Designed to spotlight the most exciting launches across 16 major spirits categories, including no- & low-alcohol, the Global Drinks Intel New Product Awards celebrate originality, commercial impact and sensory excellence.
The judging took place earlier this summer at Equal Parts in Hackney, named London’s best cocktail bar by Time Out. Each entry was blind-tasted and assessed on its appearance, nose, taste, finish and overall impression by a panel of 12 expert judges drawn from the cutting edge of mixology.
Reflecting the overall high quality of entries, the panel awarded 30 gold, 17 silver and four bronze medals. The category with the most golds, eight in total, was scotch malt whisky, with Rock Island Blended Malt 16-year-old named the overall winner. Featuring whisky sourced from the islands of Islay, Arran, Orkney and Jura, the judges described the iteration as “beautifully stitched together” with “a big nose, some fruit and subtle smoke with a long finish”.
Both the blended scotch and American whiskey categories pulled in five gold medals each.
Blended scotch was dominated by Bacardi’s Dewar’s brand, with all five of its entries picking up gold. The overall category winner was Dewar’s Blended Scotch Whisky Double Double 21-year-old Tasting Level 1 French Oak.
The expression was praised for its “lovely honey notes, balanced flavour and smooth overall finish”, while the judges complimented Dewar’s other entries as all being “exceptionally balanced”.
In the closely contested American whiskey category, four brands picked up gold medals, with Foley Family Wines & Spirits being awarded two. The overall winner by a narrow margin was Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Straight Bourbon 7-year-old, singled out for its “candied fruit and butterscotch taste” and “excellent long finish”.
Rounding out the whisky golds was Radico Khaitan’s Rampur Barrel Blush Non-Chill Filtered Whisky, which won the world whisky category. The iteration came very close to claiming the overall top prize with its “complex nose with lots of layers” and garnering a “highly drinkable” rating by several judges.
Another tight contest occurred in gin, which produced four gold medals. At the top was the Defiant Ones’ Dre & Snoop Still G.I.N., classed variously as “smooth and complex” with a “delicate nose” and “lots of citrus”. One gin, Noblewood’s Oyster Fine de Claire Adriatic Gin Wild Citrus, was the only winner of two golds in both the flavoured and traditional categories.
The other category with multiple winners was vodka, where Belvedere 10 was the outright winner. Named for its ten-step creation process and ten-month resting period, with a nod to the brand’s origins in 1910, judges described Belvedere 10 as “floral, smooth [and] creamy” with a “clean, natural sweetness”. The iteration was one of three from Belvedere to achieve gold medal status, including Belvedere Dirty Brew Organic Vodka & Coffee.
The medal winners featured below represent the very best of what’s new in spirits and offers a glimpse of where innovation is heading next.
