The Spirits of the Year 2020 were presented today during a live virtual award ceremony. A total of 314 spirits were honoured by the jury of the 17th Meininger’s International Spirits Award ISW competition, held in Germany.
 
The gin category was once again strongly represented, with almost 200 products tasted and rated. As in previous years, this category shows that gin – a universal drink which can be used both pure and in long drink or cocktail variants – is characterised by a wide range of taste interpretations. The two best gins of 2020 are the “Broker’s Dry Gin” (Gin of the Year 2020 international) and the “Playboy Gin” (Gin of the Year 2020 national), which is produced exclusively by the finch® Whisky Distillery.
 
German whisky is one of the winners of this year’s spirits competition, with a total of 16 whiskies from Germany winning one of the coveted medals. The special award “German Whisky of the Year 2020” goes to the Ayrer’s Alligator of the Hausbrauerei Altstadthof, which was also the only whisky in the competition to be awarded the highest distinction “Grand Gold”. “More whisky is not possible,” was the brief but clear verdict of the jury.
 
Among the Spirits of the Year are well-known spirits such as “Linie Aquavit Double Cask Port” (Aquavit of the Year 2020), “Broker’s Dry Gin” (Gin of the Year 2020 international) and “Asbach Selection 21 Years Aged” (German Brandy of the Year 2020), along with a large number of new discoveries such as “Luk Handcrafted Vintage Korn” from the Birkenhof distillery (Korn of the Year 2020) or the “CINECANE Popcorn Rum Gold” from Tastillery (Spirits Innovation of the Year 2020).
 
The “Spirit of the Year 2020” award for the best spirit in the whole competition, goes this year to France to the Domaine Tariquet for the “Pure Folle Blanche 15 ans”.
 
The best distilleries of this year’s competition are the Italian Distilleria Sibona (Distiller of the Year 2020 international) with 10 Gold and 4 Silver medals and Lantenhammer (Distiller of the Year 2020 national) with 1 Grand Gold, 7 Gold and 2 Silver.
 
The top 5 countries: Germany (8 Grand Gold, 81 Gold and 46 Silver); Italy (1 Grand Gold, 41 Gold, 12 Silver); France (1 Grand Gold, 16 Gold, 3 Silver); Great Britain (14 Gold, 5 Silver), and Switzerland (10 Gold, 1 Silver).
 
“Over four days this year, our almost 50 spirits experts tasted their way through the great and diverse world of spirits to award only the best with a medal. Each category, be it fine fruit spirits, peaty whisk(e)ys, aged brandies, herbal and fruit liqueurs or the wide and diverse world of gin, which has been around for years, was incredibly well represented,” said Christian Wolf, the Tasting Director.
 
A virtual award ceremony was held this year, moderated by Tasting Director Christian Wolf and Meininger Verlag’s spirits expert, Alexander Thürer.
 
Although the ceremony was mostly virtual, the awards for the “Spirits of the Year 2020” were given to the master distillers, who were present in person.
 
The fact that the competition could take place at all in times of a global pandemic is due to the great hygiene efforts made by the organisers. Thus, this year’s award could offer a worthy platform for the best spirits.
 
All special awards as well as all results of the ISW 2020 can be found on MEININGER ONLINEas well as in the magazine “BRANNT – magazine for iconic spirits” (w w w. meininger. de/de/brannt) which will be published at the end of September.