London IWSC

DonMateo

Hey guys. I just got my results from London. I entered 3 whiskeys and 1 gin. I have the results from two whiskeys and one gin and I got bronzes for all three. Waiting on the result for the last one. Thanks to every one on this board for your help over the years. Total tally so far 1 gold two silvers and three bronzes.

richard

Brilliant, well done

Smaug

Wtg!!

DonMateo

Thanks guys. @Richard I take back everything I ever said about you Boety. Thanks @Smaug.

If there is any feedback to add to the group knowledge here is it pays to have more than one flavor of whisky or whatever drink your making. If your quality comes up and you only have one recipe or one style then you can only enter once in a given competition in a given year. If you have half a dozen different styles then firstly you can offer decent tastings for visitors to your distillery and secondly you can put in multiple entries into competitions and accumulate some medals. I may have gone off the deep end a bit as I have made 48 different styles of whiskey so far and I have another 12 or so to go until my list is complete but most small distilleries should have at least 6 different flavors. I would suggest a lightly smoked single malt, a heavily smoked single malt, an unsmoked single malt with two different wood finishes and a couple of different style Irish whiskeys with different barrel finishes. And maybe a couple of Ryes if your in North America. Each distiller really has their own favourite style but it pays to have a variety of flavors.

crozdog

CONGRATULATIONS!

DonMateo

THanks Crozzer mate.

DonMateo

Hey guys and Gals. Its been a while since I have posted here. Last night I won 20 medals in the Argentine spirit awards. 7 bronzes, 6 silvers and 7 golds and as well I won the best distillery in Argentina.

Thanks again for all the people who have helped me over the years on this board.

richard

Absolutely brilliant

DonMateo

Thanks boety.

Bolverk

Congratulations man!

DonMateo

Thanks mate.

crozdog

Sensational

MotherOfDragon

Congratulations! Good work!

DonMateo

Thanks MOD.

TheMechWarrior

Well done. I have a lot of respect for the IWSC. They use a double blind judging system and require WSET accrediation of their judges. Unlike the majority of comps around the world that use local celebs from various fields.

DonMateo

Well. I sorry I haven't been on line for a while but this is another post. Last week I won the best distillery in Argentina again for a second year in a row. I submitted 30 entries and won 20 medals. I won 4 double golds 7 golds 7 silvers and 4 bronzes. Thanks again for all the advice that I have picked up on this board over the years. My total medal count right now is 51 medals, not including the two best distillery awards.

As a funny side story I made a bunch of vodkas and some moonshines with my two 6 plate StillDragon glass columns. I did a barley wash, a rye wash and a wheat wash almost at the same time, and did a stripping run via a pot still run first before passing them through the column still. I took some high ABV runs with little flavor and called them vodkas and then ran the run out to 40% and called them moonshine. But I did all three runs in a row and I was super busy so I kind of forgot the exact procedure. The Wheat moonshine got a double gold with 98 points and for the life of me I cant remember exactly how I did it.

grim

Yeah, I did an earl gray gin tea that ended up being a blend of a few different gins I'd made and stored. Everyone absolutely loved it, for the life of me can not replicate it. C'est la vie. Some things are meant to be savored only once, maybe that's what makes them so good?

punkin

Time to concentrate on keeping a run book on your counter for ferments and runs.

And to stop entering competitions, give some other poor bastard a chance and just know you are a master distiller. B-)

DonMateo

@punkin thats funny. I am going to put in 10 whiskys into London Spirits Competition just to take up some more space in my shed wall. I am picking up the medals to get offshore export contracts. The whisky market here in Argentina is really particular. On the run book I have almost all of my grain bills for my favourite recipes, the top 15 anyway. So I am managing to reproduce those quite closely. Although I havent done much distilling this year as I was sick for a while. But I am back from the dead so thats a good thing. Thanks again guys.