Rundown of ADI's 2018 Judging of Craft Spirits

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In 2007, when the American Distilling Institute held its first annual spirits competition there were less than 100 craft distilleries in the US and the Judging awarded just 12 medals. Eleven years later the number of craft distillers in the US has grown over 1000% and the number of small and independently owned distilleries are multiplying around the world. ADI’s Judging of Craft Spirits continues to track this growth and the maturing of our industry, receiving 1003 spirits from 16 countries spread across five continents. Of those entered, 9 spirits earned Double Gold Medals, 58 earned Gold Medals, 223 earned Silver Medals and 434 earned Bronze Medals.

The mission of the ADI competition is to promote excellence where it is found and help distillers hone their craft by providing unbiased feedback from our expert judges. With these goals in mind, the Judging runs a blind competition where each entry is evaluated solely on quality of the spirit in the glass.  Seasoned stewards spend 5 days, sorting and flighting spirits by class, category, and sub-categories, taking into consideration factors such as ABV, intensity, and length of maturation, if any. During the two and a half days of our competition, the 10 panels of four judges were asked to evaluate about 50 spirits a day, about half the rate of other competitions. We do this to mitigate against plate fatigue and to give them time to give constructive feedback about each spirit.

Each year the competition offers an interesting insight into the current market of craft spirits. Whiskey remained king in total number of entries comprised mostly of bourbon, rye and malt whiskeys. However, the number of whiskeys finished in a secondary cask from craft distillers has increased substantially. For the second year running, gin replaced vodka as the second largest class overall, with aged gin accounting for almost 20% of all gin entries. And, as may have predicted, brandy is making a significant comeback. In 2018, the number of brandy entries grew by 366% over 2017! A few other small categories, such as honey spirits and spirits made from agave syrup also grew. One of most surprising declines came from Moonshine which shrank by 60% compared to 2017. Of course, it hard to know if the number of moonshines in the market are decreasing though at a minimum it seems like the marketing of some of these are shifting from moonshine to corn whiskey, for those that qualify, and from flavored moonshine to liqueurs.

As always, ADI is grateful to the stewards, judges, and all those who entered who have made the Judging of Craft Spirits the worlds largest spirits competition dedicated to craft spirits. A full list of the 2018 awards can be found here. 

First appeared in Distiller (Summer 2018): 40

ADI adds American Single Malt Whiskey as a Judging category

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The American Distilling Institute has decided to add American Single Malt Whiskey as a distinct category for their upcoming spirits competition, the Judging of Craft Spirits. American Single Malt is a burgeoning whiskey category and we at ADI believe that whiskeys made in line with the proposed standard of identity created by the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission (ASMWC) are different enough in character that they deserve recognition as a distinct category.  

In 2016, a group of American Craft Distilleries got together and formed the ASMWC with the express purpose to "establish, promote and protect the category of American Single Malt Whiskey." The reason for this is, at present there is no legal definition for American Single Malt. The Alcohol, Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) defines Malt Whiskey as whiskey made from a fermented mash of at least 51% malted barley, distilled to no more than 160 proof (80% ABV), and stored at less than 125 proof (62.5% ABV) in charred new oak containers. Under the current definition, US Malt Whiskey can include other grains such as corn, rye, or wheat in the mash and it is required to be matured in charred new oak barrels the same as bourbon and rye whiskey. This means that a US distiller could make a whiskey from 51% malted barley and 49% corn and call it a single malt whiskey, because the word single has no legal meaning for TTB.

The ASMWC aims to bring American made single malt whiskey in line with the broader understanding of single malt whiskies from around the world. They propose that American single malt whiskey should have the following standard of identity: "Made from 100% malted barley; distilled entirely at one distillery; mashed, distilled, and matured in the USA; matured in oak casks not exceeding 700 liters (185 gallons); distilled to no more then 160 proof (80% ABV); and bottled at 80 proof (40% ABV) or more. This definition has a few important differences from the current TTB standard for Malt Whiskey. First requiring the whiskey be made from 100% malted barley at one distillery in the US lines up with the EU definition of Single Malt Scotch. The other key difference is that under the ASMWC's proposed standard American single malt would be allowed to be matured in used barrels. This would most likely make the largest difference in the flavor to the spirit. Charred new barrels contribute a lot of intense wood flavors over time and as we have seen with many extra aged bourbons. By allowing American single malt to be matured in used barrels, distilleries, especially in climates with large temperature swings, would be able to produce at much longer aged spirit that is not overwhelmed by wood. It is a common practice in Cognac to start a brandy off in new or young barrels and then move the spirit to used or exhausted barrels to allow the spirit to slowly oxidise and mellow over time without also increasing the wood flavors extracted from the barrel. If the ASMWC's standard is formally adopted by the TTB we could see 8, 10, 12, and 18 year old American Single Malt Whiskeys become the norm rather than the exception.

At present, there are whole realms of flavors that are largely cut off from US malt whiskey because of the current legal definition. However, innovation and pushing the boundaries of whiskey and gin has helped energize and drive growth in the spirits industry. Hopefully, the TTB will seriously consider adopting the standard of identity set out for American Single Malt Whiskey. And in the meantime, ADI will continue to support distillers as they expand the legacy of US distilled spirits.

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ASMWC Logo

ADI's Judging of Craft Spirits Continues to Set a High Bar

In February, the American Distilling Institute will hold its 11th Annual Judging of Craft Spirits, making it one of the longest running and most respected spirit competitions in the United States. The mission of ADI's judging is to help promote the craft distillers, blenders, bitters makers and producers of aperitif & fortified wines that are making the finest quality artisan spirits and to give participating producers valuable, unbiased, third-party feedback on the quality and process of their products. To achieve this mission ADI has developed a set of industry leading protocols that govern how the spirits are handled and tasted, we select our judging staff from the top spirit experts in the world, and our awards are solely earned based on individual merit.

What most spirit competitions will not tell you is that it is impossible to eliminate all subjectivity from a judging performed by human beings. However, because ADI is committed to seeing that each spirit receives the most objective evaluation possible, we put a lot of thought into all aspects of the judging that might impact how a spirit is perceived. Once all of the spirits have been received they are sorted by spirit class (whiskey, gin, etc.) and category (bourbon, old tom gin, etc.). Once this sorting has been finished the spirits are then organized into flights by the stewards based on proof, maturation, or flavoring. Once the stewards finish flighting the spirits, our lead steward David T. Smith, creates a schedule so that flights of unaged or lighter spirits go out first before aged or strongly flavored spirits. This schedule is split into a morning session and an afternoon session. This allows us to give some stronger spirits to the judges before lunch after which, a meal and an hours break allows their palate to rest and reset for the afternoon session. We even arrange special meals for the judges' breakfasts and lunches that eliminate strong flavors such as garlic and peppers that might linger and obscure their full sense of smell and taste. All of this is done so that the judges are able to fully taste and evaluate each spirit as well as the one that comes after it.

When flights are sent out to a panel of judges they receive some basic class and category information such as, unaged rum between 80 and 86 proof, and a line of Glencairn copita glasses, each marked with a different number. Each panel consists of at least four judges and each panel is organized to include a variety of training and experience such as, distillers, wholesalers/retailers, bartenders/owners, consultants, and journalists. While other spirit competition sometimes draw judges from more limited backgrounds, ADI believes that having judges from different disciplines on each panel helps create a fuller perspective of each spirit. The judges nose and taste each spirit individually, write tasting notes, comments about what they like, what potentially could be improved, and a numerical score. Because we use judges like Nancy Fraley, Aaron Knoll, Martian Cate, and Hubert Germain-Robin who have the experience to identify specific production process that create both positive and negative flavors, they are able to give more meaningful feedback to the distilleries that entered. Then this process is repeated for each spirit in the flight. In this system each spirit is evaluated and scored on the basses of its own merit and not in comparison to the other spirits that happen to be next to it. Once the judges have finished a flight the panel has as discussion to decide if any medals should be awarded. Sometimes this means no spirit in a flight receive a medal and at other times more than one might earn a gold medal.

Flavien Desoblin of the Brandy Library

ADI's Judging is know for having some of the highest standards and historically it has awarded fewer medals than other competitions. Each spirit has to earn an award solely based on whats in the glass, not its name, not its price point, not where it comes from, just how good the product is. What this means is that those spirits which earn a medal from ADI are among of the best craft spirits in the  world. The American Distilling Institute is committed to helping small-scale, independently owned spirits producers improve their craft, grow and promote their products in a growing market. And because of this commitment, ADI's Judging of Craft Spirits will continue to be a leader in the industry, refine our processes to achieve our mission, and to find new ways to preach the gospel of craft spirits to all the world.

My First Book & the ADI Spirits Conference

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Life is good...so good in fact I haven't had a chance to post anything new for awhile. The first piece of exciting news is that the book I helped write A World Guide to Whisk(e)y Distilleries has been published by White Mule Press, the publishing arm of the American Distilling Institute (ADI). I came onto the project about a third of the way through and saw it to completion. The book attempts to list all the commercial whisk(e)y distilleries in the world, from Alaska to Zimbabwe and the products they make. So if you are an avid whisk(e)y enthusiast that likes to visit distilleries or you want to know where your favorite product is made you'll probably find this useful.

I'm excited that I have a couple more book projects lined up with White Mule Press but at present I have been busy editing two books for them, one on gin and a second on rum production. These projects have been particularly demanding of my time which is partially why I haven't posted anything recently.

The other piece of exciting news is that I attended the 10th Annual ADI Spirits Conference & Vender Expo, that this year was held in Denver. The conference brought together about 900 distillers, soon to be distillers, and the still, label, glass, barrel and branding vendors that service the craft distilling industry. It was a blast to meet both new and seasoned distillers who were passionate about their craft and committed to growing successful businesses. One of my highlights from the conference was sitting in on David Smith's gin tasting. David writes for a number of publications as well as his site Summer Fruit Cup. We tasted some stand out gins from the US, UK, and France. If you're a big fan of gin a couple to look out for are FEW Barrel Aged Gin and Warner Edwards Harrington Dry Gin.

During the gala dinner ADI announced the results from their 7th Annual Judging of Artisan American Spirits. The Best of Class winners were: Ballast Point Spirits, Devil's Share Malt Whiskey; Valentine Distilling Company, Liberator Gin; Balcones Distilling, Texas Rum; Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine, Apple Pie Moonshine; and Jepson Vineyards, Old Stock Mendocino Brandy. For the full list of winners check out ADI's website.​

Now that I'm back from Denver I hope to get back into my routine of posting once or twice a week.