World Whiskies Awards winners announced: top prize goes to Scotland

There are a couple of red letter days in the whisky calendar where the world’s best whiskies are declared. One is the day Mr Murray’s Whisky Bible is published - also known as Jim Murray Day. This is the one the mainstream media seem to latch on to, usually declaring a crisis for Scotch whisky because Jim Murray hasn’t picked a scotch for the top prize. Jim Murray, of course, is our self appointed leader and his personal tastes, and whatever axe he has to grind that year, trump anyone else’s opinion.

The other is the publication of the World Whiskies Awards results. I was a judge for three years and I can tell you that a large panel tastes hundreds of whiskies over successive rounds. By the time it reaches the final a whisky will have been tasted countless times by many judges. The tasting is blind and unbiased and, as such, reaching the final, let alone topping the awards, is a remarkable achievement.

This year’s top prize, for the World’s Best Single Malt, goes to the Craigellachie 31 Years Old. The complete list of category winners is as follows:

World's Best Grain

The Fuji-Gotemba Distillery - Single Grain 25 Years Old Small Batch

World's Best Bourbon

John J. Bowman - Single Barrel Bourbon

Best Canadian Blended

Gooderham & Worts

World's Best Corn

Ironroot Republic –  Ironroot Hubris Corn Whiskey

World's Best Flavoured

J.P. Wiser’s - Hopped Whisky

Best Irish Single Pot Still

Redbreast - 21 Years Old

World's Best Rye

A.D. Laws - Secale Straight Rye

World's Best Wheat

Bainbridge - Battle Point

World's Best Blended Limited Release

J.P. Wiser’s - Dissertation

World's Best Blended Malt

Johnnie Walker - Green Label

World's Best Blended

Suntory - Hibiki 21 Years Old

World's Best Single Cask Single Malt

Venture - Chichibu Whisky Matsuri 2017

World's Best Single Malt

Craigellachie - 31 Years Old

We’d like to extend our congratulations to the winners and we look forward to the autumn when Jim Murray will deliver his verdict.