How San Francisco Became The World’s Most Important Whisky Competition

Over the last five years, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) has become the world’s largest spirits competition. In 2024, more than 6,000 entries were submitted from beverage companies worldwide. In the process, the SFWSC has also become the world’s largest whiskey competition. Recently, I sat down with Amanda Blue, President of the Tasting Alliance, the company that organizes the SFWSC, and Stephen Beal, whiskey’s eminence grise and the founding and longest-serving judge of the SFWSC, to talk about the role of the competition in the global whiskey industry.

According to Blue, more than 1,800 entries were submitted in the whisky category in 2024, a record level of submissions. “It’s our single largest category,” added Blue, noting that “roughly 2/3rds of the submissions are from American distillers, but the rest come from thirty other countries worldwide.

Per Steve Beal, the SFWSC has become critical to both the established mega-brands and up-and-coming craft distillers. “The big established brands,” he noted, look to the San Francisco competition to test new concepts and validate aroma and flavor profiles.” “It’s also an excellent way to showcase new ultra-premium expressions,” he added. “This year, we had a 45 YO Talisker entered in the competition”, he observed, “you just don’t see those kinds of submissions in international spirit competitions very often.” “By the way,” he added, it was a fantastic whisky.

Beal was Diageo’s first Senior Master of Whisky and played a pivotal role in the growth and development of Bulleit Frontier Whiskey and has been referred to as the “Godfather of Bulleit Rye”. His portrait is displayed in the entrance of Bulleit’s new distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Widely recognized as one of the world’s leading whiskey experts, he was a founding member of the Council of Whisky Masters and served as chair of its Advisory Council. He was inducted as a Keeper of the Quaich in Scotland in 2010 and the Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame in 2015. He has also been a fixture in international spirit competitions for several decades, having judged virtually every major global competition.

“The SFWSC is equally important for up-and-coming craft distillers,” states Beal. The history of the San Francisco competition is full of iconic stories of little-known brands that broke onto the national stage and saw exponential increases in their sales volume due to winning top honors in the competition.

It’s not just the craft distillers who look to San Francisco for legitimacy,” notes Beal. The US whiskey market is the single largest in the world; “If you want to be a world-class player, you need to have a significant presence in the US market,” added Beal.

“That’s why we had 90 whiskey submissions from Australia’s burgeoning whisky industry and more than 110 submissions from Irish whisky producers”, noted Blue. “That’s more submissions than any other US competition; in fact, it’s more submissions than any other international competition.”

“It’s not just established whisky-producing countries like Ireland, Japan, Scotland, or Australia,” she added. “This year, we received entries from as far afield as China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Denmark, Peru, Iceland, and Nepal.”

Approximately 25% of the whiskey entries, 452, scored Double Golds, although only five entries in each category made it to the final or “sweeps” round, where the whiskeys are tasted and scored by all judges.

I asked Beal whether he was concerned about the number of Double Gold medals awarded this year. “Not really”, he noted:

Remember, this is the world’s largest, most competitive whisky competition. If you are going to enter the SFWSC, you are going to do so with your best expressions. I’ve judged rounds where every single entry, ten different expressions, received a Double Gold. They were that good! The judges at the SFWSC are among the most knowledgeable, most competent whisky judges you will find anywhere. Many are considered world-class experts. If three of those judges consider an entry a Double Gold medalist, you better believe that is one outstanding whiskey!

With over 6,000 entries, I asked Blue if the competition was at risk of getting too large.

It’s a possibility”, she observed. “Even with the world’s best judges, 1,800 whiskeys are a lot of whiskeys to evaluate, not to mention the other 4,000+ spirits being judged. She added, “It’s entirely conceivable that at some point in the future, we will have to cap the total number of entries in the competition.”

Blue also noted that the Tasting Alliance, the SFWSC’s parent, is developing additional programs, scheduled to roll out in 2025, to help craft distillers by providing them with evaluations from its expert judges and marketing and distribution advice.

The results of the whisky judging, including the finalists, will be announced by category in July. The final winners from the San Francisco and other competitions organized by the Tasting Alliance will be revealed at the Tasting Alliance annual Gala on October 5 in San Francisco. The Gala is open to both consumers and the beverage trade and will afford an opportunity to taste spirits from 70 Double Gold winning medalists.

Founded in 2000 by the late Anthony Dias Blue, the SFWSC is the oldest spirits competition in North America and among the oldest in the world. A total of 70 judges from around the world evaluated approximately 6,000 spirits from April 4-6, 2024.

The competition is organized by the Tasting Alliance, which also hosts spirit competitions in New York and Singapore, wine competitions in San Francisco and New York, and Beer and RTD competitions.