Atom Brands takes Grand Spirits Master 2018 title

UK drinks group Atom Brands has been named Overall Grand Spirits Master for a second year running after accumulating the highest number of points throughout 2018’s Global Spirits Masters, a series of blind-tasting competitions run by The Spirits Business.

Atom Brands’s Adam Wyartt, Rosie Milson, Ben Ellefsen and Roslyn Frame collect the Overall Grand Spirits Master 2018 award

The Global Spirits Masters 2018 saw more than 1,000 medals awarded across 17 competitions throughout the year, including Tequila and mezcal, Cognac, Scotch, gin and more.

Atom Brands entered numerous rounds to showcase bottlings from its Ableforth’s, That Boutique-y Whisky Company and That Boutique-y Gin Company brands, among others, winning a bounty of Silver, Gold and Master medals.

To decide the Overall Grand Spirits Master title-holder, The Spirits Business team counted the number of medals won by each company that entered the competition last year – with a set number of points representing Silver, Gold and Master medals.

An awards ceremony at Frederick’s in London, sponsored by Neptune Rum, recognised the achievements of all medal winners in The Global Spirits Masters 2018.

Atom Brands not only took away the competition’s top accolade – it was also named Gin Grand Master 2018.

A celebratory awards lunch was held at Frederick’s bar and restaurant in London

“At Atom Brands ‘zero compromise on quality’ is number one in our list of company values,” said Ben Ellefsen, managing director of Atom Brands. “To win this top-tier blind-judged award for the second year in a row is nothing short of staggering.

“Our vision is simple – we want to create a world in which every single drink is as close to perfect as possible, and awards such as this are not only a powerful indicator that we’re going about that in the right way, but perhaps more importantly is a strong motivational force for our highly dedicated people, our distributors and our customers the world over.

“We simply couldn’t be more delighted with the results.”

A Grand Spirits Master was named in each category in The Global Spirits Masters 2018. See the full list below, and view our Taste Masters – the individual expressions voted ‘best in class’ by judges on the day of each competition – here.

Tequila & Mezcal Grand Master 2018 – Stoli Group

Rum & Caçhaca Grand Master 2018 – Groupe BBS

Asian Spirits Grand Master 2018 – Purity Vodka

Brandy Grand Master 2018 – Oude Molen Distillery

Cognac Grand Master 2018 – Camus

Scotch Whisky Grand Master 2018 – Chivas Brothers

Gin Grand Master 2018 – Atom Brands

American Whiskey Grand Master 2018 – Brown-Forman

Irish Whiskey Grand Master 2018 – Irish Distillers

World Whisky Grand Master 2018 – Kavalan Distillery

Luxury Spirits Grand Master 2018 – The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Vodka Grand Master 2018 – Purity Vodka

Travel Retail Grand Master 2018 – Quintessential Brands Group

Liqueur Grand Master 2018 – Aldi UK

Speciality Spirits Grand Master 2018 – The Helsinki Distilling Company

Design & Packaging Grand Master 2018 – Stranger & Stranger

The Global Spirits Masters, run by The Spirits Business, is a series of blind-tasting competitions assessed by a completely independent panel of expert judges. For more information on this year’s schedule, click here.