Competitions & Results

The Results Are In: Inside the IWSC’s 2026 North American Spirits & RTD Judging in Bardstown, Kentucky

The “Olympics of the Drinks Industry” returned to the Bourbon Capital of the World for a third year — and a Bardstown Bourbon Company release came out on top.

Every June, a small group of the spirits world’s most decorated palates packs into Bardstown, Kentucky — the self-proclaimed Bourbon Capital of the World — to do something that sounds simple and is anything but: taste whiskey, all day, with total focus, and decide what’s actually great.

This is the IWSC North American Spirits & RTD Judging, the Kentucky leg of the International Wine & Spirits Competition’s Global Judging program. Judging ran across five days in early June, with results from the 2026 competition — the third consecutive year the event has been held in Kentucky — announced on June 12. Every spirit was tasted double blind: judges never saw a producer, brand, packaging, or price tag, and every medal was awarded purely on what was in the glass.

What is the IWSC?

Founded in 1969, the IWSC has spent more than five decades building a reputation as one of the most credible — and most coveted — competitions in the drinks industry. It’s earned the nickname “the Olympics of the Drinks Industry” for good reason.

The judging panels are stacked with the kind of credentials that don’t come easily: Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, Master Distillers, and senior buyers from major retailers and distributors. For producers, an IWSC medal is shorthand for “evaluated by people who do this for a living.” For consumers, it’s a quick, trustworthy signal in a crowded shelf.

The Global Judging Program — and Why Kentucky Is On the List

Since 2022, the IWSC has run Global Judging events — an initiative spearheaded by Strategy and Business Development Director Christelle Guibert, and the first of its kind among international drinks competitions. Rather than requiring every producer to ship samples to London, the IWSC brings its full judging apparatus — the panel structure, the scoring rubric, the double-blind format — directly to key producing regions.

Wine and spirits have already been judged through this program in Italy, Austria, Georgia, Turkey, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, China, and the United States. The idea is straightforward: producers of any size, in any region, should be able to enter without the cost and logistics of international shipping — and their products should be tasted by judges who understand the local category in context, alongside the latest developments in that region.

Kentucky earned its place on that short list as one of just seven locations worldwide where the IWSC delivers its complete London judging model. Entries assessed in Bardstown are held to exactly the same standards as entries assessed in London — same framework, same caliber of judges, same credibility.

What Got Judged

The North American Spirits & RTD Judging has steadily expanded its scope. Where it once focused narrowly on whiskey and Ready-to-Drink (RTD) spirits, the 2026 categories included:

Who’s Behind the Glass

The 2026 panel was overseen by IWSC Judging Committee member Dawn Davies MW, Commercial Buying Director for Speciality Drinks and The Whisky Exchange — one of the relatively small number of people in the world to hold the Master of Wine title. She was joined by a panel spanning distilling, retail, hospitality, education, and media:

This year’s panel was rounded out by guest judges Ariel Jahn and Andrew Pope — bringing the total to 8 official judges and 2 guest judges from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Across master distillers, spirits buyers, educators, writers, and hospitality leaders, this is a group that can taste a bourbon and immediately place it next to global benchmarks, retail trends, and bar-program reality. That’s exactly the point of bringing the IWSC’s process to Kentucky rather than asking Kentucky to come to it.

How the Judging Actually Works

The process is deliberately unglamorous in the best way. Every entry is tasted double-blind — judges have no idea what brand, producer, or price point they’re evaluating. The panel only tastes a limited number of entries per day, a constraint built in specifically to avoid palate fatigue. And scores aren’t just submitted in silence; judges discuss entries as a panel, comparing notes before a final score is locked in. The 2026 judging spanned five days of tasting in Bardstown — and, by the panel’s own count, more than 1,600 crackers consumed along the way to keep palates neutral between pours.

The 2026 Results, By the Numbers

The headline number is selectivity. Of everything judged in Kentucky, only 1.3% of entries earned Gold Outstanding, and just 11.4% reached Gold — underscoring how rigorous the process really is. Silver, not Gold, was the largest medal tier overall, representing more than half of all medal winners.

Bourbon once again dominated the medal table — representing nearly half of all medal-winning spirits and claiming two of the five Gold Outstanding awards. Rye whiskey continued its momentum with six Gold medals, and American single malt, gin, and vodka all turned in strong showings. But the breakout story of 2026 was rum: judged in Kentucky for the first time ever, the category immediately produced two of the five Gold Outstanding winners.

Medal winners ranged from major global producers to small craft distilleries, and while Kentucky was strongly represented, plenty of other states made their mark — including Colorado, Tennessee, Texas, Indiana, New York, and California.

Ready-to-Drink Cocktails Continue Their Rise

Premium RTDs earned medals right alongside traditional spirits, a sign of the category’s continued premiumization:

• 1800 Pineapple MargaritaProximo Spirits
  92 pts
• Jim Beam Whiskey SourOn The Rocks Cocktails
  91 pts
• Barrel-Finished Old FashionedHigh West Distillery
  90 pts

Notes From the Panel

Each day of judging closed with a panel debrief. A few highlights from the judges’ own tasting notes:

For the complete medal table and every category breakdown, visit the official 2026 Kentucky results page.

Medals and the Trophy Round

Entries are awarded medals across four tiers, with the very best moving on to a further round of evaluation:

Products that score highest within their category advance to the Trophy Judging round — a second pass where the field narrows further and category winners are determined. Regardless of where an entry was physically tasted, every medal winner is folded into the IWSC’s global results campaign, receiving the same recognition, promotional support, and commercial visibility as a medal earned in London. All winners — across every Global Judging location — will be celebrated together at the IWSC Awards Celebration in November 2026 in London.

Why It Matters

For producers — especially smaller, independent distilleries that make up so much of the current American whiskey boom — Global Judging removes a real barrier to international recognition. You don’t need a distribution deal or a shipping budget to get in front of a Master of Wine; you need a bottle and an entry form, submitted in your own backyard. The 2026 results bear that out: medal winners ranged from major global producers to small craft operations, with standouts coming from well beyond Kentucky’s borders.

For consumers, it’s another data point worth paying attention to. An IWSC medal — especially a Gold or Gold Outstanding, which only 1.3% of entries achieved — means a panel that tastes professionally, blind, and under controlled conditions decided your bottle stood out. In a category as crowded and hype-driven as American whiskey currently is, that’s a meaningfully different signal than a celebrity endorsement or a clever label.

2026 Partners

The Kentucky event was supported by Heaven Hill, Angel’s Envy, Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, Total Wine & More, Kentucky Eagle, Glencairn, Buzick Construction, Mint Julep Experiences, and the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.

What’s Next

With Bardstown now a fixture on the IWSC’s Global Judging calendar for a third straight year, expect the North American Spirits & RTD Judging to keep growing — both in entry volume and category breadth. All eyes now turn toward London in November, when this year’s medal and trophy winners — Kentucky’s included — take their place on the global stage at the IWSC Awards Celebration.

For the complete 2026 Kentucky results, including the full medal table and category breakdowns, head to the IWSC’s official results page.