Beam Suntory and Diageo North America Atop Best Spirits in 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Beam Suntory Inc. and Diageo North America both received the major awards atop 1,580 entrants in this year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition, announced last week.

Announced at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, judges awarded Beam Suntory the Director’s Award for Excellence across its spirits portfolio, while Diageo North America was named Importer of the Year.

Beam Suntory also took away Best Bourbon from 95 other bourbon entrants, with Knob Creek 9 Year Old Small Batch Bourbon.

Commenting on the awards, Matt Shattock, Chairman and CEO of Beam Suntory said: “We are very proud that the quality of our premium portfolio has been recognised with the Director’s Award of Excellence in just our first full year as Beam Suntory.”

“It’s also particularly gratifying that Knob Creek, our flagship super-premium bourbon brand, has earned the distinction of Best Bourbon…All of these honours are a tribute to the people of Beam Suntory.”

Alongside Beam Suntory, Diageo North America was also honored to receive one of the competition’s most prestigious awards, named Importer of the Year.

President of Diageo North America, Larry Schwartz said: “We are honoured to be recognised by such a prestigious competition across our portfolio. Our craftspeople, including our distillers, blenders and artisans, use their remarkable skills every day to produce the finest spirits in the world. These awards give them, and everyone at Diageo, a great reason to celebrate.”

In addition, judges awarded a further eight major awards to pisco, rum, whisky, Cognac, liqueur, gin, tequila and vodka producers from around the world.

Best in Show Whisky went to Craigellachie Single Malt Aged 23 Years, taking the award out from 497 whisky submissions, while Best in Show Un-Aged White Spirit was received by Chilean Kappa Pisco and Best in Show Aged White Spirit by Columbian Parce 12 Year Old Rum.

Best in Show Brandy was presented to Gautier Tradition Rare Cognac, while Best in Show Liqueur went to Croizet Liqueur d’Orange au Cognac. Additionally, Master’s Dry Gin received Best Gin from 134 entries; Villa Lobos Reposado Tequila won Best Tequila; and Woody Creek Single Potato Vodka was awarded Best Vodka.

Director of the 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition said this year’s competition had received the most entries in its history, with an increase most notably in gin, which according to Anthony Dias Blue, has tripled in entries over the last three years, along with bourbon, rye whiskey and single malt Scotch.

“We have always been a bellwether for trends in spirits consumption and growth. Over the last 15 years as we’ve witnessed this explosive growth in spirits, we also note that the further sub-categorisation of ageing and types of spirits is proliferating”, Mr. Blue said. “We are in an exciting time in the beverage business.”

A complete list of the awards can be found at http://sfspiritscomp.com/