As is tradition, a large panel of judges recently gathered in the UK to taste their way through more than 800 whiskies, kicking off one of the biggest and most prestigious events in spirits: the World Whiskies Awards.
While we still don’t know the final winners, which will span nearly two-dozen categories, we do know which bottles of Scotch are in the running.
That’s because the organization just announced its regional winners from Scotland, all of which will go on to face the winners from France, Ireland, Japan and the United States early next year. (There is also a catchall group for other categories.)
That said, considering the Scots’ affinity for whisky-making — hell, they’ve only been doing it for hundreds of years — there should be little doubt about their ability to compete for the title of “World’s Best.”
Here are the 54 bottles of Scotch that made the cut. To see which bottles won silver and bronze medals, check out the website for the World Whiskies Awards.
