Top 10 award-winning luxury spirits to indulge
Take a walk on the finer side of life and find out which high-end spirits wowed judges and won medals at our recent Luxury Masters competition.
Sometimes everyone needs a bit of (read: a lot of) luxury in their lives, but nice things do come at cost. So, how do you decipher whether the price is right?
If you’re looking at what spirit to next splash the cash on, especially with the festive season just around the corner, our annual blind tasting of the best luxury spirits on the market serves as a guidance, covering categories from Tequila to gin to vodka, Cognac and Scotch.
And actually, luxury doesn’t have to break the bank – there are indisputably luxurious options listed below that are well below US$100.
Despite luxury spirits seeing nearly US$1 billion wiped off their sales value last year, there will always be a market for high-quality products.
To eke out the absolute best of the best, five panels of judges assembled at The Singer Tavern in London in September for The Luxury Spirits Masters 2025.
Scroll below for a selection of 10 of that scored high marks and are worth opening up the wallet.
Renais Grand Cru Cask-Aged
Considering Renais Gin’s relation to grapes, it made perfect sense for the brand to choose French oak barrels that once held grand cru wine to age its liquid – resulting in its most luxurious expression yet.
The cask-aged gin was released to celebrate the brand’s second anniversary and spent more than a year resting in the grand cru barrels, which resulted in a liquid with slight oaky feel and a soft palate. “Well-balanced, fresh and vibrant,” was the description offered by the judges in their Gold medal assessment.
The gin has an ABV of 50% and retails for £90 (US$110), double the brand’s flagship expression, but that’s luxury and it’s worth every penny.
Alexandrion 9
If you’re looking for a special-occasion brandy, perhaps one for Christmas, then this bottle from Romania will steal the show.
Matured using the solera method and finished in Fetească Neagră wine casks, Alexandrion 9 is bursting with red apple and currants, described by our judges as a “flavour bomb in the mouth”. It was dutifully awarded a Gold medal for its services in brandy excellence, the category’s only representative for the honour in this year’s Luxury Masters.
The brandy has a 40% ABV and is recommended sipped over a large ice cube to get a true appreciation of its flavours, paired with dark chocolate on the side for added indulgence.
Le Tribute Countryside Luxury Gin
Picture a balmy summer’s evening in the Spanish countryside, with lavender fields just a stone’s throw away. Now think of taking that all in with a crisp, cold and refreshing gin and tonic.
That’s the Le Tribute experience, which transports you to Vilanova i la Geltrú, the city in Spain where producer MG Destilerías is based. The gin’s key botanical is black cardamon, which is balanced out with lavender and sage, plus lemongrass for freshness and citrus notes. The gin was praised for being “bright, citrusy and bold”.
The gin is priced at €75 (US$86), not cheap by any stretch, but also still way cheaper than the actual trip to Spain.
Brother’s Bond Bottled-in-Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Actors Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley have fully shed their ‘celebrity spirits’ tag now with Brother’s Bond Bourbon, and that reflects with the Gold medal awarded for their Bottled-In-Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey.
The judges were mesmerised by the whiskey’s grain character and fruit aromas, which led to dark sugar, some baking spices and some florality.
“Not your typical Bourbon, but delicious,” the judges remarked about the expression , which is made from a three-grain mash bill of 51% corn, 39% rye and 10% malted rye. It sits at 50% ABV and retails for US$60.
Rémy Martin XO Cognac
From its bottle design to the liquid within, Rémy’s Martin’s XO has long been the gold standard for high-end Cognac. The ever-reliable expression took that literally at this year’s Luxury Masters with a Gold medal in the XO – Ultra-Premium round, one of the three Cognacs to do so.
“Complex and rather good, ” was judge Richard’s Legg’s summary, with the Cognac presenting “rich raisin and spices, lifted by floral notes”.
If you’re looking to explore the world of luxury Cognac and insert the category into your favourite classic cocktails, then there’s no better starting point than here. It sits at 40% and retails upwards from £180 (US$235).
Indri Founder’s Reserve 11 Years Old
The rise of Indian whisky can’t be ignored and Indri’s Gold-medal triumph is another testament to the region’s quality.
The brand’s Founder’s Reserve 11 Years Old bagged the accolade in the World Whisky – Ultra-Premium round, alongside its stablemate, Indri Diwali Collector’s Edition 2025 – Marsala Cask. With multiple medals, it was a fruitful afternoon for producer Piccadily Agro Industries.
The Founder’s Reserve palate delighted the judges with its plump red fruits and baking spices, a sign that its maturation in ex-Bordeaux red wine casks paid off. It comes in with a high ABV of 58.5% and a higher price tag of £325 (US$425).
Cygnet 77
Cygnet Gin, welcome to the Master medal-winning table.
The Welsh brand’s ultra-premium expression, Cygnet 77, got this year’s luxury tasting off to a blistering start and set the precedent for the rest of the afternoon with its “sweet, honeyed aroma” and “lovely silky palate”.
One judge also detected smoky whisky flavours, a result of the 12 months-plus it spent in Welsh whisky barrels with Manuka honey. A shrewd way to get whisky fans into gin, and possibly vice versa…
The luxurious gin is presented in a light-weight, hand-crafted decanter, bottled a 44% ABV and priced at £129 (US$172).
Król IV Luxury Organic Vodka
Just look at it – this Polish vodka was the cream of the crop at this year’s Vodka Masters, receiving the Taste Master accolade as the competition’s highest honour.
It then carried the momentum over to our luxury blind tasting where judges deemed it very worthy of a Gold medal for its “creamy, smooth and very appealing” taste.
The five-times distilled vodka is made from organic grain, or more specifically locally grown rye, as terroir becomes increasingly relevant and important in the vodka world. It’s also infused with organic hemp, which shows vodkas are capable of innovating with the best of them, too.
Król IV Luxury Organic vodka retails for £149.99 (US$196) in a Krol IV Giftbox and £129.99 (US$170) without. It has a 40% ABV.
Pelo del Perro – Espadín, Mezcal Artesanal, Joven
Mezcal followed the Tequila round and it may have even upstaged its fellow Mexican agave spirit with the presence of Pelo del Perro’s Espadín expression.
The mezcal had judges recollecting aromas and flavours such as “chargrilled green tomato and capsicum” on the nose that led to “earthy and smoky notes with a pinch of white pepper, citrus, sugar syrup and a slight ashy note”.
“Every element of the palate delivered something new,” one judge claimed as the mezcal was given the prized Taste Master accolade.
The artisanal mezcal is made with Espadín agave harvested from maestro mezcaleros Felipe and Ageo Cortés, on their family farm in Oaxaca. The mezcal is bottled at 46% ABV. It retails for £60 (US$78).
Ardbeg Vintage Y2K
This whisky holds deep significance, being created with some of the first spirit from Ardbeg’s comeback in 1999 and called the distillery’s ‘first vintage of the millennium’.
And the liquid inside more than does the bottle’s meaning justice, described as “highly expressive yet elegant” with “iodine, sea spray and gentle smoke – but nothing overpowering or aggressive”. In one word, “superb”, as the judges recognised it with a Master medal.
The spirit was distilled in the still that had been at Ardbeg for 51 years, which was retired in 2001. It is bottled at 46% ABV and priced at £670 (US$839).
“A phenomenal souvenir of a pivotal year at Ardbeg,” Dr Bill Lumsden said. Who could resist the urge to not crack it open and finish it?
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