There are many whisky awards but not all are created equal,
and Dominic Roskrow says it can pay to do your homework…

A while ago, a celebrated American writer posted a picture of the cover of a whisky magazine adorned with the banner ‘Featuring 250 award-winning whiskies’. 

“This sums up everything wrong with today’s spirits industry,” he wrote. His point was, what do awards mean if every spirit brand gets one? How can 250 whiskies all win one? It makes awards totally meaningless. 

For this very reason I had scrapped the awards programme that I ran – Wizards of Whisky World Whisky Awards – and replaced them with a new event with strict criteria and free entry. 

There have always been awards, of course. People love them. But in recent years the trickle of established competitions has become a flood of barely known magazines, shows and organisations offering judgement of annual releases in return for hefty sums of cash. Now, it would seem we are reaching burn out.

As American whiskey company Balcones brand ambassador Winston Edwards put it recently: “Oh great, just what I need. Another plea to enter an awards event.” 

The result is that awards are becoming devalued. In fact, people have started to become wary of brands that don’t have one. A bronze medal is meritless, a view magnified by loud-mouthed commentators such as British journalist Piers Morgan, who dismissed all Olympic and Paralympic bronze medal winners as failures. 

Then there are the ridiculous categories: Best Siberian Single Malt Aged 5 Years, anybody? Best Gin From Just Outside Tauranga? You get my point. 

Does it really matter? Maybe not. The brand owners should be astute enough to decide which competitions are worth entering. But what if you’re being misled? What if you choose to stock a bottle of something because it has won some grandiose title? How do you know how that decision was made, and by whom? 

What if even well-established institutions are pulling the wool over your eyes? 

A few years ago, I was in Glasgow Airport when I spotted spirits writer Jim Murray’s ‘Whisky of the Year’ on sale, with a proud neck tag stating this fact and £20 off the recommended retail price. I bought a bottle. On tasting it, though, I was totally disappointed. So, I rang Murray to ask why he had chosen it. 

“I didn’t,” he said. “That may be the right distillery and right age, but that expression isn’t the same as the one the distillery sent me.” 

Whisky Magazine runs one of the best annual awards of all. But a few years ago, I was a judge in an event that named Highland Park 21 Year Old the ‘World’s Best Whisky’, and I was quoted on the reasons why. But within weeks the whisky was put on sale with an ABV of 40% instead of the one we judged at just over 47% ABV. It was a totally different whisky. To their credit the brand owners bowed to criticism and restored it to its original strength. But talk about ‘buyer beware.’ 

The temptation to hold awards is understandable, because in these difficult times (particularly for the print industry) they provide a valuable source of revenue. When done properly by a reputed magazine or organisation they can help trade and consumers to make decisions in a crowded marketplace. 

But make sure you do your homework and seek out the worthy award-winners. And above all, don’t believe that all that glitters has a gold medal behind it. 

Dominic Roskrow is a UK-based world spirits expert and editor of Stills Crazy