“It’s all about The Whiskey.”
– Drink’s International
Japanese brand, Suntory’s Yamazaki won the title of Drinks International’s The World’s Most Admired Whisky Brand 2021 in their latest annual release, launched in October 2021. The announcement was made via social media and is the latest version of Drinks International’s World’s Most Admired series.
What is ‘The World’s Most Admired Whisk(e)y Brand 2021’?
Drink’s International created The World’s Most Admired Whiskies releases after months of background research with brands, independent whiskey experts, and writers. The main aim was to meet the spirit’s industry demand for a survey to determine The World’s Most Admired Whiskies. The edition follows the successful annual release of The World’s Most Admired Champagne and Wines from Drink’s International. The Academy specialists from different countries were on the board panel to select the list of world-class whiskies.
Drink’s International Voting Methodology
Drink’s International appointed an Academy of independent global drinks buyers, journalists, bartenders, and whisky experts from 25 countries to choose the inaugural list of The World’s Most Admired Whiskies. The selected specialists have no connections to any of the brands to retain integrity across the board. The Academy features some of the most respected whiskey names from around the globe.
The experts were asked to give a list of 10 names of whisk(e)y brands they admired in descending order. The criteria to be considered while choosing:
- The quality and consistency of the whiskies in the brand range.
- The price-to-quality ratio across the brand portfolio.
- The strength of branding and Marketing.
The specialists were limited to vote for five brands from the same category because of the widespread geography of the Academy as well as the specialist nature of the Whisk(e)y. The votes were weighted by giving 10 points for the first place brand, 9 points for the second-placed brand, and so on. After compiling the numbers final ranking was decided.
Voting took place during September 2020.
Yamazaki- The Winner Brand
Known as “the pioneer of Japanese Whiskey” by its owner Suntory, Yamazaki is Japan’s first single malt distillery and was founded by Shinjiro Torii in the 20th century. The Suntory flagship distillery produced some of the best whiskies in the world including Yamazaki Mizunara, and it’s 12, 18, and 25-Year-Old Single Malts.
Yamazaki’s fifth-generation Master Blender is Shinji Fukuyo who is also a key member of the tasting panel of the International Spirits Competition for several years.
“Throughout the process of blending Yamazaki 55, I used as an inspiration the passage of time and ‘wabi-sabi’- the Japanese belief that imperfections can help to ultimately contribute to perfections. Blending is one technique which brings together and combines imperfect liquids to as perfect a liquid as possible.”
said Fukuyo.
Earlier this year, Yamazaki released 100 bottling of 55-Year-Old Single Malt valued at $60,000. The whiskey is the oldest in the history of Suntory and was distilled in 1960 under the then master blender Torii. The whiskey is one of the perfections of rare whiskies of the Suntory brand. It is a blend of three rare single malts whiskies- 1960 single malt distilled in Mizunara oak casks, 1961 single malt, and 1964 single malt distilled in American White Oak Casks.
The Yamazaki brand is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2023.
“Congratulations must go to Yamazaki for being crowed our Most Admired Whisky brand for 2021. It goes to show just how well respected Japanese whisky is within the trade right now,”
said supplement editor Shay Waterworth.
The runners-up award
The first Runners-up spot goes to the leading premium Irish whiskey Redbreast and the title was given as The World’s Most Admired Irish Whiskey. Islay Scotch brand Lagavulin took the second runners-up and titled- The World’s Most Admired Scotch Whisky. The fourth spot was given to U.S. brand Michter’s with the title- The World’s Most Admired American Whiskey.
The final list of 50 Most Admired Whiskies is made up of brands from nine different countries and provides valuable insight into which producers are revered the most by the global whisky trade.
“Having conducted a lot of background research with brands and independent experts, there was a big appetite from the trade for The World’s Most Admired Whiskies and it is a huge achievement to all 50 brands which have made the list,” Shay Waterworth announced.
For more information on the release check out at- https://edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&pubid=c4cab2ed-f7df-48f6-87f5-801efe1cf289