The Tasting Alliance runs the San Francisco World Spirits Competition each year.
The Tasting Alliance
The Tasting Alliance has released its Platinum Medal recipients for the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC). A Platinum Medal is one of the most rigorous awards in the spirits industry, requiring consistent product quality over time.
The Path To Platinum
Achieving a Platinum Medal at the SFWSC is the result of a multi-year judging progression. After a product is entered into the competition, it is scored blind by a panel of industry professionals on a 100-point scale. If every judge on the panel awards the product a Gold score, it earns a Double Gold Medal. If that same product achieves a Double Gold score for three consecutive years, it is upgraded to a Platinum Medal.
2026 SFWSC Platinum Medal logos
The Tasting Alliance
2026 Platinum Medal Winners
The following products have achieved Platinum Medal status in 2026, including competition-supplied notes (where available).
American Whiskey
Bainbridge – Battle Point Barrel Proof Wheat Whiskey: From an organic island distillery in Washington’s Puget Sound, an all-organic-wheat whiskey bottled at full barrel strength.
Blanton’s – Straight from the Barrel Cask Strength Single Barrel Bourbon
Brother’s Bond – Cask Strength Straight Bourbon: Founded by Vampire Diaries co-stars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, whose on-screen brotherhood inspired the name.
Eagle Rare – Straight Bourbon: Distilled at Buffalo Trace and aged a minimum of 10 years.
Fox & Oden – Double Oaked Straight Bourbon: A Michigan-born bourbon finished in a second char-oak barrel.
Lost Woods – 110 American Single Malt Whiskey
Peg Leg Porker Spirits – Grey Label Tennessee Straight Bourbon: From championship pitmaster Carey Bringle, who lost his leg to cancer at 17 and became the first BBQ pitmaster to launch a bourbon. His World’s Best Bourbon title actually came at the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, beating out Kentucky’s heavyweights.
The Notch Nantucket Single Malt Whiskey – 15 Year Old
Whiskey War – Double Double Oaked
Scotch Whisky
Aberfeldy – Madeira Cask 16 Years Old Highland Single Malt Scotch: A richer twist on Aberfeldy’s signature heather-honey style.
Ardbeg – 25 Year Old Single Malt Scotch: The oldest whisky in Ardbeg’s core range, bottled from incredibly rare casks.
Benriach – The Thirty Single Malt Scotch: A Speyside thirty-year-old that showcases the distillery’s signature multi-cask maturation.
Benriach – The Twelve Single Malt Scotch: A three-cask Speysider (bourbon, sherry, and Port).
Benromach – 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch
Dewar’s – Double Double 21 Year Old Blended Scotch: Built on master blender Stephanie Macleod’s four-stage “double double” aging process, an unusually meticulous method for a blended Scotch.
Dewar’s – Double Double 32 Year Old Blended Scotch: The pinnacle of the Double Double range.
Glen Scotia – 25 Year Old Single Malt Scotch: A briny, maritime single malt.
Glenglassaugh – Sandend Single Malt Scotch: Built around its salty, maritime character.
Levenside – 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch
Loch Lomond – 12 Year Old Inchmoan Single Malt Scotch
Nobel Rebel – Smoke Symphony Blended Malt Scotch
Royal Brackla – Oloroso, Palo Cortado & Pedro Ximénez 21 Years Old Single Malt Scotch: One of only three distilleries ever granted a royal warrant, here finished across a trio of distinct sherry casks for layered dried-fruit complexity.
Sassenach Spirits – Spirit of Home Scotch: Created by Outlander star Sam Heughan, this Madeira-finished blend won Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in its very first year of release and has continued the trend.
The Glendronach – Aged 18 Years Single Malt Scotch (“Allardice”): A richly sherried Highland single malt.
The Glenrothes – 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch: A Speyside single malt long beloved by blenders, known for its rounded, sherried house style
The Glenrothes – 25 Year Old Single Malt Scotch
The Singleton of Dufftown – 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch: A gently sherried Speysider designed for smoothness.
Irish Whiskey
Redbreast – 12 Year Old Cask Strength Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey: The undiluted, full-proof expression of the whiskey widely regarded as the definitive single pot still Irish — a style that briefly nearly went extinct.
Redbreast – 27 Year Old Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey: A rare ruby-port-cask-finished flagship, among the oldest age-stated releases in the celebrated Redbreast lineup.
Spot Whiskey – Yellow Spot Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey
Other World Whisky
Kavalan – Solist Fino Sherry Single Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Rum
Calazan – Ron Añejo Reserva
Cotton & Reed – White Rum: A Washington, D.C. distillery, born in a former warehouse near Union Market.
Gin
Gale Force – Gin
Gervasi Spirits – Pink Peppercorn Gin: A contemporary gin built around the bright, floral spice of pink peppercorn.
Gindome – Mermaid Navy Strength Gin
Prohibition Liquor Co. – Juniperus Gin: A juniper-forward gin that leans hard into the classic.
Tanqueray – London Dry Gin: One of the most awarded and bartender-trusted gins in the world.
Tanqueray – No. TEN Gin: Distilled using whole fresh citrus rather than dried peel.
Tequila & Mezcal
Black Sheep Tequila – Añejo
Maria Bonita – Ensamble Mezcal: Truly showcases the mezcalero’s art of balancing different agaves in one expression.
Mezcal Vago – Elote: Maestro mezcalero Aquilino García’s family adds roasted corn from their own Oaxacan farm between distillations — the toasted-corn note carries all the way to the finish.
Pantalones Organic Tequila – Añejo: Co-founded by Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila.
Perro Verde Mezcal – Tobasiche: Made from wild-harvested Tobalá/Tobasiche agave, a slow-maturing variety that grows in the wild rather than cultivated rows — prized for its complexity.
Tequila Ocho – Plata: The first tequila to be bottled by single estate and vintage, like wine, so each release tastes of the specific field and year the agave was grown.
Brandy & Cognac
Camus la Grande Marque – Very Special Cognac: From the largest family-owned independent Cognac house, now five generations deep.
Golden Wat Spirits – Cognac Virtue VSOP
Intipalka – Puro Italia Pisco: A single-varietal Peruvian pisco made entirely from the aromatic Italia grape grown in the brand’s own Ica Valley vineyards.
Torres – 15 Year Old Brandy: From Spain’s famed Familia Torres of Penedès, a solera-aged brandy from one of the most storied wine-and-spirit families in Catalonia.
Vodka
High Bank Distillery – Vodka
Soju & Shochu
Iichiko – Saiten Shochu: Built specifically to shine in cocktails — a bartender-friendly gateway to authentic shochu.
Minhwa Spirits – Yong Soju: A 100% rice soju.
Ready-To-Drink
Knox & Dobson – Improved Whiskey Cocktail: True craft cocktail culture in a bottle.
Mission Craft Cocktails – Jalapeño Pineapple Margarita: A sweet-heat balance in a can/bottle.
Other
CR Citrus – Smoked Orange
Top Note – Classic Tonic