Each year, Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible announces the best whiskey of the year, and for the third year in a row, the award went to a tipple made in North America.
Straits Timesreports this year’s “Whiskey of the Year” is Buffalo Trace’s Colonel E.H Taylor 4 Grain. It scored 97 out of 100 in Murray’s review, and he described it as having “one of the most wonderful noses on this planet,” referring to the alcohol’s aroma.
Last year’s overall winner was Booker’s Rye 13-Year-Old. In 2015, the overall winner was Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye, which this year took the honors as the Canadian Whiskey of the Year.
Second place in this year’s overall competition was Redbreast 12 Year, which is the highest ranking an Irish whisky has received in the history of the book. Other winners this year include Nikka Coffey Malt Whisky (which won Japanese Whisky of the Year), India’s Paul John Kanya (which won Asian Whisky of the Year), and Limburger’s Dark Winter (which won the best whisky in the southern hemisphere).
Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible 2018 (Whitman; $20) will arrive on store shelves on Nov. 28.