GLENFIDDICH Distillery has swept the board at the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Whisky Awards, collecting a hat-trick of honours. The Dufftown distillery picked up first place in all three categories after its malts were selected by the whisky-loving public in a series of blind taste tests.
Glenfiddich 12-year-old triumphed over Glen Grant’s 10-year-old in the 12-years-or-younger category. Glenfiddich also took the title for the 13-to-20-year category with its 18-year-old, winning over Glen Moray’s 16-year-old. Glenfiddich 21-year-old won the category for single malts aged over 21, beating the Cragganmore 25-year-old 2014 Special Release into second place.
Roving judging sessions were held across Speyside during the festival, which closed yesterday, and one was also held in specialist Scottish shop Scotia Spirit in Cologne. Owner Peter Klas is a long-term friend of the festival and it is hoped the success of the overseas judging session will lead to more international destinations being added to future events.
Finalists in all three categories were whittled down into a shortlist of entries earlier in the year by a panel including industry experts, retailers and whisky writers.
Festival chairman James Campbell said: “Huge congratulations to Glenfiddich for such a tremendous success at this year’s awards — we have never had one distillery win all three titles before. Our awards are considered one of the industry’s highest accolades.”
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