Close Menu
News

SB names World, Irish and American Taste Masters

Bottlings from Kavalan, Teeling and Old Forester have walked away with the top Taste Master titles in The Spirits Business’s latest round of whisk(e)y blind-tasting competitions.

These are the Taste Masters from The Spirits Business’s latest blind-tasting competition

Last month, The Spirited Business hosted The World Whisky Masters, The Irish Whiskey Masters and The American Whiskey Masters.

The World Whisky Masters – which assessed whiskies made outside of Scotland, the US and Ireland – yielded a total of 38 medals, eight of which were top Master accolades. The Irish Whiskey Masters produced 67 medals, 15 of which were Masters, while The American Whiskey Masters awarded 41 medals, 10 of which were Masters.

At the end of each competition, the judges re-tasted the Master medallists and voted for their overall favourite – producing a Taster Master for the World, Irish and American whisk(e)y rounds.

The World Whisky Taste Master title went to Taiwanese whisky Kavalan Solist Port Single Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky, which judges described as having a “massive wood influence”, and flavours of “fruits” and “glacé cherries”. The expression forms part of Kavalan’s Solist range and has been fully matured in Portuguese Port barriques.

Old Forester 1870 Original Batch nabbed The American Whiskey Taste Master award thanks to its flavours of “marmalade, leather, pear juice, black cherry”. The whiskey is the first “craft” expression in the Old Forester Whiskey Row Series and echoes the production method of brand founder George Garvin Brown, with barrels selected from three different warehouses for the final product.

Dublin distiller Teeling scooped the accolade for its Teeling Whiskey 30 Year Old Vintage Reserve Single Malt, said to have a “peach nose” and “creamy, spicy” palate. The expression is one of the oldest Irish single malts, having been matured in ex-Bourbon casks for 25 years and matured for an additional five years in ex-white Burgundy French oak casks.

“Since reviving our old family trademark of Teeling Whiskey back in 2012 we have endeavoured to make sure every bottle of Irish whiskey we release with our family name on it is of the highest quality,” said founder and managing director Jack Teeling.

“We have already achieved many honours including the significant landmark of being honoured as the World’s Best Single Malt earlier this year so to follow up this with being crowned the Taste Master of Irish whiskey is the cherry on the cake for us.

“We are also extremely proud of the team we have created, and this award is testament to the creativity, hard-work and dedication of our staff both here in Ireland and around the world, and I would like to thank them all for helping us achieve this ambition.”

The Global Spirits Masters is a blind-tasting run by the team behind The Spirits Business magazine. The series includes 15 competitions spanning Tequila and mezcal, Cognac and liqueurs, and more.

For more information on the competition series, or to enter, contact Rhiannon Morris – rhiannon.morris@thespiritsbusiness.com.

It looks like you're in Asia, would you like to be redirected to the Drinks Business Asia edition?

Yes, take me to the Asia edition No