Damian Murgatroyd Takes Graham's Kitchen Flip to Porto Final

Damian Murgatroyd topped his Graham's Kitchen Flip with a brittle Isomalt Port Glass Shard, the final flourish on a drink built from Graham's Blend Nº12 Ruby Port, chocolate bitters, caramelised apple cordial and chestnut butter. The Graham's Blend Series Cocktail Competition named Murgatroyd, bar manager at The Blind Pig in Jersey, as its UK winner after the national competition at two Michelin-starred Da Terra. Murgatroyd will compete in the international final on 12 May against winners from ten other countries.

Murgatroyd's work before bartending was in professional kitchens, and the winning cocktail carries that memory in its construction: cordial, butter, bitters, controlled garnish. The drink reads less like a label exercise than a bartender using kitchen technique to make a fortified wine speak clearly. Sandrae Lawrence, Douglas Blyde and Tyler Zielinski judged it the strongest of nine UK cocktail presentations.

A flip asks for texture and control. A New York Sour reference brings structure, contrast and a recognisable frame. Murgatroyd used Graham's Blend Nº12 Ruby Port to connect those parts, then presented the drink in a way that paid homage to the Symington family and the terroir of the Douro Valley.

Damian Murgatroyd's Route to Porto

Murgatroyd arrives at the Porto final from The Blind Pig in Jersey. His winning cocktail used a familiar form, then turned it toward dessert through berry notes, gum citrus aromas and kitchen-inspired flavours. Nº12 did not appear as a token float. It carried the fruit register of the serve, working through kitchen-led flavours and finishing with a piece of sugar work rather than a casual peel or wedge.

Murgatroyd put the appeal of the bottle in sensory terms. "I found coming up with the concept using Graham's Blend Nº12 Ruby Port actually very easy, the light, aromatic berry notes lend themselves to a dessert-style cocktail."¹ That is the useful starting point for any bartender: what does the ingredient want to do?

The Graham's Blend Series Cocktail Competition exists to encourage mixologists to explore Port's versatility. Graham's, the Port house within Symington Family Estates, uses the annual competition to move Port back into bartenders' hands: not only as a festive pour, but as a cocktail ingredient that can be measured, shaken, stirred and built into service. This is the fifth edition, and repetition gives the exercise weight.

At Da Terra, that intention had to meet judgment. Lawrence, Blyde and Zielinski watched nine UK presentations put Port through different formats. Murgatroyd gave Graham's a winning serve to point toward, but the more durable movement is bench-side: Port handled by people who measure, taste, adjust and serve.

Lizzie Williamson and Charlie Hibberd Complete the UK Podium

Second place went to Lizzie Williamson of Thirty7 in Covent Garden. Her serve, The Picking Hour, also used Graham's Blend Nº12 Ruby Port, and it was her first entry into a bartending competition. Charlie Hibberd of Lyaness placed third with Golden Thread, a Ruby Port-based cocktail.⁴ The result did not reward a single house style; it showed Ruby Port moving through different bar contexts.

Da Terra brought its own pressure to the room. A two Michelin-starred restaurant is not a neutral backdrop. Even outside normal service, the setting carries expectations of timing, presentation and taste. For a Port house trying to speak to contemporary bars and restaurants, the category sat where it needed to sit: near glassware, technique and people trained to notice when a garnish has no work to do.

What Murgatroyd Built Into the Kitchen Flip

The Graham's Kitchen Flip gives the clearest read on the win. Murgatroyd did not build a museum piece for Port. The judges responded to the way the drink fused lively forest fruit with the aromas held in the Blend. Those are practical qualities. A fortified wine can bring sweetness and weight, but if its aromatic shape disappears once it is shaken or lengthened, the bartender has to repair the drink elsewhere. In this glass, Nº12 worked as more than a sweetening agent.

The Isomalt Port Glass Shard shows the same discipline. Isomalt belongs to the part of kitchen and pastry work where heat, cooling and brittleness have to be controlled. In a competition drink, a shard can become too thick, too sharp or merely decorative. Here, it belonged to the drink's argument: Port treated with technique, not nostalgia.

For bars already working with dessert-style cocktails or sour structures, Murgatroyd's serve shows one route for Ruby Port. The bottle can hold fruit, meet richer kitchen flavours and still keep enough identity to register in the finished glass. A bottle earns its place at the bar only when it can survive the pace of the station. Port has to pour cleanly, hold aroma after dilution, answer citrus or sugar, and justify itself beside bitters, cordials and garnish work.

Charlotte Symington and the Bartenders Leading Port's Return

Graham's and Symington Family Estates are working against a familiar perception of Port as stuffy, dated and tied to festive service. Charlotte Symington, fifth-generation family member and head of marketing at Symington Family Estates, has spoken of bartenders becoming ambassadors for life. The method is direct: place mixing-focused bottles in their hands and let technique test the claim.

Gabriella Messant, Fells junior brand manager for Graham's, placed the work in a longer drinking memory. "The Ruby and Lemon used to be something you could get in any UK pub, but they fell out of fashion, so we're trying to show that it isn't something you shouldn't be afraid of."² The point is not invention from nothing. It is recovery through current technique.

Graham's designed the Blend Series for mixing from the outset. Nº12's grapes are picked at midnight to preserve freshness. Nº5 is positioned for Port and Tonic. Those details show the producer's intended use: not only sweetness and depth, but lift, clarity and utility under a bartender's hand.

Bartender competitions become thin when the bottle functions as a logo and the drink as a poster. This one is more useful when judged by the decisions it demands. A competitor has to decide whether Port works as base, modifier, float or aromatic support. Sweetness has to be managed. Texture has to be earned. The drink has to know whether it belongs before dinner, after dinner or somewhere across the evening.

For drinkers, the change may arrive without explanation. A Ruby Port cocktail does not need to announce that it is changing the category. It only has to make the next order feel natural. That is the value of a bartender-led route: Port moves by serve, not by slogan.

What Murgatroyd Faces in Porto on 12 May

Porto is the next test. Murgatroyd will compete in the international final on 12 May against winners from ten other countries. The global winner receives €2,000, Graham's Port for their bar, and the opportunity to represent the brand at a guest shift.³ The prizes return the work to service: money, stock and a bar where guests meet the drink across the counter.

The setting also brings the competition closer to the Douro Valley, the place Murgatroyd referenced in his presentation. He has not been to Porto before and has spoken of his excitement at visiting the nearby Douro Valley with bartenders from around the world. For a bartender, that kind of travel can tighten the line between ingredient and method: berry notes cease to be only tasting language and begin to carry a memory of place.

There is a collector's reading here, but not the usual one. The result does not ask whether a bottle should be cellared, traded or held. It asks whether Port houses can make mixing bottles that serious bartenders choose under judgment. If they can, the category gains another route into relevance: the cocktail list, the guest shift, the competition tray, the home bar.

Watch Murgatroyd in Porto for the adjustment as much as the result. The Graham's Kitchen Flip now has to travel from the UK round into an international field. Another winner may pull Port toward tonic, citrus, aperitif service or another frame. What follows will show how far the Blend Series can move when the hands leading the work belong to bartenders.