The San Francisco World Spirits Competition announced its top winners at the Top Shelf Awards Gala in San Francisco on November 8, 2026, and three Irish whiskeys came away with Best of Class titles. Egan’s Conviction 21 won Best of Class Blended Irish Whiskey, The Donn from Craft Irish Whiskey Co. won Best of Class Single Malt Irish Whiskey, and Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength won Best of Class Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey.
Redbreast is distilled at Midleton Distillery in County Cork. Egan’s and Craft Irish Whiskey Co. are independent companies that buy in whiskey made elsewhere, then finish, mature or blend it themselves. So, here’s a closer look at all three winners.
How the Top Awards Are Won
Judges at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition taste every entry blind, and a spirit only earns Double Gold when every judge on its panel rates it Gold. If a spirit wins Double Gold three years in a row, it is awarded Platinum.
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READ THE STORYDouble Gold winners can then go through to a sweepstakes round, where they are tasted blind against each other and the top entry in each category is named Best of Class. Best of Class winners then compete for Best Overall in their spirit type, and those winners compete for a single Best in Show.
Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength
Award: Best of Class Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey
Tasting Notes: Spice, fruit, toasted wood, sherry, toasted notes, silky, long finish
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Find Your Next Bottle: $100 / £90
Redbreast is the best-selling single pot still Irish whiskey in the world, and the name dates back to August 1912, when W & A Gilbey used it for a 12-year-old J.J. Liqueur Whiskey. The name is credited to Gilbey’s chairman at the time, who was a keen bird enthusiast.
Gilbey’s sold the brand to Irish Distillers in 1986, and it was relaunched in December 1991 using pot still whiskey from Midleton Distillery in County Cork.
It is made from a mash of malted and unmalted barley, triple distilled in copper pot stills, and matured for at least 12 years in bourbon barrels and Oloroso sherry butts. The Cask Strength version came out in 2011, and its strength varies from batch to batch.
Egan’s Conviction 21 Blended Irish Whiskey
Award: Best of Class Blended Irish Whiskey
Tasting Notes: Waffles, caramel, pineapple, golden syrup, baked apples, salt, vanilla, pepper
Find Your Next Bottle: $159.99 / £120
Egan’s history goes back to 1852, when Patrick Egan Sr. and his brother Henry founded P. & H. Egan Ltd. in Tullamore. The business grew into one of Ireland’s leading merchant houses and also worked as a whiskey bonder.
According to Whisky Magazine, Jonathan Egan’s twice-great-grand-uncle was “imprisoned for being a ‘land leaguer’” before later serving as mayor. The firm went into voluntary liquidation in 1968, and Jonathan, his cousin Maurice and his best friend John Ralph later brought the brand back in 2013.
Today, Egan’s sources its whiskey before putting it through blending and cask finishing. Conviction 21 is a blend of Irish single malt and grain whiskey matured for over 21 years, finished in XO Cognac casks and bottled at 46% ABV. It is an older version of the original Conviction, which launched in 2022 with whiskeys aged at least 10 years.
Craft Irish Whiskey Co. The Donn Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Award: Best of Class Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Tasting Notes: Orange zest, digestive biscuits, caramel, pecan nuts, marzipan, dark chocolate, toasted walnuts, prune
Find Your Next Bottle: Join the waitlist
The Donn is named after an Irish god and, in the words of Craft Irish Whiskey Co., “his homeland of Tech Duinn.” Jay Bradley, the company’s founder and master blender, started with Irish single malt and gave it four years in ex-bourbon barrels. He then moved it into Tawny Port pipes, back into heavily toasted ex-bourbon casks, and finally into a series of Pedro Ximénez barrels ranging from 64 to 225 liters.
The whiskey is triple distilled and bottled at 46.15% ABV with no age statement.
Bradley founded the company in 2018, and its earlier releases include the Emerald Isle Collection, made with Fabergé. In January 2024, one of its seven sets sold for $2.8 million to American collector Mike Daley, which RTÉ reported was a record for a bottle of whiskey.
What Do You Make of the Results?
Midleton was guaranteed the Pure Pot Still title this year, because all three finalists in the category, Blue Spot, Yellow Spot and Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength, come from the distillery. Midleton was also named Most Awarded International Distillery at SFWSC for the second year in a row, winning 41 medals in total, 11 of them for Redbreast.
Have you tried any of these whiskeys, or are any of them on your list? What do you think of the judges’ picks? Let us know in the comments.
