Jim Murray's Whisky Bible Awards 2013

One of the first signs of autumn, along with The Whisky Show, is the thud on the doormat as the latest edition of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible arrives.

Often controversial but always influential, Jim has yet again spent the last year digging his way through piles of samples to put together the largest set of tasting notes in print form. This year another 1350 whiskies have been added to his tally, with the total (edited to remove historical bottlings) staying steady at 4500 whiskies, all rated and described.

The bit that often causes the most controversy is his selection of the World Whisky of the Year and two runners up, but this year he’s played it safe, with exactly the same whiskies as he picked two years ago, although in a different order.

Unfortunately for punters, Buffalo Trace release their perennially award-winning Antique Collection in the Autumn, missing the Whisky Bible sample deadline.  This means that the awards they win each year are for the previous year’s whiskies.  So the 2013 Whisky Bible’s World Whisky of the Year (Thomas H. Handy) and the Second Finest Whisky in the World  (William Larue Weller) are from the 2011 release that’s already nearly sold out.  Confusing, isn’t it?

That said, any bottle from the Antique Collection is a pretty safe bet for a great whiskey, regardless of the year of release – the range features other Murray favourites Eagle Rare 17yo, Sazerac 18yo Rye and the legendary George T. Stagg, the latter two of which are previous winners of the World Whisky of the Year in their own right.

If you want to get in ahead of the curve for next year we do have the 2012 editions of Thomas H Handy, William Larue Weller and George T. Stagg over on the Whisky Exchange website, as well as a list of all of the entries that we have from over the years…

So, without further ado here are some of the winners:

World Whisky of the Year: Thomas H Handy Sazerac 2011, 128.6 proof

Second Finest Whisky in the World: William Larue Weller 2011, 133.5 proof

Third Finest Whisky in the World: Ballantine’s 17 year old

Single Malt Scotch of the Year (Single Cask): Balblair 1965
Single Malt Scotch of the Year (Multiple Casks): Ardbeg Day
Scotch Vatted Malt of the Year: Last Vatted Malt

Irish Whiskey of the Year: Redbreast 12yo Cask Strength
Irish Single Malt of the Year: Bushmills 21yo
Irish Blend of the Year: Jameson

US Micro Whisky of the Year: Balcones Brimstone (we’ll have some soon…)
Best Bourbon 9 years and under: Ridgemont Reserve 1792 8 year old

Japanese Whisky of the Year: Hanyu Final Vintage

Southern Hemisphere Whisky of the Year: Sullivan’s Cove Single Cask HH0509 (We don’t have this single cask but we do have some of their other whiskies)

To get the complete list you’ll need to buy the book, but we’ve got these and all of the other award winners that are in stock over on The Whisky Exchange website.