You can help to judge

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Awards

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Awards is a unique competition because it’s considered to be the only whisky award to be judged by consumers. And very special consumers, too – because only Festival visitors can take part in the final judging!

The Awards began in 2005, and since then, they’ve become a popular annual fixture on the Festival calendar. The aim of the Awards is to promote Speyside whiskies around the world, and the competition is open to all Speyside single malts.

There are three entry categories and each distillery may enter all of them.  

Categories:

• Up to 12 years old
• 13-20 years old
• 21+ years old

Criteria:

• Single malts only
• Proprietary bottlings only
• All entrants must be ’generally’ and ’commercially’ available

2010 Winners: 

2009 Winners:

The Judging Process

This takes place in two stages. A panel of judges drawn from the industry, whisky writers and specialist retail outlets attend in a blind tasting of over 50 Speyside Malt Whiskies. This event is held at Holyrood in Edinburgh at the start of the year.

At this preliminary stage, two whiskies from each category are selected for the final – and that’s where you come in!

Visitors to the Festival take part in the final judging process just before the Opening Dinner and Dance. 

The results are announced during the Opening Event by the keynote speaker.  So – if you’ve got a nose for a good malt, this will be a unique opportunity to put it to the test!