The Global World Whisky Masters 2015 results

Taking on the flagship whisky-producing nations of Scotland, Ireland and the US, distillers from across the globe who entered our Global World Whisky Masters showed that less fanfare doesn’t mean lower quality.

The whiskies of the world are cultivating a dedicated following with their high quality and dedication to innovation

Scotch might currently reign over the whisky category, but it can’t rule forever. How long until other countries claim the throne? If this year’s Global World Whisky Masters is any indication, it might not be as farfetched an idea as you think.

When it comes to volume and value, the rest of the world is hot on Scotch’s tail, boasting exceptional whiskies from producers in India, Europe and Australia.

This statement was outlined by this year’s Brand Champions report, which saw Indian whisky Officer’s Choice knock Smirnoff vodka off its prized perch to become the world’s leading spirit brand, with a whopping 28.4 million nine-litre case sales in 2014.

Some regions – such as Japan, for example – are not featured in these results because no brands were represented, but judges agreed the entries available presented an impressive picture of the category as a whole.

Sara Smith, whisky writer at Summer Fruit Cup; Billy Abbott, web content editor for The Whisky Exchange; Elliot Ball, co-owner of The Cocktail Trading Company; and The Whisky Shop’s Tobias Gorn were a force to be reckoned with as they ploughed through a whirlwind of geographically disparate whiskies, while the other half of our judging team took on American whiskeys.

Our Global World Whisky Masters 2015 presented an impressive picture of the category as a whole

Our world whisky tour began in Canada, with a particularly modest Super Premium flight. Solo entry Alberta Rye Dark Batch bagged itself a Master straight off the bat, for its “warm, but balanced… genuine caramel” flavours.

Gorn commented: “Outstanding quality with great focus on balance; this was not your usual rye-heavy simple whisky. It just shows this category has plenty of potential beyond the usual standard quality releases.” We hopped continents to India with judges taking on two flights – Premium and Super Premium – each entry worthy of a medal.

The category has been steeped in controversy for years due to a lack of compliance with official “whisky” definitions – the Indian voluntary standard does not require whisky to be distilled from cereals, or matured for any length of time – but despite this, it remains one of the most popular spirits sectors in the world.

Ball observed: “The Indian entries were very faithful to whisky as a category; it’s easy to expect knock-offs, but they were quality liquids and had a very familiar set

of flavours.”

In the Premium category, Paul John Indian Single Malt: Brilliance was awarded Silver, its “surprisingly delicate” and “sweet and creamy” palate winning over the panel. Super Premium attracted two Gold medals and one Silver, again for the well-represented Paul John Indian Single Malt range in the form of Edited, Select Cask Classic, and Select Cask Peated expressions.

Gorn said: “India has a great potential, but the big hype is cooling down and producers have to focus on constant production of premium quality whiskies instead of show ponies. “

We departed India and headed west to Europe where – aside from Scotch, which is large enough to warrant its very own Global Masters competition – malt whisky is a particularly young industry.

The Whisky Shop’s Tobias Gorn samples one of the many entries into The Global World Whisky Masters 2015

Perhaps for this reason, Elliot said: “I often dread trying whiskies from Europe, but I was surprised by how good the entrants were – well-made whiskies, all distinct and doing something different.”

The flights entered were Single Malt Premium and Single Malt Super Premium, which when combined attracted three Silver medals, four Gold medals, and a Master, which went to Aureum 1865 5 Year Old, with a “pleasing”, “marmite” flavour and “finish of dry wood and light banoffee”.

Ball said: “All the European whiskies were extremely interesting, but Aureum 1865 5 Year Old was delightful. Deep and complex, and a great surprise.”

Summing up the European flight, Gorn said: “It’s great to see that some European whiskies are getting to the age and level of technical understanding where real ‘Scotch’ quality can be achieved, without too much of the oddball unique experimental practices.”

The penultimate region to be put through its paces was South Africa, with a set of high quality Blended flights that reflected the gradual growth in the region’s whisky category. Gorn observed: “The South African drinks industry is doing great, constantly seeking better production methods in the wine sector, with a renewed quality-driven approach recently starting to show in the whisky and spirit sector too.”

Judges first approached Blended Standard, which attracted a Silver medal for Three Ships Select Whisky, and Gold for Three Ships Bourbon Cask Finish. The Blended Premium category yielded a Master which went to Three Ships Premium Select 5 Year Old Whisky. Abbott remarked: “With wins in previous years, South Africa’s whisky is finally getting some notice. I hope they have enough whisky maturing in their warehouses to supply drinkers outside of the country.”

Judges, left to right: Sara Smith of Summer Fruit Cup; Billy Abbott of
The Whisky Exchange; Elliot Ball of Cocktail Trading Co; and Tobias Gorn of The Whisky Shop.

We rounded off our global jaunt with a pocket-sized flight of Australian whiskies which fell into the Single Malt Super Premium specification, and rounded off the day with both Silver and Master medals.

The champion of the flight was Hellyers Road Single Malt Pinot Noir Finish, which boasted an “incredibly long finish, with a good combination of vanilla and spice”. But the brand also impressed with its Henry’s Legacy St Valentine’s Peak expression.

Gorn said: “Brilliant effort and superb quality. If they can achieve a good value for money ratio, these whiskies will truly shine and will get worldwide recognition; beautifully executed whiskies.”

Today’s Masters confirmed that the world whisky category is bigger and better than ever before, with a plethora of top quality whiskies earning a well-deserved name for themselves alongside other cherished regions such as Scotch.

Summing up, Smith said: “I was consistently impressed with the quality of whisky from around the world, with Masters being awarded to various countries outside of Europe and America, giving the traditional whisky distilling nations a run for their money.”

Gorn added: “World whiskies offered a surprisingly high amount of well-balanced drams with great quality.

“The category has plenty to offer – I reckon the distillers and blenders have a good general understanding of what a high quality spirit is. With ageing stock and rigorous quality control they are already achieving high standards and drafting real long-term individual characters and identity.

“There are always quirky attempts to cut corners and achieve instant success, but they hardly work in the whisky game.”

Click through to the following page for the complete list of medal winners from The Global World Whisky Masters 2015.