Winners of the fifth annual Tasting Australia Spirit Awards have been recognised, with this year’s awards attracting 328 spirits from 77 distillers – the highest number of entries since the awards began.
The Premier’s Gin Award was awarded to local South Australian distiller Prohibition Liquor Co. for its Prohibition Liquor Co. Original Gin.
Premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas acknowledged the Tasting Australia Spirit Awards as a significant opportunity to showcase local distillers nationally.
“It is exciting to see the continuous growth of the Tasting Australia Spirit Awards and the creativity of the distillers each year, and to host such a significant competition here in South Australia, celebrating the innovation of the spirits industry nationally,” said Malinauskas.
A new addition to the awards, the Innovation Award was presented to Fleurieu Distillery for its Country To Coast #3.
Fleurieu Distillery also took home awards for Best Whisky and Best Distiller for their Never A Dull Moment and Country To Coast #3 whiskies.
The winners were selected after three days of intensive tasting by a panel of expert judges from around the nation, led by head judge Ollie Margan.
Margan, owner of Maybe Mae bar emphasised the quality of entries.
“For the first time, we saw entries from the Northern Territory as well as an increase in entries from New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland. It is great to see the distilling industry nationally really getting behind the awards and producing and submitting such unique spirits,” said Margan.
Other category winners included:
Best Small Batch Spirit: Union Brewery & Distillery Fremantle, Bellwether Single Malt Whisky Release 9, Western Australia
Best Whisky: Fleurieu Distillery, Country To Coast #3, South Australia
Best Vodka: FNQ Spirits, Croc Vodka, Queensland
Best Rum: Bundaberg Distilling Company, Bundaberg Rum : Master Distillers' Collection – Solera, Queensland
Best Brandy: St Agnes Distillery, St Agnes XO 20 YO Imperial, South Australia
Best Liqueur: Southern Wild Distillery, Dasher + Fisher Raspberry Gin, Tasmania
Best Small Cask Maturation: Spring Bay Distillery, Single Malt Whisky ex-Apera Cask 46%, Tasmania
This year, 278 medals were given out including 45 gold medals, 135 silver medals, 84 bronze medals and 14 Best in Class medals.
