While peated whisky continues to divide whisky drinkers, with many who love it and others who for some bizarre reason won’t touch it, it appears peat is popular with award judges.
In particular it is popular among the judges at the American Distillers Institute (ADI), as they named Great Southern Distilling Company’s Limeburners Heavy Peat asthe Best International Craft Whisky in the World.
This is not just any award, the ADI is renowned as the oldest and largest trade association dedicated to craft distilling. There were more than 1,000 entries from around the World.
The recent awards follow a swag of accolades collected by Heavy Peat over the years, including a San Francisco World Spirits Competition Gold Medal (2017), Australian Distilled Spirits Awards Gold Medals (2016, 2015), two Australian Distilled Spirits Awards Champion Whisky Trophies (2015, 2016), and Australia’s first International Gold Medal for spirits at the UK’s International Wine & Spirits Competition (2015). Heavy Peat’s stable mate – “Limeburners Darkest Winter” won the USA’s trophy for Best International Craft Whisky in the World in 2017.
Great Southern Distilling’s Founder and Master Distiller Cameron Syme says the win is a testament to the world-class quality of Australian Whisky.
“The 2017 World Title was beyond our wildest dreams, now to win a ‘best in the World’ for a second time in 2020, we’re all very, very happy,” Syme said.
“The international recognition achieved by our Limeburners whiskies is showing the globe that Australia is producing some of the World’s best whisky and achieving a level of quality that is comparable with, and in some cases better than, the best Scotch and Japanese expressions.”
Speaking about what makes Heavy Peat such a good whisky, Syme added: “I settled on the Great Southern region as this region had everything that I needed to make great whisky, including top quality grain, pristine water, peat and a fantastic mild climate,” he said.
“This peat is very old, and it is unique to this part of Australia as different plants were growing here so the peat smoke is unlike any other. Our whisky has a fantastic subtle sweetness to it that whisky drinkers around the world are loving.
“We use a hard water extracted from limestone aquifers deep below the Albany distillery for our brew water. That results in a fantastically smooth soft wash post fermentation, and a fantastic spirit.”
In addition to the USA competition’s top trophy as Best International Craft Whisky in the World, Limeburners Heavy Peat was awarded the trophy as Best International Craft Smoked Whisky and a unanimous Gold Medal, scoring 95 points out of 100.
The judges described the whisky as exhibiting a “sweet palate with well-balanced pine and spice. Singed pine-needles and orange zest developed (in the glass). Rich toffee background with developing fruit.”
“The smoke hides a bit behind citrus aromas, very fresh, crisp, fruity. On the palate the smoke comes out stronger but is still fresh and very clean. The alcohol structure gives a great complexity and dilution makes the whisky even sweeter,” the judges said.
Other Australian award winners at the 2020 ADI were a silver medal for Giniversity’s Australian Native Gin and a bronze medal for Adelaide Hills Distillery’s Bitter Orange Australian Aperitif.
