Scotch whisky firm Artisanal Spirits Company has won over 45 awards in the past calendar year, including some of the industry’s most prestigious gongs. This brings its total number of wins across its whisky and spirits brand since 2018 to 368.
The Aim-listed drinks company, which owns The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), Single Cask Nation and JG Thomson, won a record haul of six gold medals and one silver in the International Spirits Challenge, widely viewed as the world’s most respected spirits competition.
Its gold-winning entries – all made by SMWS – included its ‘Cask No. 36220: from raisins to resins’, and ‘Cask No. 42.85: a mug of mulled miso’.
SMWS also performed well in this year’s Scotch Whisky Masters, notching up eight medals, including one Master – the most prestigious – six golds and one silver.
In the US, the firm’s brands were also recognised at the annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the largest competition of its kind. There, it won four Golds, two silvers, and three Scotch of the Year gongs.
Andrew Dane, CEO of The Artisanal Spirits company, said: “To achieve accolades from such prestigious global competitions, judged by many of the most respected professionals in our industry, is no mean feat and I am delighted that the efforts of our team and the outstanding quality of our whiskies have been recognised so broadly.
“We are particularly proud that each of the brands in the portfolio have been recognised at these prestigious global awards. This is a testament to the core proposition of the Artisanal Spirits Company, which is to create and sell outstanding, limited-edition whisky & experiences around the world.”
Artisanal Sprits’ top brass will hope the slew of wins usher in a change of fortunes for the firm, which has been rocked by falling demand in China, which nudged it into the red in its most recent full-year earnings.
Shares in the London-listed company have fallen by over 50 per cent in the past year despite growing membership of the SMWS club, which now has over 40,000 members.
SMWS, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, received seven awards from the International Wine and Spirits Competition, with one gold, three silver and three bronze medals.
Meanwhile Single Cask Nation, the US whisky maker that Artisanal Spirits Company acquired earlier this year, was named the 2024 Independent Bottler of the year by World of Whiskies, and won two gold medals in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.