Whisky Advocate’s Top 20 Whiskies Of 2024

Following a weeklong countdown, Whisky Advocate named Laphroaig Elements 2.0 Cask Strength as the 2024 Whisky of the Year last Thursday. The following day the magazine unveiled its full Top 20, showcasing the most exciting whiskies tasted throughout the year. This year’s list includes exceptional Bourbons, ryes, and a host of single malts from Scotland, America, Ireland, and Australia, plus less common offerings like a straight wheat whiskey.

This year’s winner, Laphroaig Elements 2.0 Cask Strength, is a non-age stated single malt Scotch from Islay, bottled at 59.5% abv and retailing for around $165. The tasting panel observed that the whisky carries its proof exceptionally well, noting that “the signature Laphroaig smoky, maritime, and medicinal notes are all present, but there’s mainly a lasting impression of gentle balance” with plenty of fruit as well.

Like last year, multiple single malts landed in the top five. Behind Laphroaig Elements 2.0 Cask Strength is another, Bruichladdich’s 18-year-old malt. This bottling of the whisky was distilled in 2004 and marks the first time the distiller used Islay-grown barley. In third is another Scottish malt, Lagavulin 12-year-old The Ink of Legends, part of Diageo’s 2023 Special Releases. The whisky is bottled at cask strength of 56.4% and shows off a secondary maturation in Don Julio Añejo barrels.

Rounding out the top five are a pair of American whiskies: Bardstown Bourbon Co. Collaborative Series Amrut in fourth and Heaven Hill Grain to Glass (Distilled in 2017, 2024 Release) in fifth. The Bardstown release is a blend of two rye whiskies finished in Amrut Indian single malt casks. Heaven Hill’s Grain to Glass whiskey is made from a mash that includes 35% rye, exceptionally high for the distillery. The fourth and fifth place whiskies are bottled at 55% and 53.5% abv and retail for $160 and $100, respectively.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of high-scoring whiskies from Booker’s and Still Austin, along with Glenmorangie’s new 16-year-old single malt, Wild Turkey’s 70th anniversary tribute to Jimmy Russell, and a cask strength bottling from Bernheim. While the majority of this year’s top 10 come from long-established distillers with storied histories, Still Austin’s 5-year-old Bottled in Bond Red Corn Bourbon, at no.-7, shows the skill of some of America’s newer distilleries.

The back half of the list kicks off with Ardbeg’s Port-cask matured Spectacular, the 2023 edition of Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Port Finished Bourbon, Knob Creek’s Bourbon/rye blend, 2XO’s the Kiawah Blend, and Compass Box Crimson Casks. The final five come from Redbreast, Virginia Distillery Co., Bushmills, Starward, and Westland.

While all of whiskies in the Top 20 are new, many distillers return from years past. Westland, Wild Turkey, Bardstown, and Glenmorangie all landed in Whisky Advocate’s Top 20 for the second year in a row. In fact, Bardstown achieved a three-peat, having a Top 20 whiskey since 2022.

Whisky Advocate’s tasting panel weighs a few factors when creating the Top 20 Whiskies of the Year, including scores, availability, and price. To qualify, a whisk(e)y must receive at least 90 points from the tasting panel when tasting blind. In addition, the whisk(e)y must be accessible, a criteria that eliminates many of the highest-scoring whiskies the panel tastes throughout the year, which are much too rare for the Top 20. Finally, the panel considers price, with an eye for keeping the whiskies within reach for readers.—Shane English

Tagged : Top 20, Whisky Advocate, Whisky of the Year

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