What do a bottled-in-bond bourbon sold only in Kentucky, an American whiskey finished in casks from the Scottish island of Jura, and a blend first created for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation have in common? All three are among the seven whiskies named Trophy winners at the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) 2026 last week.
The IWSC awarded 24 Spirits Trophies, and whisky took Trophies in the Bourbon, American, Irish, Worldwide, and three Scotch categories. We have already covered the Scotch winners, so today we are taking a step back and looking at how all seven are made, who made them, and the history behind each one.
How Are The IWSC Trophies Awarded?
The IWSC began in 1969 and says it is “often referred to as the ‘Olympics of the drinks industry’.” It now evaluates more than 12,000 entries a year from over 90 countries.
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Each label is checked for correct categorization, and samples are served in numbered glasses to keep the judging anonymous. Judging panels bring together experts from different sectors of the trade, drawn from more than 30 countries.
Every spirit awarded Gold is then retasted by a member of the independent Spirits Judging Committee, which includes Master Distillers, Master Blenders, senior buyers, and communicators.
For the Trophies, several committee members reconvened after this year’s spirits judging to retaste the top-performing Gold and Gold Outstanding winners and choose the bottles to receive the competition’s highest individual awards.
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READ THE STORYBardstown Bourbon Company Lochs of Jura Barrel Finish
Award: Trophy, American Whiskey
Score: 99
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: $139.99
This whiskey scored higher than any other entry in the IWSC’s North American judging. Bardstown Bourbon Company Lochs of Jura Barrel Finish is a blend of 49% 11-year-old Indiana bourbon, 30% 10-year-old Indiana rye, and 21% 12-year-old Kentucky bourbon, placing it in the American whiskey category.
The blend spent 32 months in casks that had held single malt on the Isle of Jura, which were made up of 84% ex-bourbon and 16% ex-sherry barrels. The sherry casks were too big for the ricks, so they stayed in the warehouse aisles. The whiskey is bottled at 104 proof (52% ABV).
Lochs of Jura forms part of Bardstown Bourbon Company’s Collaborative Series, which sees the Kentucky producer work with worldwide spirit, wine, and beer producers to craft unique expressions.
Willett Distillery Old Bardstown Bottled-in-Bond 4 Year Old
Award: Trophy, Bourbon
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
Thompson Willett established Willett Distillery in Bardstown in 1936, but the Old Bardstown brand has not always been made there.
According to Breaking Bourbon, the distillery stopped producing bourbon during the 1970s energy crisis. By the early 1980s, the company had been renamed Kentucky Bourbon Distillers and was sourcing whiskey for Old Bardstown, believed to be mostly from Heaven Hill.
Willett returned to distilling in 2012 and started moving the brand over to its own spirit in 2016, the year this bottled-in-bond expression was released.
The bourbon uses what Willett calls the original family mash bill of 72% corn, 13% rye, and 15% malted barley, and it enters the barrel at 125 proof.
To be labeled bottled-in-bond, it must come from one distilling season at a single distillery, be aged for at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse, and be bottled at 100 proof. Willett distributes it only in Kentucky.
Teeling Distillery Exclusive 20 Year Old Mongolian Oak Cask Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Award: Trophy, Irish Whiskey
Score: 98
Tasting Notes: “Bright tropical fruits of mango and pineapple to the fore with well-integrated oak. The palate offers a lively burst of citrus that unfolds into gentle nuttiness, evoking a subtle cheese board richness. It concludes with a crisp, white-wine freshness and a sweet, candy-floss sweetness.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: Distillery exclusive
Teeling’s 20-year-old single malt was finished in a Mongolian oak cask. Quercus Mongolica is a species of deciduous broadleaf that, when used in whisky maturation, gives a smooth mouthfeel thanks to the lack of tannins compared to other types of oak. It also gives similar flavors to Mizunara oak.
The whiskey is older than Teeling’s own distillery in Dublin. It was distilled and partly matured at Cooley Distillery before being moved to Teeling. It is bottled at 45.9% ABV, and only 276 bottles were released.
The Teeling family established Cooley in 1987, and the family’s history in Dublin distilling goes back to 1782, when Walter Teeling set up a distillery on Marrowbone Lane. John Teeling’s sons, Jack and Stephen, opened the current distillery in the Liberties in 2015.
This release is part of Teeling’s run of 20-year-old distillery exclusives, which has also included a Cognac cask edition.
Wan Ja Shan Distillery Dawu Malt Blended Whiskey
Award: Trophy, Worldwide Whiskey
Score: 98
Tasting Notes: “A gorgeous blend of tropical and orchard fruits, with toffee and woody spice notes. Layers of rich sweetness unfold on the palate, revealing baked apple and cherries with elegant texture. The delightful wine gum finish is full of charm.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: N/A
Here we have one of the peculiarities that sometimes make their way into international competitions: a whiskey distilled in Ireland and aged in Taiwan.
Wan Ja Shan is best known in Taiwan as a soy sauce maker. The Drinks Business reports that it was founded after Japan withdrew from Taiwan at the end of the Second World War. In 2016, it brought in Dr Frank Lin, who spent 38 years at the state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation, as a whiskey consultant.
The Dawu name was adopted in 2023 and comes from Dawu Mountain in Pingtung County, in the south of the island.
The label on this bottle states that it was distilled in Ireland and aged in Taiwan, but it does not name the Irish distillery. Wan Ja Shan is based in Pingtung, where the company has built a maturation facility with temperature and humidity controls, powered by solar panels on its factory roofs.
The whiskey carries no age statement and is bottled at 54.9% ABV.
Bowmore 9 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Award: Trophy, Single Malt Scotch Whisky Under 20 YO
Score: 98
Tasting Notes: “Aromas of delicate sea salt, crème caramel, and light peat smoke. On the palate, roasted peaches and soft bonfire smoke take centre stage, beautifully balanced by notes of oats, roasted pumpkin seeds, fresh rhubarb, and a pinch of sea salt.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: £32.50 / $44
Bowmore still runs its own malt barn, and according to the distillery, the barley there is turned by hand every four hours, day and night. It is then dried in a kiln with two furnaces, where peat smoke rises through a mesh floor to the malt above. Fermentation takes place in six two-story Oregon pine washbacks, each named after a person or family from the distillery’s history, and the spirit is distilled in four stills.
The 9 Year Old is matured for at least nine years in a mix of American oak ex-bourbon casks and European oak Oloroso sherry butts, and it is bottled at 40% ABV. It is fantastic value-for-money for a single malt from Bowmore.
Bowmore has been making whisky on the shore of Loch Indaal since 1779 and is now owned by Suntory Global Spirits. We cover more of its history in our Scotch Trophy round-up.
East Asia Whisky Company & Silver Seal 35 Year Old Manta Ray Seven Clean Seas Bunnahabhain Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Award: Trophy, Single Malt Scotch Whisky Over 20 YO
Score: 98
Tasting Notes: “Bright fragrant notes of lemon biscuits and chamomile lead into a sweet, creamy palate rich with delicate floral notes and hints of Danish pastry. The vibrant tropical fruit carries through to a long, elegant finish, showing superb balance and depth.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: N/A
The Manta Ray series began with a rum. The East Asia Whisky Company and Italy’s Silver Seal Whisky Company first used the name on a 1997 vintage Caroni rum, bottled after 25 years, with sales supporting the UK charity the Manta Trust. Caroni is a closed distillery, and the bottlers used the release to warn that manta rays could meet the same fate.
This 35-year-old single malt is a joint entry from the two bottlers, according to the IWSC, and it is bottled at a cask strength of 49.3% ABV. You can read more about it here.
The blender William Robertson and the brothers William and James Greenlees established Bunnahabhain in 1881. The distillery and a village for its workers were built together in the north-east corner of Islay, and production began in 1883. Bunnahabhain is known for its unpeated single malt.
Royal Salute 21 Year Old Signature Blend Blended Scotch Whisky
Award: Trophy, Blended Scotch Whisky
Score: 96
Tasting Notes: “A layered nose of bright tropical fruits and polished oak with savoury depth. The palate unfolds with a wisp of smoke over oatcakes, digestive biscuits, and subtle spice. Refreshing citrus and playful sherbet tones leave a vibrant, lasting impression.” – IWSC Judges
Find Your Next Bottle: £105 / $131
Royal Salute takes its name from the 21-gun salute fired in tribute to royalty, and the Signature Blend was created as a gift for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. The youngest whisky in any Royal Salute blend is at least 21 years old. The original blend was created using whisky from Strathisla, which, like Royal Salute, is now owned by Chivas Brothers, Pernod Ricard’s Scotch whisky business. The recipe has apparently stayed the same for all these years.
The Signature Blend is bottled at 40% ABV in a sapphire blue flagon designed to recall the stones in the Crown Jewels. Royal Salute has been part of Pernod Ricard since 2001.
The blend earned Gold with 96 points, and as we noted in our Scotch Trophy round-up, no blended Scotch reached Gold Outstanding this year.
Seven Trophies From Thousands of Entries
The IWSC’s judges tasted thousands of spirits entered from around the world this year. Only the Gold and Gold Outstanding winners moved on to be retasted by the Spirits Judging Committee, and just 24 Spirits Trophies came out of that whole field, seven of them for whisky. The IWSC evaluates more than 12,000 entries a year across wine, spirits, and other drinks, and a Trophy is the highest award it gives to an individual bottle. So, these whiskies certainly made their marks.
Have you tried any of these seven? Are there any you would like to get your hands on, and what do you make of the awards? Let us know in the comments.
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