We’ve already celebrated our Australian gins’ success at the San Francisco World Spirits awards and the Spirit Business Spirits Masters, but now we turn out attention to the results of the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC), which were announced this week.

The IWSC is the oldest of the spirits competitions, and highly regarded due to its strict judging and testing of all the spirits entered. For Australian distillers to win a medal on gin’s home soil, makes it all the more special!

You’ll see that gins are judged by strength and style (contemporary or London Dry) as well as how it performs in a Gin and Tonic (VERY important!)

Last year,  Philip Moore became the first Australian distiller to claim a Gold medal for his eponymous dry gin. The 2018 IWSC results for Australian gins are outstanding, with 4 gins receiving gold medals and the total medal haul jumping from 23 medals to 44! Some of newest additions to the Australian gin category won medals, barely a few months after launching.

Congratulations one and all!

2018 IWSC results for Australian gin

GOLD

Poor Toms Fool Strength category London Dry – 48-52%

Archie Rose Distiller’s Strength Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 52-58%

KIS Old Tom category Old Tom – Wood Aged – 42-46%

Kalki Moon “Classic Gin” category London Dry – 37-38%

SILVER (outstanding)

Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin category in Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

KIS Wild Gin category Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Original Bushcrafted Dry category Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Apothecary category  Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Mount Uncle Botanic Australis Bushfire Smoked Gin category Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 45-48%+

Dasher + Fisher Sloe Gin category  Sloe Gin – 26-40%

SILVER

Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Manly Spirits Australian Dry Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Manly Spirits Australian Dry Gin category Gin & Tonic

Dasher + Fisher Meadow Gin category Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 45-48%+

Dasher + Fisher Meadow Gin category Gin & Tonic

Dasher + Fisher Mountain Gin category Gin & Tonic

Dasher + Fisher Ocean Gin category Gin & Tonic

Four Pillars Navy Strength Gin category Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 52-58%

Four Pillars Spiced Negroni Gin category Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Seppeltsfield Road Distillers House Gin category Gin – Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Never Never Juniper Freak Gin category Gin & Tonic

Kalki Moon “Premium Gin” category London Dry – 42%+

Manly Spirits Coastal Citrus Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Manly Spirits Coastal Citrus Gin category Gin & Tonic

Moore’s Distillers Cut Juniper Gin category London Dry – 45%+

Moore’s Distillers Cut Juniper Gin category Gin & Tonic

Poor Toms Sydney Dry category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Never Never Southern Strength Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 52-68%

Never Never Triple Juniper Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 43%

Never Never Triple Juniper Gin category Gin & Tonic

Underground Spirits Signature Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

BRONZE

Seppeltsfield Road Distillers Barossa Dry Gin category London Dry – 41%+

Mount Uncle Botanic Australis Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Dasher + Fisher Mountain Gin category London Dry – 45%+

High Spirits Distillery Dry Gin category London Dry – 42%

Hunter Distillery Aged Gin category Wood Aged – 48-52%

Never Never Juniper Freak Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 52-68%

Kalki Moon “Solstice Barrel Aged Gin” category Wood Aged – 44-45%

KIS Whisky Barrel Gin category Cask Finish – 40-46%

Original Classic Dry category London Dry – 40%+

Stone Pine Dry Gin category  Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

The Splendid Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

The Story Gin category Contemporary Styles – Australia – 40-43%+

Underground Spirits Signature Gin category Gin & Tonic

Spirit competitions are many and varied, particularly in the gin arena, where distillers battle it out in an ever more saturated category. Whatever your views are on the merits of competitions, they are a welcome pat on the back for hardworking distillers, keen to see how their products stack up against other gins.

The Spirits Business Gin Masters 2018 revealed its results overnight and Australian distillers have done us proud. The results are particularly thrilling when you learn that the medal tally has quadrupled in the last 5 years, with quality becoming ever more important.

The gins were segmented into different sectors according to price and style, then blind-tasted by a panel of experts. Here are the Aussie medallists! For the full list of winners, head here.

Ultra Premium

The Melbourne Gin Company Single Shot gin ~ Master. Praised for  “its excellent botanical recipe” and “good length”.

The Melbourne Gin Company Dry Gin ~ Gold

Super Premium

Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin ~ Silver

Contemporary

Four Pillars Spiced Negroni ~ Master. Praise from the judges : “This is exactly the type of product I expect to get when the best distillers challenge what gin can be.”

Kangaroo Island Wild Gin ~ Silver

Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin ~ Silver

Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin ~Silver

Archie Rose Distiller’s Strength ~ Silver

Micro distillery

Never Never Distilling Triple Juniper Gin ~ Gold. Praise from the judges: “juicy, well­-integrated palate”

Never Never Distilling Co Southern Strength ~ Silver

Cask Aged

Four Pillars Sherry Cask ~ Gold

Four Pillars Chardonnay Barrel Gin ~ Silver

Navy Strength

Four Pillars Navy Strength ~ Master. Praise from the judges: “a masterclass in distilling “

Flavoured Gin

Brookie’s Slow Gin ~ Silver

Kangaroo Island Spirits Old Tom Gin ~ Silver

Congratulations to all the distillers for their awards and raising the profile of our thriving industry on the global stage.

You’ve probably seen many of our native gins sharing the news of their success at the San Francisco World Spirits Awards. As per the last 2 years, I’ve done a round-up for you, covering all the winners!

This year Australian gins won 5 Double Golds (up from 2 in 2017), 7 Golds (up from 4 in 2017), 21 Silver (up from 11 in 2017) and 15 Bronze (up 8 from 2017). A total of 48 medals (up from 26 in 2017).

The state with the most medals was Victoria (15), New South Wales (13), who just pipped South Australia (12 ), followed by Tasmania (5), Queensland (2) and ACT (1).

I don’t have the final number of gins entered but given the ongoing explosion of gin, I would imagine it has significantly increased from the 268 entries in 2017.

Awards are often disregarded as ‘marketing puff’ that many consumers ignore, so I spoke to a couple of distillers to discuss the impact of winning a medal at San Francisco.

Tim Stones, Manly Spirits (Double Gold) “I’m not massively pro-awards as there are so many about. However, I do see then benefit of using them to benchmark our products against other son the market. Winning a Double Gold is a hugely validating experience and completely vindicated my choice of career change.”

Sales Manager, Rob Sutherland, also reported a bigger uptake of their gininto venues.

Sean Baxter, Never Never Distilling Co. (Gold Medal) “The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is the top global comp, the one we all care about. With 43 judges and an extremely high standard, it’s our chance to see how we stack up with the world’s best gins. A gold medal for us means recognition that our gin is up there with the best in the world.”

In addition, Sean told me they were flooded with emails from potential new stockists after the announcement.

Whatever your view on awards it obviously means a lot to the people making the gin and gives them a leg up in a highly competitive market.

Here are the 2018 results in full:

DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL 2018 (Outstanding; earning top marks from all judges.)

Manly Spirits Co Australian Dry Gin (NSW)

Archie Rose Distillers Strength (NSW)

Dobson’s New England Dry Gin (NSW)

Poltergeist Gin (Unfiltered) (TAS)

Single Shot Gin, The Melbourne Gin Company (VIC)

GOLD MEDAL 2018 (an excellent product, meeting very high standards)

Triple Juniper Gin, Never Never Distilling Co. (SA)

Brookie’s gin (NSW)

Brookie’s Byron Slow Gin, Cape Byron (NSW)

Roots and Leaves Gin, Distillery Botanica (NSW)

Something Wild Green Ant Gin, Adelaide Hills Distillery

Billy Goats Gin, Saleyards Distillery (QLD)

Prohibition gin (SA)

SILVER MEDAL 2016 (A finely crafted spirit, well above average.)

Coastal Citrus Gin, Manly Spirits (NSW)

Horisumi Summer Gin, Archie Rose(NSW)

Signature Dry Gin, Archie Rose(NSW)

Sweet Pea Gin, Dobson’s(NSW)

Whisky Barrel Aged Gin, Manly Spirits(NSW)

Barrel Aged Gin, Twenty Third Street (SA)

Signature Gin, Twenty Third Street (SA)

Bathtub Cut Gin, Prohibition (SA)

Yuzu Gin, Settlers Spirits (SA)

Gin, A True Spirit, Poltergeist (TAS)

Arboretum Gin, Animus (VIC)

Bartender Series Spiced Negroni Gin, Four Pillars (VIC)

Distiller Series Dry Island Gin, Four Pillars x Hernö (VIC)

Gin, BeGin (VIC)

Macedon Dry Gin, Animus (VIC)

Navy Strength Gin, Four Pillars (VIC)

Pink Gin, BeGin (VIC)

78° Gin, Adelaide Hills Distillery (SA)

Dry Gin, Hippocampus (VIC)

Lady Susanne Gin, TerraAustralis Distillery (VIC)

Signature Gin, Underground Spirits (ACT)

Bronze (A well-crafted spirit that deserves recognition.)

What is the San Francisco World Spirits Competition?

Launched in 2000, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition is considered the most respected and influential spirits competition in the world, with a rigorous judging process involving highly controlled blind-tastings with an expert panel who only receive information on spirit type, ABV and age (where applicable) to remove bias.