Let the tastings begin!—World Whiskies Awards 2025
15.10.24
The first round of judging is currently underway for The World Whiskies Awards 2025.
Tastings for the World Whiskies Awards have officially begun! The opening session for the first round of tastings was held last week at The Great Hospital, a stunning and historic venue in the heart of Norwich, UK, with more than 800 whiskies tasted by expert judges from all over the world.
This tastings session is just one of many to come, as the first round of judging is held at several locations across the globe, with further tastings taking place over the coming weeks in the USA, Canada, and Japan.
For the first round of the awards, our judging panel blind taste the samples, assess the quality of each product and if deserved, award bronze, silver, and gold medals. Those gold medals which excel in round one are awarded the title of ‘Category Winner’ and proceed to round two.
In round two, the category winners from each country are paired against one another in order to identify the country winners. Country winners in each of the categories will then compete in one final round to determine which whiskies deserve the title of ‘World’s Best’.
The final round of tastings will take place on 5 February and results will be presented at the Global Gala in London on 26 March 2025. Here we will announce who will take home the titles of ‘Country Winner’ and ‘World’s Best’ in each of the 22 categories.
During the first round tastings at The Great Hospital, we caught up with several judges and asked for their thoughts on the quality of this year’s entries, what makes the World Whiskies Awards unique compared to other competitions, and why entering the awards is a great opportunity for past and first-time entrants.
Jess Lomas, global sales manager for Single Cask Nation, commented on a trend she’s seen during her years on the judging panel: “It feels like there’s more entries every year I’ve judged. I think by and large, the whiskies have been really interesting and diverse. It’s quite difficult to judge sometimes, especially if we have a big category like Speyside single malt. It’s really exciting to see so many in one category and to be able to taste and judge them all.”
We asked Bradley Weir, interim editor for American Whiskey Magazine, what he felt was unique about the World Whiskies Awards: “I think the sheer amount of entrants we have each year and also the quality of the judging panel, which means we are only awarding the very best. The Scotch and international categories are at an all-time high and that makes this really fun to judge and really shows the prestige if you do end up winning one of these awards.”
When asked what he’d tell producers who were unsure about entering the awards, Bradley added: “You’ve got to be in it to win it! I think if you can have a badge on your bottle, it’s an amazing achievement to showcase.”
Sharing Bradley’s sentiment, Caroline Roddis, freelance journalist and whisky consultant for Farrants Cigar Lounge, commented: “This is a great chance to get your whisky in front of an incredible group of judges from across the industry and all aspects of the drinks world. If you’re really proud of your product then why wouldn’t you want judges to taste it?”
Make sure you stay up to date with World Whiskies Awards 2025 news, both on our website and via our official
Instagram,
Facebook,
Linkedin and
Twitter/X accounts. More information on the awards process can be found on the World Whiskies Awards
how to enter page.
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