In the spirits industry, two annual competitions reign supreme: the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) and the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) in London. It’s a huge achievement to win a gold medal at either event.
Last week Melbourne distillery The Gospel did exactly that, scoring 96 points (out of 100) for its Straight Rye Whiskey at the 2023 IWSC.
“You get given this pre-notice, under embargo, about three days before they make it public. We got that and I was like, ‘Shit, that’s a great result,’” co-founder Andrew Fitzgerald tells Broadsheet. “But that doesn’t tell you how you placed against others. There could have been a whole bunch of others at 96. We weren’t sure.
“I was at the Australian Distillers [Association] Conference last week, and I knew the results were coming out on the Monday morning. I was sitting in the conference sneakily checking my phone and bingo, there it was.”
Within the rye whiskey category, The Gospel tied with Wild Turkey’s 101 Rye for second-best in the world. Sydney’s Archie Rose also won a gold medal for its 95-point Rye Malt Whiskey. First place went to a 12-year-old rye made by 88-year-old Kentucky distillery Heaven Hill. Considering The Gospel was only founded in 2019 and its Straight Rye is blended from barrels averaging just three years old, it’s an astonishing result.
The IWSC judges said of the entry: “Decadent and complex, the palate is bright and vibrant. Filled with notes of citrus, cinnamon, gingerbread and marzipan, the palate is harmonious and well-balanced, leading to a memorable finish.”
The Straight Rye Whiskey also scored more highly than any other Australian whisk(e)y, regardless of category. “Which is fantastic, because rye as a whiskey category is still growing here in Australia,” Fitzgerald says.
Punch, America’s leading drinks publication, wrote last year about Australia’s emerging reputation for rye whiskey, and the “unique regional character” Australian-grown grains impart. Alongside The Gospel, it named Archie Rose, Belgrove, Backwoods and Tiger Snake as leaders in the space.
Before The Gospel, Fitzgerald and co-founder Ben Bowles wanted to make corn whiskey – bourbon, that is, a word international laws prevented them from using. So they put their first (and still operational) company, Melbourne Moonshine, on the backburner to focus on making rye. It’s the only kind of whiskey The Gospel makes, although amaro, “lemoncello”, coffee liqueur and rum are also in the repertoire.
“Growing corn in Victoria doesn’t make too much sense [anyway], because most of it has to be irrigated,” Fitzgerald says.
The Gospel gets all of its rye from a single farm in Victoria’s Mallee region, and uses it to make the aforementioned Straight Rye, the Solera Rye and the forthcoming Malt Rye, due out at the end of this year. The latter two products won silver medals at the IWSC, scoring 91 and 90 points, respectively.
Fitzgerald says international distributors and the public have flocked to The Gospel after the results – and head distiller Ian Thorne deserves a lot of the credit. Each bottle of Straight Rye is a careful blend of about 20 different barrels of differing ages and char levels, balancing rye characters with sweetness.
“Ian’s really honed that over the last couple of years,” Fitzgerald says.
