The Best Single Malt Whiskey According To The ADI International Spirits Competition 2024

[Erik Owens]

https://thewhiskeywash.com/whiskey-awards-ml/the-best-single-malt-whiskey-according-to-the-adi-international-spirits-competition-2024/

by Beth Squires

August 16, 2024

Beth Squires is the Deputy Editor at The Whiskey Wash and whiskey bottle investment specialist

When writing my Awards Series articles, I am often astounded by the sheer number of competitions, categories, and judging processes. At the same time, I wondered what the running of these competitions must be like behind the scenes. So, I was thrilled when Eric Zandona, Director of the American Distilling Institute (ADI) International Spirits Competition, agreed to chat with me about the inner workings of the competition. 

With Eric’s invaluable input and behind-the-scenes action, here are the best single malt whiskeys/whiskies from the American Distilling Institute’s International Spirits Competition 2024. 

What Makes The American Distilling Institute International Spirits Competition Stand Out? 

The ADI’s International Spirits Competition was founded in 2007, and Eric Zandona became the competition director in 2016. 

With so many spirit competitions running around the world each year, I asked Eric what makes the ADI International Spirits Competition stand out. He explained that the structure of the tasting differs from most other competitions. 

“One of the things that really sets our competition apart from others is that before the first flights are sent out, our stewards taste every entry ensuring that each one is in the proper category, flight, and position. We do this for a few reasons, to give each spirit the best opportunity to shine, and to protect the palates of our judges,” Eric says. 

“Most competitions flight spirits within a category simply by ABV or a combination of ABV and age. However, there are plenty of examples of spirits in the market that are fairly harsh on the palate at 40% or, where an entrant did not indicate a significant presence of smoke that can overshadow more delicate spirits that come after. 

“So our stewards, who are themselves experts in the industry, pre-taste everything so our judges can avoid these kinds of surprises and instead can focus on the quality of the spirits and providing our entrants with the best feedback they can.”

The Judges 

Judges are chosen on a rotating basis to ensure a holistic view of all spirits.

The judges at the competition are from a range of backgrounds and careers including distillers, blenders, retailers, journalists, bar owners, and distributors. Additionally, says Eric, the ADI has made a huge step forward in balancing out the genders of its judges. 

“In 2016, our Lead Steward, David T. Smith, and I set the goal of building a world-class judging panel that had both the diversity of job experience we were already known for and that was equally represented by all genders in the industry. For us, this was the next logical step to better fulfill our core tenant of providing the highest quality feedback and I am happy to say we have achieved our goal.”

The Judging Process

Eric also explained to me that the judging process at the competition is all about producing an holistic view of the spirit in question. 

So, once the stewards have tasted and selected spirits for each flight, the flights are sent out to the judges. Each judge will nose, taste, and score each spirit individually. The scores from each judge then serve as a starting point for discussions about medal classification. 

For example, if most judges on the panel score a spirit between 80 and 89 points, they know that they are likely discussing awarding a silver medal. However, if a spirit scores mostly 90 to 100 points, they are in gold or double gold territory. 

Once a medal has been decided upon, the judges will decide if any gold medalists should in fact be bumped up to double gold. 

The Bear Fight American Single Malt Whiskey and both Bird Creek expressions.

Bear Fight American Single Malt Whiskey 

Class: Whiskey
Category: American Single Malt Whiskey
Production Group: Bottled & Blended
Medal: Gold
Tasting Notes: Wildflower honey, fruit, floral notes, peat smoke
BUY NOW: $19.89 

Bear Fight’s American Single Malt Whiskey takes full advantage of the recent changes in TTB regulations, allowing American Single Malt to be matured in vessels other than virgin American oak casks. 

The whiskey is distilled from 100% malted barley in hand-hammered copper pot stills, imported from Scotland. Then, it is matured in three different oak barrels, allowing the whiskey makers at New Century Spirits to experiment with both sherry and peat, resulting in a deep and complex profile. 

Bear Fight’s website calls the whiskey “the perfect blend of Scotch tradition and American ingenuity.” 

Bear Fight Whiskey is a relatively new brand under Next Century Spirits’s portfolio. It was launched in 2022 with help from founding investors Matthew Bronfman and actor Seth MacFarlane. Anthony Moniello serves as CEO. 

The brand’s meteoric rise in the market, evidenced by the host of awards that it has won, demonstrates the demand for new and bold American Single Malts. In an interview with Forbes, Master Blender Nick Scarff said: “It’s taken some time for consumers to learn about the category, but once they realized that they can have a whiskey with Scotch style complexity and a dash of bold American flavor, it has quickly become a favorite.”

Bird Creek American Single Malt Whiskey Baronesse Cask Strength 

Class: Whiskey
Category: American Single Malt Whiskey
Production Group: Bottled & Blended
Medal: Gold
Tasting Notes: No official tasting notes available
BUY NOW: $126 

“Pacific Northwest-inspired” Bird Creek Whiskey is located in Oregon and is renowned for experimenting with varying barley strains. This particular whiskey was distilled from Baronesse barley, which is grain by Joseph’s Grainery in Colfax, WA, near the Palouse River and sprawling Colombia plateau. 

Baronesse barley is a German variety of barley that is typically used for brewing beer. According to Bird Creek’s website: “Inspired by that brewing heritage, we used a Munich-style malt, which is more heavily kilned than traditional distillers’ malt to create rich, caramel flavors.” 

Distilled from 100% malted Baronesse barley, the Bird Creek Cask Strength Baronesse was matured in cask 19-57 for four years and nine months before bottling at 57.5% ABV (115 proof). 

Bird Creek American Single Malt Whiskey Baronesse Full Pint Small Batch 

Class: Whiskey
Category: American Single Malt Whiskey
Production Group: Bottled & Blended
Medal: Gold, Best of Category
Tasting Notes: No official tasting notes available
BUY NOW: $126 

Another barley type that is experimented with at Bird Creek is Full Pint, grown in Madras, Oregon. Full Pint is a 2-row barley that was developed by the Oregon State University Barley Breeding Program as part of an experiment that aimed to reduce infection in barley. Scientists at the university aimed to “isolate genetics that could be used for natural stripe-rust resistance, a fungal infection detrimental to barley.”

Full Pint was crossbred from Shyri, an Ecuadorian feed barley, and Galena, a barley from the Czech Republic that is used by the Coors Brewing Company. In 2016, Brad and Seth Klann successfully harvested the first full acre of Full Pint barley and malted it at Mecca Grade Estate Malt. 

This barley produces sweet flavors of macadamia nut, roasted walnuts, and chocolate. 

Bird Creek Baronesse Full Pint Small Batch was distilled from Baronesse and Full Pint barley and aged for four years and nine months in casks 19-84/74/62/56, before bottling at 46% ABV. 

The Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky is from the emerging category of English whisky.

Waterford Cuvée Koffi Irish Single Malt Whisky 

Class: International Whisky
Category: Irish Single Malt Whiskey
Production Group: Distilled
Medal: Double Gold, Best of Category
Tasting Notes: Lemon and strawberry shortbread biscuits, black pepper, grapefruit, chilli chocolate, oyster crackers, barely sugar, summer fruit compote, liquorice allsorts, marmalade, white paper, dry herbs, cola cubes, lavender, sherbet, dried fruits
BUY NOW: $79.99 

For our next award-winning whisky, we travel across the pond to Ireland and Waterford Whisky. Waterford prides itself on its “barley-forward, terroir-driven, natural-whisky” approach to distilling. 

“Whisky has become homogenised, an industrially manufactured product, propped up with additives and finishes. Yet it used to be authentic, localised agricultural produce – using barley, the most flavoursome cereal in the world. We go back to the start, explore the thousands of barley flavour compounds – and let terroir talk and natural flavour shine,” says founder Mark Reynier on the Waterford website. 

The production method for Waterford Cuvée Koffi is multi-layered and complex and emulates the practices used in the production of Grand Vin (meaning ‘big wine’). The process begins with 24 single farm origins, meaning barley from 24 separate locations. Careful attention has been paid to the barley during growth by the farmers, who use the grain that best interacts with the soil, topography, and climate of their farm. 

All such barley has been cultivated, harvested, distilled, and matured separately in one of four casks: first-fill American oak, virgin American oak, premium French oak, and vin doux naturels. 

Only then are the whiskies delicately layered together to produce a rich and complex Irish Single Malt Whiskey that is this year’s ‘Best of Category’ Irish single malt. The spirit is bottled at 50% ABV. 

The packaging was designed by French artist, Nathanaël Koffi, and perfectly emulates the layers and complexity that can be found in the whisky. ‘Through layering colors and patterns, I have aimed to capture the multi-dimensional and complex natural flavors of this ultimate Waterford Whisky,’ says Koffi on Waterford’s website. ‘It harnesses everything I love about Waterford Distillery and its whiskies: body, texture and avant-garde methodologies.’

Cotswolds Distillery Harvest Series Flaxen Vale English Single Malt Whisky 

Class: International Whisky
Category: International Single Malt Whiskey
Production Group: Distilled
Medal: Gold, Gold Medal Excellence in Packaging
Tasting Notes: Sweet dates, sweet brioche pastry, hazelnut, dried raisins, toffee, peat, dry fruit, sweet patisseries pastry, gentle peat
BUY NOW: $130

The Cotswolds Distillery is located in the north of the Cotswolds Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty in England. Nestled in the small village of Stourton, The Cotswolds Distillery was founded in 2014, and has now been producing English Single Malt Whisky for 10 years. 

Flaxen Vale is an addition to The Cotswolds Distillery’s Harvest Series, which celebrates the allure of the Cotswolds. This single malt whisky is a blend of spirits matured in American Oak Pedro Ximenez, Spanish oak Oloroso sherry, and peated casks. The result is a “rich and fruity” single malt that mirrors “the tranquil beauty of the surrounding landscape at the height of summer.” 

Each bottle in the Harvest Series features a packaging design by a talented artist. Annabel Playfair provided the stunning packaging for this release. The ADI recognized this, awarding the bottle a Gold medal for Excellence in Packaging. 

English single malt whisky, and English whisky in general, is not currently geographically protected, nor are there many laws governing its production (producers currently adhere to EU legislation). As such, the spirit is in a similar situation to American single malt whiskey. Calls for standardization are on the rise. 

Ruach Distillery Ascent Israeli Single Malt Whisky 

Class: International Whisky
Category: International Single Malt Whiskey
Production Group: Distilled
Medal: Double Gold, Best of Class, Best of Category
Tasting Notes: No official tasting notes available
BUY NOW: N/A 

RUACH Distillery in Israel his stirred up a lot of conversation in the whisky industry in recent times. There is not a huge amount of information available about RUACH Distillery, or the Ascent Israeli Single Malt Whisky that won Double Gold, Best of Class, and Best of Category at the ADI’s International Spirits Competition 2024. 

Distilled, matured, and bottled in the hot climate of Israel, this single malt is likely to be fairly young yet complex. However, it does not have a stated age. 

The whisky is a cask finish, having been matured in Oloroso sherry, bourbon, and cognac casks before bottling at 47.7% ABV. 

From my research, it doesn’t seem that the RUACH Ascent Israeli Single Malt Whisky is available in the US. However, Eric Zandona tells me, that part of the ADI’s job is to support new whisky brands in expanding their outreach. 

“One of the primary ways that competitions support winning brands is through media exposure, For large brands with (Inter)national distribution exposure is great and can increase sales. However, for new and growing brands that are only in a couple of markets, exposure alone isn’t always enough to make an impact. 

“So to help our winners grow their sales with the increased exposure, we pursued a series of partnerships with retailers, importers, distributors, and e-commerce platforms who have agreed to meet with our top winners and discuss the possibility of taking them on. And so far the results have been very good. International distillers have been able to secure a US importer and begin selling in the US, and some US-based brands have secured retail agreements in a new state or states and, in one case, for 28 states!” 

Could we see RUACH whisky on shelves in the US in the near future? 

Altered State Distillery Cask Series American Single Malt Whiskey 

Class: Whiskey
Category: American Single Malt Whiskey
Production Group: Distilled
Medal: Double Gold, Best of Category
Tasting Notes: Toffee, vanilla, raisin, oak
BUY NOW: $59.99 

Altered State Distillery’s Cask Series American Single Malt Whiskey was distilled from malted barley before being aged in virgin American oak barrels for four years. It is then finished in Spanish Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, before being bottled at 46% ABV. 

Altered State Distillery is located in Erie, Pennsylvania, and was founded by Gavin Maus – a self-professed deadhead and music-lover. Together with his wife, Heather, Gavin has built the distillery from the ground up, and promises that: “We will never sell you a product that we do not thoroughly enjoy ourselves. We consider our craft spirits and craft cocktails to be just that: our craft. We pour our heart and soul into everything on our menu and take a lot of pride in everything we produce. It’s important to us that every bottle we make, every product we put-out, and every cocktail that passes over our bar is our very best, or we’ll replace it. Like anyone who strives to be exceptional at their craft, we will never stop working to improve.” 

Gavin’s ethos certainly seems to be working, as the Altered State Cask Series Single Malt Whiskey was named ‘Best of Category’ for American Single Malt Whiskey at the ADI International Spirits Competition 2024.