Once again, we are proud to announce our exceptional performance at this year’s Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition, confirming the long winning streak that we have constantly followed in all previous editions!
Renowned for its strict standards, the competition utilizes a panel of over 300 jurors who conduct blind tastings over multiple weeks, ensuring completely impartial and highly repeatable results year after year. The high level of professionalism and experience involved in the tasting can be seen at the page dedicated to the members of the jury:
https://tokyowhiskyspiritscompetition.jp/judges/
Like in previous editions, this time too our highest-scoring expressions were those featuring bold, rich Sherry finishes. This prestigious recognition validates our long-standing commitment to wood management and our endless search for the finest Spanish casks, which remain central to our maturation style for a large majority of our bottlings: it’s one of the distinctive elements of our taste and approach (but certainly not the only one!).
Our medals for this edition were:
Superior Gold: Linkwood 18yo “Sherry Finish Oloroso” 2007-25 (57,3%) W&M589
Finished for five years in a first fill Oloroso sherry hogshead, this Speyside malt is fruity, creamy, with a late spicy touch. It definitely shows the Oloroso influence, while retaining elegance and the qualities of the distillery.
Gold: Ardmore 12yo “Sherry Finish PX” 2013-25 (53,3%) W&M592
Only slightly tamed by a finish of 24 months in first fill Pedro Ximenez, it remains very muscular, with notes of pinewood, cereals, liquorice root, leather, camphor and mint. A whisky for lovers of intense flavours.
But it doesn’t end here… of ALL the whiskies submitted for the competition, our Linkwood 18yo won the most coveted prize: the Best Category Award, assigned to the whisky that got the absolute highest average score from the 300 jugdes! Yes, you read it right: our Linkwood was the favourite single malts of ALL!
And once again, our Japanese distributor ePower deserves very special thanks for helping us improve our presence on the local market and submitting our best bottlings for the competition!
