The results of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2017 have been revealed, with the Colonel EH Taylor Four Grain Bourbon – a Buffalo Trace small batch release – taking out the top prize of World Whisky of the Year.
The Bourbon was praised for its “sheer undiluted beauty”, with the esteemed whisky expert Murray writing: “Nothing could match the astonishing beauty of its surprisingly delicate weight and complexity combined. It was through time stood still in the tasting room; I just knew…”
The Colonel EH Taylor Four Grain Bourbon draws its name from the four grain mash bill used to produce it, made up of corn, rye, wheat and malted barley. It also won Bourbon of the Year and the 10 Years & Over (Multiple Barrels) award in the American Whiskey category.
Second Finest Whisky in the World was awarded to Redbreast 21 Year Old, an Irish Whiskey which also took out Irish Whiskey of the Year and Irish Pot Still Whiskey of the Year.
Another big winner was the Glen Grant Aged 18 Years Rare Edition, which was named Third Finest Whisky in the World, also winning Scotch Whisky of the Year and Single Malt of the Year (Multiple Casks).
There was a notable Australian winner, with the Limeburner’s Dark Winter, named as the Southern Hemisphere Whisky of the Year. The Darkest Winter uses peat collected by hand from the Valley of the Giants and the barley is smoked for an extended period, resulting in a heavier more intense style of whisky.
Making history in the 2018 edition, Lost Spirits’ Abomination – a ‘technology aged whisky’ aged in just six days using a revolutionary patented technology – was awarded 94 points and the coveted ‘Liquid Gold’ designation for whiskies awarded 94 points or higher, beating 95 per cent of the world’s best whiskies in the process.
The technology works by exposing oak to high intensity light and heat while suspended in a glass tube filled with unaged or young distilled spirits; the combination of specific wavelengths of light and heat has been proven to trigger the same chemical reaction that happens in ageing casks.
Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible is the world’s biggest-selling and most influential annual whisky guide, containing roughly 4,500 detailed, professionally analysed and easy to understand tasting notes on the world’s leading and lesser-known whiskies.
Each whisky is tasted by Murray himself and graded with an overall score out of 100.
