The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was held on March 18th and 19th in San Francisco. There were over 700 spirits entered from 51 countries. Highland Park won the distiller of the year award. The 'best in show whisky' won by the Bowmore Distillery. Here are some of the other awards: Bowmore: Best in show whisky Double Gold, Bowmore 25 years old Double gold, Bowmore darkest 15 years old Silver, Bowmore 16 years old Silver, Bowmore 12 years old Silver, Bowmore Legend Lagavulin Distillery: Double Gold Medal, Lagavulin 16 Year Old Silver Medal, Lagavulin 16 Year Old Single Malt Scotch, Distiller's Edition Caol Ila Distillery: Gold Medal, Caol Ila 18 Year Old Silver Medal, Caol Ila 12 Year Old Silver Medal, Caol Ila 25 Year Old Laphroaig Distillery: Gold Medal, Laphroaig 10 Year Old Gold Medal, Laphroaig 10 Year Old Gold Medal, Laphroaig 30 Year Old Silver Medal, Laphroaig 15 Year Old Silver Medal, Laphroaig 10 Year Old Ardbeg Distillery: Silver Medal, Ardbeg 10 Year Old Silver Medal, Ardbeg 12 Year Old Silver Medal, Ardbeg 17 Year Old Some excellent scotch whiskys won some very high awards. It would really be great to be one of the judges, don't you think? I now have a new shopping list for my scotch store. A Dram for Life! Dr. Scotch

The results of the latest challenge are in. Over all the top 12 'core expression' whiskys judged were:

TALISKER 18YO Index: 3.96
HIGHLAND PARK 18YO Index: 3.92
ABERFELDY 12YO Index: 3.9
HIGHLAND PARK 30YO Index: 3.82
SMOKEHEAD Index: 3.86
GLENFARCLAS 30YO Index: 3.82
MACALLAN 30YO Index: 3.8
BOWMORE 15YO Index: 3.75
CAOL ILA 18YO Index: 3.7
DEWARS 18YO Index: 3.7
ABERLOUR A'BUNADH Index: 3.5
GLENFARCLAS 15YO Index: 3.5

According to their web site 'CORE EXPRESSIONS’ are whiskies that are continually available as part of a distillers range, not single one-off releases that are severely limited.

Every whisky assessed for the SFWC is done so ‘blind-folded’ – our panel do not know what they are tasting.

The highest and lowest scores for each whisky are omitted to deliver a medium, or ‘team score’. Whisky democracy!

The ‘Index’ is the ‘team score’ divided by the number of judges who assessed the whisky. This gives a consistent and accurate mark regardless of number of judges scoring.

The SFWC panels have scored over 200 whiskies since we introduced the ‘star scale’ in October 2005, these are the top 12 ‘core expressions’…

Some of these scotches I have never seen in my local distributor. But I will take this list with me the next time I shop there.

What is your favorite Scotch?

A Dram for Life!
Dr. Scotch