Diageo Named Importer of the Year at 2015 San Francisco Spirits Competition
Apr. 9, 2015
Forty-one spirits experts gathered on March 19-22 in San Francisco for the 15th Annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The 2015 Competition broke all previous records, receiving more than 1,580 entries.
2014 Diageo World Class Winner Charles Joly describes his experience as an event judge for the last three years. "Over four intensive days, more than 40 of the most experienced, tuned palates in the business sit together to nose, taste, swish, swill (and sometimes drink) nearly 1,600 bottles of booze in every category imaginable submitted to the San Francisco World Spirits Competition for evaluation." Read his inside look at the intense world of competitive spirits tasting at eater.com here.
Diageo spirits and packaging were recognized across the board as best-in-class, winning a total of 91 awards. Of these awards, 83 were medals, 39 of which were double gold or gold. The Company was also named "Importer of the Year" in recognition of consistently high quality across all Diageo brands.
"We are honored to be recognized by such a prestigious competition across our portfolio, from heritage brands to new-to-world innovations," said Diageo North America President Larry Schwartz. "Our craftspeople, including our distillers, blenders and artisans, use their remarkable skills every day to produce the finest spirits in the world. These awards give them, and everyone at Diageo, a great reason to celebrate."
Especially exciting was recognition for Diageo's innovation items, which earned an impressive 19 medals. Of the seven Diageo Whisk(e)ys named "best in class" for their categories, three were innovations. Many of the innovation awards are listed below. A full breakdown of Diageo’s winning brands at the 2015 San Francisco Spirits Competition is available on the Competition website http://sfspiritscomp.com/results/browse.
See the full press release here.
Whisk(e)y Highlights Include:
- Whisk(e)y Innovation: Blade & Bow 22 Year Old Bourbon was deemed "Best Straight Bourbon"
- Whisk(e)y Innovation: Crown Royal Single Barrel was named "Best Canadian Whisky."
- Whisk(e)y Innovation: Talisker Storm was named "Best Single Malt Scotch - No Age Statement."
- Other Whisk(e)y: George Dickel No. 12 was designated the "Best Tennessee Whiskey"
- Other Whisk(e)y: Lagavulin 16 Year Old earned the title "Best Single Malt Scotch 13-19 years"
- Other Whisk(e)y: John Walker & Sons Private Collection 2015 Edition was awarded "Best Blended Scotch - No Age Statement"
- Whisk(e)y Innovation: Talisker 10 Year Old was named "Best Single Malt Scotch up to 12 Years,"
Medals Won by Innovation / New Products
Double Gold Medals:
- Blade & Bow 22 Year Old Bourbon
- Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye
- Crown Royal Single Barrel
- John Walker & Sons Private Collection 2015 Edition
- Mortlach 18 Year Old, 25 Year Old, Rare Old, and series (packaging)
- Orphan Barrel Lost Prophet Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
- Orphan Barrel (packaging)
- Talisker Storm
Gold Medals:
- Blade & Bow Bourbon
- Bulleit 10 Year Old Bourbon
- George Dickel Barrel Select Tennessee Whiskey
- Mortlach Rare Old
- Mortlach 18 Year Old
- Pie Hole (Packaging)
- Smirnoff Sours (Packaging)
Other Medals:
- DeLeon received two medals for the brand's Reposado and Platinum offerings respectively
- Haig Club received a medal in the non-age declared Scotch category
- George Dickel Barrel Select Tennessee Whiskey
- Captain Morgan White Grapefruit and Captain Morgan White Pineapple each earned medals
- Grind (coming soon to IL) won a medal in the liqueur category
- Baileys won medals for new flavors Chocolate Cherry and Salted Caramel
See more awards here.
Contact your Wirtz Beverage IL Sales Consultant today to serve and sell these award winning brands.