Australia’s flourishing spirits industry has once again been recognised on the international stage with key wins at the American Distilling Institute awards this week.
The major wins saw the Southern Distilling Company’s Limeburners Darkest Winter Peated Single Malt Whisky named as the Best International Whisky; Old Young’s Distillery’s Pure No. 1 Vodka named Best International Vodka and the Adelaide Hills Distillery’s 78 Degrees Small Batch Gin named the Best International Gin.
The wins maintain the international recognition for Australian spirits, which has seen Sullivans Cove win the World Whisky Award and renowned whisky expert Jim Murray label Australian whisky as “liquid gold”.
Speaking about the win, Adelaide Hills Distillery’s Head Distiller and Founder, Sacha La Forgia, said: “We started out making 78 Degrees Gin and have moved on to creating some other amazing small batch spirits like our Gunnery Australian Spiced White Rum a nd The Italian, a Campari style spirit, as well as some really unique trial batches and collaborations – but it’s fantastic to see that our original 78 Degrees Gin is now considered to be one of the best in the world.
“I don’t really like to pick favourites, but this one’s a no brainer really. We use a unique blend of botanicals and individually vapour infuse each of them. We are just thankful that the judges saw how good the gin coming out of South Australia and the Adelaide Hills really is. The future is exciting for us and we have embarked on an intensive Australian Native Botanical Program as well.”
Limeburners founder Cameron Syme, said the award recognises the quality whisky the distillery is producing. “This award shows our small craft distillery in WA is a world class operation,” Syme said.
There were also a number of other key wins for Australian distillers, as they took out a number of ‘Best of Category’ awards, which are listed below.
This week also saw the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards (ADSA) take place, with two distillers tied for the Champion Australian Distiller award for the first time.
Old Young’s was in the awards again as it shared the top honours with the Hoochery Distillery of Kununnarra, after both received the exact same average across their three top scoring entries.
Old Young’s Pure No.1 was also recognised locally, taking out the Champion Vodka title, and Hoochery won, Champion Rum, for its Ord River Rum Premium.
A total of 10 champion trophies, including the dual Champion Distiller trophies, were awarded in the third year of the awards, with six won by Western Australian distillers, three by South Australian and one from a Victorian distiller.
The Champion Whisky was awarded to Victorian distiller New World Whisky for its Starward Pedro Ximinez Sherry Cask #3, while Champion Gin was taken out by the Tailor Made Spirits Company, WA for The West Winds Gin – The Broadside (Navy Strength).
St Agnes Distillery, SA, was awarded Champion Brandy for the second year running for St Agnes XO with fellow SA resident, Adelaide Hills Distillery awarded Champion Liqueur for The Italian. Champion Alternative Spirit went to WA’s Gidgegannup Distilleries for its Mandarinello, with SA’s Small Batch Distilling awarded the final category trophy Champion Small Batch Spirit for its Red Hen Gin.
2017 ADSA Champion Trophies
- Champion Australian Distiller
- (Tied) Old Young’s, Western Australia Hoochery Distillery, Western Australia
- Champion Whisky presented by Dan Murphy’s
- Starward Pedro Ximinez Sherry Cask #3 – New World Whisky, Victoria
- Champion Gin presented by ExpoNet
- The West Winds Gin The Broadside (Navy Strength) – The Tailor Made Spirits Company, Western Australia
- Champion Vodka
- Pure No. 1 – Old Young’s, Western Australia
- Champion Brandy
- St Agnes XO – St Agnes Distillery, South Australia
- Champion Rum
- Ord River Rum- Premium – Hoochery Distillery, Western Australia
- Champion Liqueur
- The Italian – Adelaide Hills Distillery, South Australia
- Champion Alternative Spirit
- Mandarinello – Gidgegannup Distilleries, Western Australia
- Champion Small Batch Spirit presented by Time Out Melbourne
- Red Hen Gin – Small Batch Distilling T/A Red Hen Gin, South Australia
American Distilling Institute Award Winners:
- Adelaide Hills Distillery;
- 78° Small Batch Gin; Best of Class – International Classic Grain-To-Glass Gin
- Old Young’s Distillery
- Pure No. 1 Vodka; Best of Class – Vodka: International Vodka
- Southern Distilling Company
- Limeburners Darkest Winter Peated Single Malt Whisky; Best of Class – Whiskey: International Whisky
- Adelaide Hills Distillery
- 78° Small Batch Gin; Best of Category – International Classic Grain-To-Glass Gin
- Archie Rose Distilling Co.
- Signature Dry Gin; Best of Category – International Contemporary Rectified Gin
- Archie Rose Distilling Co.
- Original Vodka; Best of Category – Vodka: International Rectified Vodka, Residual Base Character
- Baldwin Distilling Co
- Apple Pie Moonshine; Best of Category – Moonshine: International Flavoured Moonshine
- Hoochery Distillery
- 5 Rivers Spiced Rum; Best of Category – Rum: International Spiced Rum
- Hoochery Distillery
- Ord River Premium Rum; Best of Category – Rum: International Aged Rum
- Husk Distillers
- Pure Cane New Make Rum; Best of Category – Rum: International Unaged Rum
- Starward Malt Whisky
- Best of Category – Whiskey: International Malt Whisky
- Old Young’s Distillery
- Pavlova Vodka; Best of Category – Vodka: International Flavoured Vodka
- Old Young’s Distillery
- Pure No. 1 Vodka; Best of Category – Vodka: International Grain-To-Glass Vodka, Neutral Character
- Whipper Snapper Distillery
- Upshot Whiskey; Best of Category – Whiskey: International Corn Whisky
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