The SIP Awards take a different approach from most spirits competitions. Rather than assembling a panel of industry experts, the organizers built the whole thing around consumer judges, with the stated goal of answering the question, “What about the consumer’s opinion?” Now in its 18th year, the competition draws entries from around the world and covers not just whiskey but ready-to-drink cocktails, liqueurs, mixers, and more.
For 2026, nine American whiskeys earned the Best of Class distinction. They range from long-established Kentucky names to a brand backed by Beyoncé, a few craft distilleries, and one flavored whiskey built around marshmallow and chocolate. Here is a closer look at each one, how it is made, and where it comes from.
General Thomas Kentucky Bourbon – Barrel Strength
Award: Best of Class
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Tasting Notes: Butterscotch, oak, cherry, dark berries, herbal rye spice, white pepper
RRP: $69.99
General Thomas is one of the smallest names on this list, and the newest. The brand was founded in 2025 by Fort Thomas, Kentucky native Dan Gorman, who named it after General George Henry Thomas, a Union Army commander known as the “Rock of Chickamauga” and the namesake of Gorman’s hometown. Gorman has said he took his cues from George Remus Bourbon, a brand he admired, and the company is based in Newport, Kentucky.
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READ THE STORYRather than distilling his own whiskey, Gorman bought 20 barrels of five-year-old Kentucky bourbon from a distillery, which yielded roughly 4,500 bottles. The brand launched with two versions: a 99-proof small batch made by blending and proofing down ten barrels, and this single-barrel, cask-strength release, bottled here at 112 proof.
One unusual feature is a technology angle. Each bottle carries a QR code that, when scanned, connects to an AI version of the General himself, delivering a message that can be personalized to the bottle. Availability is concentrated around Northern Kentucky.
Elijah Craig Small Batch
Award: Best of Class
Tasting Notes: Vanilla bean, sweet fruit, fresh mint, wood spice, smoke, nutmeg
RRP: $33.99
Elijah Craig takes its name from a Baptist preacher who, according to bourbon lore, is credited with being among the first to age his whiskey in charred oak barrels. The brand is owned by Heaven Hill, the family-run Kentucky producer, and the whiskey is distilled at its Bernheim Distillery in Louisville.
The mash bill is a fairly traditional one, made up of 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley, and it goes into the barrel at an entry proof of 125 before aging in level 3 charred oak.
The whiskey first appeared in 1986 as a 12-year-old, but in early 2016 Heaven Hill removed the age statement, citing demand that had outpaced supply. Since then, the distillery has described it as a blend of eight-to-twelve-year-old barrels. It is bottled at 94 proof and remains a widely available core release, usually priced around $25 to $35.
Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Specialty Barrel Series – Kentucky Straight Wheated Bourbon
Award: Best of Class
Tasting Notes: Cereal grain, oak, black pepper, butterscotch
RRP: $129.99
Heaven Hill’s Grain to Glass program is built around traceable grain, and the story starts with a single corn variety. Each year the distillery works with Beck’s Hybrids, an Indiana seed company, to choose a corn varietal suited to Central Kentucky soil, which is then grown by the family-run Peterson Farms in Nelson County.
For this wheated bourbon, the varietal is Beck’s 6225. The whiskey is distilled at Heaven Hill’s Bernheim Distillery in Louisville.
This release is part of the inaugural Specialty Barrel Series, which sets it apart from the standard Grain to Glass bottlings. Rather than the usual level 3 charred American white oak, this bourbon is fully aged for six years in Chinquapin oak, a separate species of American white oak native to central and eastern North America, with the barrels selected alongside Independent Stave Company. The series comprises three whiskeys in total, a bourbon, this wheated bourbon, and a rye.
Heaven Hill, founded by the Shapira family in 1935, released it nationally in limited quantities beginning November 2025 at a suggested price of $129.99.
Angel’s Envy 2025 Cellar Collection Series Vol 5
Award: Best of Class
Tasting Notes: Floral, fruity, vanilla, clove, smoke, herbal agave, tobacco, brown sugar, orange blossom honey, tropical fruits
RRP: $249.99
Angel’s Envy was founded by the late master distiller Lincoln Henderson and his son Wes, and the brand is now owned by Bacardi.
The Cellar Collection is its annual limited-edition series, and Volume 5 is a straight rye whiskey. It is also the first Cellar Collection release overseen from start to finish by Owen Martin, who took over as master distiller.
The rye itself is distilled at MGP in Indiana. To build the final blend, rye aged up to seven years was finished for as long as twelve months in French Oak Extra Añejo tequila barrels sourced from Hacienda Patrón in Jalisco, then combined with a straight rye aged over 11 years. Those barrels had held Patrón’s agave spirit for four years and are unusual for their French oak construction.
Stranahan’s Mountain Angel 12 Year
Award: Best of Class
Tasting Notes: Caramelized nectarin, fig paste, lavender, blueberry compote, ginger lemon tart, raspberry cheesecake, blackberry strudel, vanilla wafer, oak, maduro cigar wrapper
RRP: $103.99
Stranahan’s holds a notable place in American whiskey as Colorado’s first legal distillery after Prohibition, founded in Denver in 2004 by Jess Graber and George Stranahan. The distillery works within the American single malt category, and its whiskey is made from 100% malted barley and Rocky Mountain water.
Mountain Angel is its oldest and rarest line. The 10-year version arrived in 2020, and the 12-year followed at the end of 2024, which the brand described as the oldest straight American single malt released to the public at the time.
The whiskey is aged in new charred American oak and finished in Port wine casks from Portugal. Denver’s elevation plays a role in how it matures, with the whiskey experiencing a much higher evaporation rate.
Stranahan’s lists the whiskey, currently Batch 2, at 94.6 proof, or 47.3% ABV, and notes that proof can vary slightly between batches, though the SIP Awards entry records it at 45%. It is a limited release.
SirDavis Whisky
Award: Best of Class
Tasting Notes: Seville oranges, raisins, clove, cinnamon, ginger, demerara sugar, toffee, biscuity notes, citrus, cherries
RRP: $89.99
SirDavis is the whisky brand founded by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter in partnership with Moët Hennessy, the LVMH drinks division, and it launched in 2024. The name honors Davis Hogue, Knowles-Carter’s great-grandfather, a farmer and Prohibition-era moonshiner. To develop the whisky, Moët Hennessy brought in Dr. Bill Lumsden, the master distiller known for his work at Glenmorangie and Ardbeg, working alongside blender Cameron George.
What sets it apart is the recipe. Lumsden selected a mash bill of 51% rye and 49% malted barley, an unusually high proportion of malted barley for an American rye. The distillate comes from Indiana, with reporting pointing to MGP, and is then shipped to Texas, where it is finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks before blending and bottling.
Before launch, the whisky was submitted anonymously to a number of competitions to validate its quality.
Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey
Award: Best of Class
Tasting Notes: Honey, brown sugar, cedar, orange peel, tobacco flower, ginger, white paper, caramel, wood spice, chocolate, cigar leaf, nougat, cinnamon, dark chocolate, maple syrup
RRP: $49.99
Uncle Nearest is named for Nathan “Nearest” Green, the formerly enslaved distiller who taught a young Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. The brand was founded in 2017 by Fawn Weaver and is based in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
The 1884 expression takes its name from what Weaver’s research identified as the last year Green is believed to have barreled his own whiskey. Each batch is curated by Master Blender Victoria Eady Butler, a fifth-generation descendant of Green, whose signature appears on the back of every bottle.
It is a corn-forward Tennessee whiskey with a mash bill of at least 51% corn, aged in new charred oak and bottled at 93 proof. Uncle Nearest now describes the whiskey as distilled, aged, and bottled entirely in-house, though earlier bottlings were sourced from undisclosed Tennessee distilleries while the company built out its own production. Age has been given as a minimum of seven years in the brand’s earlier communications, and it typically sells for around $50.
Uncle Nearest is currently in the midst of a legal battle, which recently saw Fawn Weaver fired as CEO. You can read about this here.
Wenzel Distillery Honey Cask Finish
Award: Best of Class
Tasting Notes: Honey, lemon cake, pepper, baking spices, honeysuckle
RRP: $99
Wenzel Distillery sits in Covington, Kentucky, in a restored 1916 Packard automotive building on Madison Avenue, and it holds the distinction of being the first bourbon distillery to operate in Covington since before Prohibition.
Founded in 2022, it began as a rectifier, a producer that sources and blends whiskey, and offers visitors a blending experience alongside its own bottlings. In 2023, Wenzel acquired the assets and aged inventory of Ghost Coast Distillery in Savannah, Georgia, which gave it a stock of maturing bourbon to finish and release, and it began distilling its own spirit in 2025.
The Honey Cask Finish does not currently appear on Wenzel’s website or on any news sites. A honey-finished bottling appears to be listed at Cincinnati-area retailer The Party Source, which suggests it may be an upcoming or retailer-specific release still working its way to wider availability.
If so, it would echo the path of Wenzel’s Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon, which was named World’s Best Finished Bourbon at the 2025 World Whiskies Awards while still a scarce release. Watch this space.
Bubba’s Marshmallow Chocolate Whiskey
Award: Best of Class
Tasting Notes: Rich chocolate and fluffy marshmallows
RRP: $20.99
Bubba’s Marshmallow Chocolate is a flavored whiskey, part of the Bubba’s Secret Stills line, and it is built around the taste of a s’more, with marshmallow and milk chocolate flavors added to the base spirit. The brand describes the base as a Southern-style spirit whiskey infused with flavor following a “secret recipe,” and it is marketed with a playful, outlaw-themed personality across the range.
Because it is a flavored spirit whiskey rather than a straight or aged bourbon, the sort of production detail that applies to the other winners, mash bill, age statement, cask maturation, does not come into play in the same way, and the brand does not publish those specifics.
It is bottled at 70 proof, or 35% ABV, the lowest strength on this list, and sits alongside stablemates such as Burnt Sugar, Hot Honey, and Pancakes & Bacon. It is positioned as a sweet, easygoing shot or dessert-drink mixer rather than a sipping whiskey, and it usually sells at a budget-friendly price.
Final Thoughts
What ties these nine together is how little they have in common. The SIP Awards put a 12-year Colorado single malt, a Beyoncé-backed rye, and a marshmallow-chocolate shot on the same list, judged by the people who actually drink them rather than a panel of experts. Whether that makes the results more meaningful or just different is up to you.
Have you tried any of these Best of Class winners? Are there any you would like to seek out? And what do you make of a competition judged by consumers rather than industry experts? Let us know in the comments.
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