Posted by Rob / 
The 2014 International Spirits Challenge (ISC) awards ceremony was held on Monday, July 14th in London, UK. Suntory Liquors Limited was awarded the coveted “Distiller of the Year” Award.
This annual honor is bestowed upon the industry’s best distiller, one that consistently produces a variety of high-quality products. This is Suntory’s third year in a row and fourth* time overall since 2010 (*Years Awarded: 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014) — making Suntory Whisky the most-highly awarded house of Japanese whisky and is a first for the Japanese whisky category.
This is a great achievement for the House of Suntory Whisky, a family-owned House of Whisky, where a tradition of uncompromising artisanship has been handed down from father to son since 1923.
With more than 400 whiskies entered in this year’s competition, Suntory Hibiki 21 Years Old blended whisky was presented with a “Trophy,” the highest award in the Whisky category. This is the second year in a row for Hibiki 21 Years Old to be honored with this award. In addition to this distinction, Suntory whiskies also earned 9 “Gold Medals” in the preliminary phase of this ISC competition.
Hibiki 21 Years Old has a rich, full aroma with plenty of oak and soft fruit flavors, a good balance and texture, and a long rich finish — noting its unblended malt and grain whiskies, the varied and distinguished range of those unblended whiskies, and the strength of its blending techniques.
About the International Spirits Challenge
The International Spirits Challenge is an annual spirits tasting competition held in the UK, the home of Scotch whisky. Categories include whiskies, liqueurs and more. In addition to the Gold Medals, Silver Medals and Bronze Medals awarded in each category, excellent products among the Gold Medal winners are given the Trophy, the top prize in the category. The Distiller of the Year award, one of the Special awards that recognize the very best in the blind tasting challenge, is only conferred on one distiller that has produced a number of high-quality products.
In the whisky categories, a panel of 11 judges, including blenders from whisky distilleries around the world, conducts a blind tasting of more than 400 whiskies submitted from around the world to determine the award winners.