBG International Guide to Drinks and currently in its eleventh edition. The guild continues to provide education for its members and organize cocktail contests and other events.
Slavin, Jim. Private email correspondence, November 13, 2015
UKBG International Guide to Drinks, 4th ed. London: UKBG, 1965.
By: Jason Horn