Bailey’s Irish cream was the most loved drink of the year for 2019

Bailey’s Irish cream has long been one of the nation’s favourite drinks, and it has now been recognised as the most positively spoken about beverage of 2019.

That is according to research from YouGov, who published their ‘buzz poll’ list of brands that people have been responding to positively.

In the alcoholic beverage category, Bailey’s was the top scorer of the year (1 January to 31 December, 2019) with a positive score of 6.1.

YouGov’s extensive survey lasted the course of a year and saw them ask participants a series of questions of around 1,500 different brands.

Each brand was given a score based on whether the participant had positive or negative things to say in response to hearing the name.

The percentage of negative responses were weighed against the percentage of positive responses and the higher the balance leaned in favour of positive, the higher the ‘buzz score’ was calculated.

The score of 6.1 for Bailey’s Irish cream was an increase of 0.5 on the previous year, where the 2018 result saw the drink receive a score of 5.6.

This increase made Bailey’s the second most improved brand of the year in terms of positive responses after McGuigan Wines

Bailey’s was followed by Bombay Sapphire (4.9) in the alcoholic beverage category, with Jack Daniels taking third place with 4.4 points.

The top five was complete by Gordon’s gin (4.1 points) and Pimm’s (2.6 points)

A spokesman for YouGov said: “Our annual Brand Index Buzz Rankings have revealed that the most positively talked about alcoholic beverage is Baileys, which is ahead of second place Bombay Sapphire and third place Jack Daniel’s by 1.2 points.

“Interestingly, the top beer and cider brand and also the most improved brand is Guinness, who had a year of increased publicity after sponsoring the 2019 Six Nations Championship.

“This demonstrates the power of not only having a good product, but a targeted and far-reaching marketing strategy for alcoholic products.”

Of course, Bailey’s isn’t just a drink. There are plenty of creative ways to enjoy the product, including, Bailey’s cheesecake, Bailey’s chocolate cake, Bailey’s dark chocolate truffles, and Bailey’s pancakes.

Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling