The Australian International Spirits Competition (AUISC) is a new spirits competition that invites Australian and international spirit brands to be judged on a world scale. The competition introduces an international level of scoring with predominantly Australian judges in order to assess Australians’ taste in spirits.
AUISC Judging Panel – Photo Credit: Ken Bromfield
About the AUISC
The AUISC is headed by Ken Bromfield and Doug van Tienen who run the Whisky Live events across Australia along with Dave and Barb Sweet, formerly running Whisky Live across the USA. They have enlisted one of the most experienced judges, Steve Beal as Head Judge. The retired Diageo spirits ambassador is highly sought-after and part of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and World Spirits Awards in London to name a few. He brings to the AUISC ‘world class’ standards and methodology.
The competition’s objective is to give spirit producers a gauge of what Australians think of their spirits. It may be an Australian producer who needs feedback on their direction or an international producer looking to launch in Australia and assess the viability of their spirit.
The judging panel is made up of specialists with a solid spirits experience including those dealing with consumers, be it bartenders from specialist spirit bars, retailers who specialise in spirits or individuals who deal with spirits. By using Australian judges with broad consumer insight, this will ensure that their scoring and awards directly relate to consumers in order to guide their future purchases.
Judging Criteria
The spirits are judged blind on quality and flavour where the latter is broken into different components including faults, finish and overall appeal. The judges score the various components and are tallied for a final score and possible medal.
Medals are awarded from the highest score down, namely Gold, Silver, Bronze and Judges’ Choice. Multiple medals can be awarded should spirits have the same score. The Judge’s Choice is not awarded to every category.
The medal scores out of a possible 100 are as follows:
- Gold (scores 90-100)
- Silver (scores 80-89)
- Bronze (scores 70-79)
- Judges’ Choice is selected by examining all the judges’ scores for each entry and finding those that were consistently high across all judges. The Judges’ Choice is like a “favourites” in the competition and would also be gold medal winners.
How to Enter the AUISC
The AUISC is currently an annual competition. The next round will take place in February 2021 and entries will open in November 2020. Spirit brands can enter by visiting the AUISC website which will have details about the categories, judging and entry deadlines. Those who register their details now will be sent a reminder when entries open. For more information, visit the AUISC website.
The judging of the inaugural AUISC took place on Monday 17 February 2020. Click here for all the medal winners.
In partnership with the AUISC.
