For its inaugural year, the Royal Queensland Distilled Spirit Awards received 150 entries from more than 30 distilleries, almost 100 of which came from Queensland producers. According to Sarah Andrew, Judging Panel Chair and WSET’s Head of APP Development - APAC, the overall standard of entered samples was high.
“There were nearly 7% gold medals, and I think sitting at almost 50% medals from exhibits,” she said.
“There was a strong representation of rum spirits from Queensland - which is to be expected - and in addition, it was exciting to see gin. That's another really big category that was very well received, [both] for contemporary gin as well as your London dry style of gin… It was a contemporary gin that ended up winning best spirit of show.”
The Champion Spirit of Show for 2024 was Falls Creek Distillery’s Original Gin. North Queensland’s Burdekin Distillery also performed strongly, receiving the accolade of Champion Rum for its Vintage Cane Spirit, along with Highest Scoring Queensland Distillery and Highest Scoring Queensland Spirit.
Both Sarah Andrew and Nick King, who were invited to participate as Judging Panel Chair and Chief Judge, work for WSET, the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. According to Andrew, this “was the first [Australian] show that's really embraced the value of quality assessment that comes from WSET qualifications.
“I think we had seven of the nine judges all had WSET qualifications, which is a first in this country. Several of them are distillers as well.”
The UK-based spirits expert Nick King was invited to be the Royal Queensland Distilled Spirit Awards’ Chief Judge during his recent visit to Australia.
“Nicholas King is our Head of Research and Curriculum for our Spirits Award, which launched in 2019,” explained Andrew.
“He's based in the UK and he's also a Senior Judge for the International Wine and Spirits Challenge… He's just a guru when it comes to spirits. He's the one that's written all our study materials and our textbooks.
“As part of that show, he also hosted a Masterclass for stewards and for judges.”
The Royal Queensland Distilled Spirit Award marks the first of a series of upcoming WSET Royal Spirits activations.
Sarah Andrew said, “we'll be doing an activation for Royal Sydney: I'll be judging spirits in September at Royal Sydney, [and] Melbourne’s Royal next week. We're looking at doing an activation and upskilling judges after the show for Melbourne. Then we'll be doing the same for WA and Adelaide next year.”
“For Melbourne Royal, my understanding is it's the biggest spirit show in the Southern Hemisphere. We had 53 judges last year, so we're going to have a similar number of judges this year. It's held over three days and I think last year it was in excess of 800 entries. I wouldn't be surprised if that's grown again for this year.”
A full list of Trophy Winners from the inaugural Royal Queensland Distilled Spirit Awards can be found below.
2024 Royal Queensland Distilled Spirit Awards: Trophy Awards
Champion Whisky: Fleurieu Distillery Country To Coast #4
Champion Gin: Falls Creek Distillery Falls Creek Original Gin
Champion Vodka: Australian Distilling Company Melbourne Vodka
Champion Rum: Burdekin Rum Pty Ltd Vintage Cane Spirit
Highest Scoring Queensland Distillery: Burdekin Rum Pty Ltd
Highest Scoring Queensland Spirit: Burdekin Rum Pty Ltd Vintage Cane Spirit
Champion Spirit Of Show: Falls Creek Distillery Falls Creek Original Gin
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