The International Wine & Spirits Competition was founded in 1969, and over the decades since it has grown into one of the most respected awards in the drinks world. A medal from the IWSC carries weight with the trade and with drinkers trying to decide what to buy, because the judging is thorough and the standards are high.
Entries are tasted blind by panels drawn from more than 30 countries, with no label or price in view, and every Gold is retasted by a separate committee before it is confirmed. When a bourbon scores well here, it has earned it.
Scores fall into four bands. Bronze covers 85 to 89 points, Silver runs from 90 to 94, Gold sits at 95 to 97, and Gold Outstanding is reserved for the 98 to 100 range. Reaching that top tier is rare, and in the 2026 bourbon results only two bottles managed it.
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READ THE STORYBelow those two are a number of Gold winners, and there were too many to cover in full. So this article focuses on the bourbons that scored 96 points or higher, the bottles that came closest to the very top. Here is a closer look at each one, what went into it, and where you can find it.
Bardstown Bourbon Company Lochs of Jura Barrel 10 Year Old Bourbon Whiskey
Award: Spirit Gold Outstanding 2026
Score: 99
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Tasting Notes: “A vibrant burst of cinnamon and spiced vanilla melds seamlessly with zesty orange peels and caramel on the nose. Rich orange and nutmeg flavours unfold alongside chocolate and warm wood spices, leading to a bright, juicy finish with a lively balance of oak and sweet tang. Exceptionally well-balanced and full of character.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: N/A
This was the highest-scoring spirit anywhere in the 2026 competition, and the name points to what sets it apart. The whiskey spent ten years maturing in Kentucky, then got a long second stint in casks that previously held single malt from the Isle of Jura in Scotland. The mash bill has not been shared, but it is probably a standard Kentucky straight bourbon recipe, according to Forbes.
The distillery itself dates to the mid-2010s and was planned from the outset as both a place to make whiskey and a place to visit, with founders including Peter Loftin and former Maker’s Mark distiller Steve Nally, who sits in the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.
A finish in ex-Scotch casks is an uncommon route for a Kentucky bourbon and 10 years is a longer amount of ages than is often seen is bourbon as well. Beyond this finishing info, we don’t know a lot about this bourbon, which suggests it might be an upcoming release.
Willet Old Bardstown Bottled-in-Bond 4 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Award: Spirit Gold Outstanding 2026
Score: 98
Tasting Notes: “Bright and grain-forward aromas lead into a balanced, dry palate where marmalade and brioche melds seamlessly with a delicate floral touch. The oak and distillate fuse superbly, leaving a refined, lingering finish full of character and charm. Superb.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: $19.99 / £35
To carry the Bottled-in-Bond designation, a whiskey has to be the work of a single distillery and a single distilling season, age at least four years in a bonded warehouse, and reach exactly 100 proof.
Old Bardstown is made by Willett, the family distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky that traces back to 1936 and the Willett family, then was bought and revived in the 1980s by Even Kulsveen after he married into it. For years the company sourced and bottled whiskey under names like Rowan’s Creek and Noah’s Mill, but it returned to distilling on site in 2012, and this bourbon is its own make.
The mash bill is heavy on malted barley, which gives it a distinct character among Kentucky bottlings. The recipe is, according to Willet, a family one of 72% corn, 13% rye, and 15% malted barley. Old Bardstown Bottled-in-Bond is mainly sold within Kentucky and tends to be very affordable, which makes a Gold Outstanding score all the more notable.
Kentucky Beau Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Award: Spirit Gold 2026
Score: 97
Tasting Notes: “The aroma opens with buttery toast and zesty marmalade, leading to a juicy, sweet palate bursting with fresh peaches and playful gumdrops. It is easy drinking, delightfully sweet, and leaves a satisfyingly long, lingering finish.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: $39.99
This is the quiet surprise of the group. Kentucky Beau is a value label, the kind of bottle that rarely gets much attention, yet it scored 97 in blind judging. It belongs to Heaven Hill, the Bardstown company that has been family-run since 1935 and now holds one of the largest stocks of aging bourbon anywhere.
Heaven Hill is the name behind Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, and Larceny, and it rebuilt itself after a 1996 fire destroyed its original distillery and a huge volume of whiskey.
The Kentucky Beau released here is a six-year-old bourbon bottled at 100 proof, made from the company’s standard recipe. It sells for well under $40, which makes the result a good reminder of what blind tasting can turn up.
Frey Ranch Inaugural Batch 1 10 Year Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Award: Spirit Gold 2026
Score: 97
Tasting Notes: “Bright citrus and candied ginger lift the aroma, giving way to a luscious blend of buttery caramel, sugar cookies, and warm cinnamon on the palate. This vibrant sweetness unfolds into a robust finish of toffee popcorn, cherry pie, and lingering treacle warmth.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: $99, Enter the ballot here
This release is Frey Ranch’s first ten-year-old, and the distillery bills it as the oldest whiskey aged in the Nevada high desert. The family has farmed the land around Fallon since the 1850s, and the corn, rye, wheat, and barley that go into the bourbon are raised, milled, and distilled on the same estate.
The desert climate plays a part with fierce summers and cold winters pushing the spirit in and out of the wood faster than a milder region would. It uses the same four-grain recipe as the flagship bourbon (66.6% non-GMO corn, 11.4% Canadian winter rye, 10% soft winter wheat, and 12% malted two-row barley) and is bottled at 102 proof.
Batch one came out in June 2026 as a limited run, sold through an online lottery and the distillery’s own shop at around $99. For a craft producer well outside Kentucky, a decade in the barrel is a real milestone.
Whiskey Tree Wheated Bourbon Whiskey
Award: Spirit Gold 2026
Score: 97
Tasting Notes: “Bright tropical fruits and spearmint burst from the glass, entwined with a sweet oak warmth. The palate delivers lively lemon citrus and black pepper, layered with gentle rye spices. The elegant style concludes with a juicy, well-balanced finish that lingers invitingly.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: $85 / £68
The story behind Whiskey Tree’s name comes from a piece of local lore: a bald cypress deep in the swamp where, the story goes, Prohibition-era moonshiners met after dark to keep out of the law’s reach.
Seven Three is a small-batch distillery in the middle of New Orleans, named for the 73 diverse neighborhoods that make up the city, and its bottles all carry that local theme.
This one is a wheated bourbon, meaning wheat stands in for the rye most Kentucky recipes use, which tends to give a softer, rounder pour. It is bottled at 100 proof, and the distillery points to the city’s heat and humidity as part of what shapes the spirit as it ages. The company has been distilling since 2016.
Kentucke County Straight 6 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Award: Spirit Gold 2026
Score: 96
Tasting Notes: “Rich scents of salted caramel and toasted pecan pie mingle with suggestions of dried papaya and warm pastries. The creamy, rounded body delivers honeyed sweetness and gentle mango, balanced by a touch of spice. Vanilla lingers softly in the finish.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: $37.99
“Kentucke County” was the name given to the frontier territory back in 1776, before it became the state we know, and the brand chose it to mark America’s 250th anniversary and bourbon’s early roots.
It comes from 15 STARS, a Bardstown outfit run by the father-and-son blenders Rick and Ricky Johnson, who source and marry mature whiskeys. This bottling is a blend of two Kentucky straight bourbons, each aged at least six years, brought together at 90 proof.
It is worth being clear that this is a blended, sourced product rather than one distillery’s own make, not that this is in any way a bad thing; 15 STARS is consistently awarded.
The 2026 IWSC Bourbon Verdict
For me, what stands out across these six is how few big heritage names are among them. Aside from Heaven Hill and Willett, the top of the 2026 bourbon results is held by smaller and newer producers: a Nevada estate distillery, a New Orleans wheated bourbon, a Bardstown blending house, and a relatively young Kentucky operation that took the highest score of the lot.
It is good to see that kind of company take the top honors, and a sign of how much quality now sits outside the household-name distilleries. The prices help too, running from under $40 to around $99, which is a reminder that a high score and a high cost do not always travel together.
If you want to see the full picture, including the other Gold winners we did not cover here, take a look at our list of all the USA winners from the IWSC 2026.
So which would you reach for first? Tell us in the comments whether you have tried any of these, and whether you think the judges got it right.
