Two Aussie Distilleries Have Been Named in the World’s Top 50 Spirits Producers

The jury has been in for a while now: Australian spirits are very good at winning awards. So lo and behold, two Victorian distilleries have just cracked a prestigious international ranking.

The International Wine and Spirits Competition has released its Top 50 Spirits list, with Healesville gin giant Four Pillars landing at 38 and Melbourne rye distillery The Gospel Whiskey coming in at 48. Both excelled in a pool of more than 2300 distilleries from 115 countries.

Sometimes referred to as “the Oscars of the wine and spirits industry”, the IWSC is one of the world’s longest-running organisations of its kind, and is known for its global reach and rigorous reviewing standards. 

Spirits are judged by a panel of experts from 30 countries using the “double blind” method to give each product a score out of 100. Tastings are limited to 65 spirits per day to limit palate fatigue, with products “judged by a whole panel in sync, allowing for group discussions”.

The Top 50 ranking, though, was based on consistently excellent results over the last three years. Four Pillars, for example, usually scores 90 and above for its products.

Last year, the distillery’s Bloody Underhill Shiraz gin – made with shiraz grapes from Victorian winery Yarra Yering and aged in its barrels – scored 99 out of 100, making it the highest-scoring gin in the world.

The Gospel’s Straight Rye Whiskey, meanwhile, has scored 96 out of 100 two years in a row. Last year it was the highest-scoring Australian whisky, and the world’s second highest scoring rye whisky overall. The distillery uses 100 per cent unmalted rye grown on a single farm in Victoria’s Mallee region.

“The Australian industry has been an unbridled student in the sense that we’ve gone out and recognised how the rest of the world does their thing and tried to do it our own way. The end result is that judges are seeing [Australian producers] aiming for quality over quantity,” says The Gospel’s co-owner Andrew Fitzgerald.

“Using rye from a single farm in a desert region is distinctly different from most of the ryes in the world, where the rye is grown in cold climates. It’s all just recognising how the rest of the world does and it and putting our own lens to it.”

But the highest Australian placement didn’t belong to either distillery – it went to a Tasmanian whisky club called The Whisky Club. It’s the world’s largest at 38000 members, and collaborates with leading distilleries including Sullivan’s Cove, Glenfiddich and Jameson to create exclusive drams for its subscribers. Those consistently perform highly, and so the club shares the glory at number 31. 

The results are a boon for the Australian spirits industry, which has been under pressure due to a range of economic factors – not least the controversial Australian spirits excise tax, which is hiked twice a year and has trickle-down implications for venues and consumers.

“[We hope] people support the independent producers that are out there, because we’re often similarly priced to the big guys,” says Fitzgerald. “There’s nothing wrong with buying local.”

thegospelwhiskey.com

fourpillarsgin.com