This $95 AUD Australian whiskey has been named the second best in the world.

[El Presidente]

For whatever these awards are worth 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/real-life/article-13495895/The-Gospels-Straight-Rye-Whiskey-Australia-awards.html

A Victorian whiskey has been crowned the best in Australia at a prestigious international awards ceremony.

The Gospel's Straight Rye Whiskey won gold at the 2024 International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) and was crowned Australia's highest-scoring whiskey across all categories for a second consecutive year.

Not only that, it's also been crowned the second highest scoring whiskey in the world.

Among the international selection, the $95 bottle tied for second with the Thomas H. Handy Straight Rye Whiskey - a 'rare' spirit that retails for a staggering $1200.

The whiskey was described as 'divine' with a 'long, sweet and satisfying' taste along with a 'hint of mint complementing indulgent chocolate tones'. 

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The Gospel's Straight Rye Whiskey won gold at the 2024 International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) and was crowned Australia's highest-scoring whiskey across all categories for a second consecutive year

 

 

'The Gospel Whiskey has one mission - to take the distinct taste of Mallee grown rye to the world and continued success like this on the world stage really helps to endorse that mission,' he said.

'We've spent years defining The Gospel's unique style of whiskey to craft something distinctly Australian and expressive to the site we source the grain from. We're not aiming to taste like other whiskeys or fit in with the crowd - it's unique to us, and I think the judges at the IWSC appreciated its difference.' 

In addition to the Gold medal, The Gospel's Legacy Rye and The Gospel's High Wheat Rye each won a silver medal. 

The IWSC is one of the world’s biggest and longest-running spirits competitions, with more than 250 specialist judges from all over the world coming together to score and review more than 4100 entries from 98 countries

[ChanceSchmerr]

Nothing like a Pay-to-play competition to really sort out who ranks the best!

Personally, Helleyer's Road tops the heap for Aussie whiskies I've tried. One man's opinion, however.

What's your thoughts, @Ken Gargett? 

[Ken Gargett]

12 minutes ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

Nothing like a Pay-to-play competition to really sort out who ranks the best!

Personally, Helleyer's Road tops the heap for Aussie whiskies I've tried. One man's opinion, however.

What's your thoughts, @Ken Gargett? 

certainly heard of it and it is highly regarded but i have not tried it. Hellyer's Road very good. Sullivan's cove probably top for me but very expensive. morris doing good things. lark have got their act together. lots to like down here. 

[ChanceSchmerr]

1 hour ago, Ken Gargett said:

certainly heard of it and it is highly regarded but i have not tried it. Hellyer's Road very good. Sullivan's cove probably top for me but very expensive. morris doing good things. lark have got their act together. lots to like down here. 

Cheers Ken!
It's a fair point on Sullies - I've never held it in too high a regard, but thats more because I've not tried it in many years ( at least a decade), and to me the cost rose far higher than the quality of spirits they were putting out.  It might yet be brilliant now for all i know.

I hear lots of talk of Overeem too, but last i tried it 5 years ago, seemed more overrated to me. another young distillery though.  I think the good thing is that there's lots of choice, and therefore competition, so if anyone's whisky is definitely bad, they can't last long. The consumer wins....assuming they can afford any of it.

Either way - the point is that ISWC needs to be taken into proper context. No distiller comes away without an award, because a "medal" allows you to put a sticker on your whisky box/can stating that you were a silver or gold or double gold or whatever winner at the competition. Pay-to-play "competitions" are a fantastic marketing tool.  Consider the author(s) of many such articles announcing the winners - often judges themselves.

Trust your palate! Your local whisky bar is your best friend in this regard - try a few if you're curious, find out what you like.

 

[BoliDan]

Been hearing good things about Australian whiskey. Seems hard to come by though

[ChangBang]

Australian whiskey?  Had one and I'll pass on the rest!

Got a single cask Starward whiskey aged in red wine barrels before finishing in charred french oak barrels with a 3yr age statement.  It's disgusting.  I've tried to give it away for free but everyone who tasted it doesn't want anything to do with it haha.

Wasn't very impressed with the four pillar bloody shiraz gin either...don't think Australian tastes works for me.

[ChanceSchmerr]

32 minutes ago, ChangBang said:

Australian whiskey?  Had one and I'll pass on the rest!

Got a single cask Starward whiskey aged in red wine barrels before finishing in charred french oak barrels with a 3yr age statement.  It's disgusting.  I've tried to give it away for free but everyone who tasted it doesn't want anything to do with it haha.

Wasn't very impressed with the four pillar bloody shiraz gin either...don't think Australian tastes works for me.

There's your problem. Tough to judge any whisky at the 3yr mark, and anyone doping their new make in Red Wine right from the start and selling it so early is likely trying to hide something

If you can find a Helleyer's Road 10 or 15yr, or a Sullivan's Cove at the same age point, or yet perhaps some of the other Aussie ones - give it a go (at least by the dram if you find a bar with them).  
 
You may yet find something you like!

[SirVantes]

5 hours ago, El Presidente said:

4100 entries from 98 countries

They have something like 8 spirits categories eg. Scotch, worldwide whisky, gin, vodka.  4100 entries from 98 countries. So simple-minded me divides 4100 by 8 by 98, which gives me 5 entries for Australia (nevermind Scotch numbers will skew the whole thing).  Best out of 5.  Hmm.

And the top 2 whiskies in the world are both rye, with their distinct taste profile? Hmm.

 

[El Presidente]

4 hours ago, SirVantes said:

They have something like 8 spirits categories eg. Scotch, worldwide whisky, gin, vodka.  4100 entries from 98 countries. So simple-minded me divides 4100 by 8 by 98, which gives me 5 entries for Australia (nevermind Scotch numbers will skew the whole thing).  Best out of 5.  Hmm.

And the top 2 whiskies in the world are both rye, with their distinct taste profile? Hmm.

 

Remember how I prefaced this article 

10 hours ago, El Presidente said:

For whatever these awards are worth 

 

[NSXCIGAR]

4 hours ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

Tough to judge any whisky at the 3yr mark,

The fact that anyone would even release a single cask Madeira/French Oak at 3 years is laughable. And if you do it I'd certainly omit the age statement. 

If you want to know what age alone can do compare Johnnie Walker Red with Johnnie Walker Black. 

[ChanceSchmerr]

4 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

The fact that anyone would even release a single cask Madeira/French Oak at 3 years is laughable. And if you do it I'd certainly omit the age statement. 

Well, I can understand from the perspective of a brand new distillery, needing to get coin in the door, as well as to show progress in the malt - but doping young stuff and shoving it out the door shows either that they are trying to show trendiness before substance, or they just don't trust their malt on its on merits. 

Regardless, a giant "avoid" sticker to me!

[SUP8333]

When I don't see any Hibiki 21 years or Yamazaki on the top 100 list, then what is this list even for?

[JohnS]

This news intrigued me, and going by past history in regard to releases like Sullivan's Cove and Kavalan Solist, I decided to acquire a bottle from my local retailer (a liquor chain store here in Australia named Dan Murphy's) before the price moves upwards.

Anyway, the bottle comes in an almost plain olive green box which is ornate on the outside. At first glance, it looks like a plain packaged tobacco product in colour! When I bought it online I was informed that 24 other orders were made that morning, which seems a lot more than normal.

I look forward to having a sip soon, as I quite like Rye whiskey.

[ChangBang]

11 hours ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

Well, I can understand from the perspective of a brand new distillery, needing to get coin in the door, as well as to show progress in the malt - but doping young stuff and shoving it out the door shows either that they are trying to show trendiness before substance, or they just don't trust their malt on its on merits. 

Regardless, a giant "avoid" sticker to me!

Haha, yeah I bought it when I was still pretty new to the whiskey scene so didn't know any better. Even now I can see it's young and wouldn't get much of the barrel characters, but man its borderline offensive! Barrel aged or not, I can't see it getting better if your base is that bad lol. But yeah, I'll see if I can see those AUS brands near me and give em a try.  

[ned]

I am sipping some as I type this. I have really enjoyed it