BEST SINGLE MALT SCOTCH OF 2022

 The International Wines And Spirits Competition: DETERMINING The Best Single Malt Scotch Of 2022

The International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) has just announced the results of the 2022 spirits judging. A total of 85 predominantly UK-based judges evaluated over 4,000 entrants across more than a dozen major spirit categories. The assessment team will now analyse wine and other categories. This process takes seven months to go through. The analyses started on 16 March 2022 with Spirits and will wind up in September, with the Design Awards as well as All Producer trophies. Though the Awards are named “Spirits of 2022,” the assessment is done on products of 2021.

The IWSC is an annual wine and spirits competition. Founded in 1969 by chemist and oenologist Anton Massel as Club Oenologique, this was a competition created to reward excellence in wine and spirit production. On 14 April 1978, Club Oenologique was officially renamed The International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC). The dominant spirit in those years and the highest proportion of contenders was Scotch whisky; accordingly the venue was officially shifted to London, UK and the 1978 IWSC Awards and subsequent Banquet took place at the Palace of Westminster.

Since its simple beginning, it has grown to become one of the largest such competition in the world. Spirits are evaluated on a 100-point scale and awards given for Gold Outstanding (98-100 points), Gold (95-97 points), Silver (90-94 points) and Bronze (85-89 points). Over a hundred experts are inducted to assess the thousands of brands across all categories of alcoholic beverages over seven months, usually March to September.

In the Scotch whisky category, traditionally one of the competition’s largest and most competitive segments, a total of thirty eight single malt Scotch whiskies were awarded the coveted Gold Outstanding medal.

The results threw in a lot of surprises, reflecting the growing world of Scotch whisky with age no real bar. The top three Scotch whiskies, each scoring 99 points out of a hundred, were, interestingly, from two of Scotland’s lesser-known distilleries: Tomatin and Deanston.

          

Tomatin is a single malt distillery located in the village of Tomatin in the Speyside district of the Scottish Highlands. Tomatin was once the largest Scotch distillery in Scotland, with an annual capacity of around 10 million litres of pure alcohol. It is owned by a Japanese concern.

Current production is approximately 2 to 3 million litres of alcohol. Most of the distillery’s production is slated for its own blended whisky brands: the exceptional but under-recognised Antiquary 12, 21 and 35 YOs and Talisman. The company has been shifting its production to single malts and expanding its available range of expressions. Emphasising a higher percentage of first fill ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks has allowed it to produce very flavourful, structured and complex single malts. The Tomatin 1976 is a single cask 36 YO+ whisky, whereas its Legacy is a no age statement (NAS) expression that is matured in a combination of ex-Bourbon and Virgin Oak casks. The amazing fact here is that this is a $40 whisky (~Rs 3,000).

The third top ranked whisky is the Deanston Virgin Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky, an NAS peated whisky produced at the Deanston distillery recently acquired by Dutch brewer Heineken. The demography of the owners is also changing rapidly. This whisky is also very affordable, at $ 45 (~Rs 3,400).

The Ardbeg 25 YO and Ardbeg Wee Beastie 5 YO were both awarded Gold Outstanding medals. Glendronach, now under Master Distiller Rachel Barrie ex-Bowmore and a distillery whose products have seen an undesirable tripling of prices was a triple winner, with The Glendronach 16 YO Boynsmill, 18 YO Allardice and 21 YO Parliament single malt Scotch whiskies. Among the lesser-known Gold Outstanding medallists was Balblair, a triple winner for its 12 YO, 18 YO and 25 YO. This is another hugely underappreciated distillery with an outstanding portfolio of single malt whiskies. Its sister distillery, Pulteney, which location used to be one of the world’s leading herring ports, and, along with Talisker, is known the “Maritime Malt”, also won for its 18 YO expression.

Other notable winners are Highland Park’s 15 YO Viking Heart Single Malt Scotch Whisky and Aberfeldy’s 16 and 21 YO expressions. The Glenmorangie Company won for its Finest Reserve 19 YO Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Laphroiag picked up two Gold Outstanding medals for its 10 YO Sherry Oak Finish and its Select Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Kilchoman was the only other Islay distillery to take a Gold Outstanding medal, for its Machir Bay Scotch Whisky. Glencadam with two, Whyte & Mackay and The Lindores Distilling Company also featured as winners. The latter runs a tagline, "After a break of 523 years, spirit is once again flowing from the copper stills at Lindores Abbey." It is the Abbey which has the earliest record of scotch whisky in its exchequer roll for 1494 for a payment from King James IV to Friar John Cor of the Abbey for about "eight bols of malt." Chivas Brothers’ Royal Salute 21 YO Blended Malt was prominent as a blended malt. Moreover, Chivas has diversified big time into single malt Scotch whisky.

 Loch Lomond, another Scotch whisky distillery with a rapidly rising profile, took a Gold Outstanding medal for the Inchmoan 12 YO and Glengarry 12 YO. The latter is matured in a combination of first fill and refill ex-Bourbon casks as well as re-charred ex-Bourbon casks.

Rounding out the Gold Outstanding medal winners were several expressions from Whyte & Mackay: Co-Op Irresistible 12 YO, Tamnavulin French Cabernet Sauvignon Cask Edition, a retailer branded offering - Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky and Ballantine’s Glenburgie 12 YO Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Most of Glenburgie’s whisky output is slated for Ballantine’s Blended Scotch Whisky, one of the top 5 blended whiskies in the world by volume. The distillery has also been releasing single malt whisky expressions, the Glenburgie 12, 15 and 15 YOs as well as Glentaucher’s 23 YO and the Miltonduff 15 YO. 

Glencadam, oft criticised as inconsistent for a little-known distillery, though still among Scotland’s oldest working distilleries, took three Gold Outstanding medals for its The Rather Dignified 15 YO, Reserva Andalusia Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish and American Oak Reserve Small Batch Malt Scotch Whisky.

Other Double Gold medalists included William Grant & Sons Ailsa Bay; Glen Moray Elgin Heritage 21 YO Portwood Finish; Ian Macleod Distillers Glengoyne 12 YO; Glen Turner Company Heritage Double Cask; John Dewar & Sons, Royal Brackla 18 YO Sherry Cask Finish Paulo Cortado; and William Grant & Sons, Distillers, The Balvenie 12 YO Sweet Toast of American Oak. Part of the French La Martiniquaise group, Glen Turner also operates the Glen Moray single malt distillery in Elgin, the Starlaw grain distillery in Edinburgh, and the production of the Sir Edward’s blend and Glen Turner vatted and single malts.