When it comes to spirits competitions, myriad institutions routinely offer to “evaluate” our product… but most seem more interested in receiving an “entrance fee” than in actually tasting our handcrafted whiskey.
Still, not all of these solicitous evaluators are created equal. At the head of the pack is the Beverage Testing Institute, which has created a scientific, rigid, failsafe method to remove both variable and bias in its assessments.
As a member of the American Society of Testing and Materials, BTI’s objectivity and repeatability is the focus of its analyses, allowing for a more accurate adjudication of a spirit’s merit. BTI also contends that its signature “shorter scale” makes it easier for tasters to repeat their scores.
“We use simple scales so that our panelists do not concern themselves with the difference between an 88 and an 86, or a 90 and a 91. This method allows our tasters to consider general quality, without the distraction of adding points. Products breaking the critical gold medal barrier are tasted twice without exception, virtually guaranteeing that they deserve their accolades.”
Composed of industry leading professionals sequestered using an evaluation method developed at Cornell University specifically for this purpose, the BTI panel tastes over 7,000 spirits which are then cataloged and retained for reference. To say “BTI knows its spirits” is a gross understatement.
That’s why New Scotland Spirits chose to enter “Helderberg Bourbon, Bottled-in-Bond” — our acclaimed aged 5-year wheated bourbon — in BTI’s competition. The rigor of their approach made this competition a natural choice for us.
And if I could get a drumroll please:
WE WON THE GOLD MEDAL!!!!!
These results speak for themselves; they’re proof positive of what we already knew, to wit, that this 5-year aged bourbon is an exceptional work of grain mastery.
Our Bottled-in-Bond bourbon was awarded 92 points out of possible 100. I say again: GOLD MEDAL. And we are thrilled. If you’ve ever met a member of our team—at a market, a tasting, or an event—you know we can talk about our spirits for hours.
But we’ll let the Beverage Testing Institute have the final word:
BTI’s report card: Helderberg Bonded Bourbon
“Light gold color. Aromas and flavors of orange peel, spun sugar, kettle corn, and toasted multigrain bread with a supple, bright, dry medium-to-full body and a warming, interesting, medium-long finish with notes of orange marmalade on corn biscuits, molasses, cherry cough drop, and oatmeal raisin cookie. A quality sipping Bourbon that would work well in a lot of dark seasonal cocktails.”
To orient you, BTI’s point ranking structure proceeds as follows:
96-100 — Superlative, Platinum Medal
90-95 — Exceptional, Gold Medal
85-89 — Highly Recommended, Silver Medal
80-84 — Recommended, Bronze Medal
79 and below — Not Recommended, No Medal
For a bunch of farmers and novice distillers to come out the gate swinging in our first year of sales and capture a 92 point rating is (apparently) unheard of!
So forgive my boasting when I say that our Helderberg Bonded Bourbon absolutely dominated in the Bottled-in-Bond arena, easily outpacing Evan Williams’s 100-proof signature by 2 full points among the judges.
It also beat both Wild Turkey 101—the high-proof classic that’s been a dive bar staple for decades—and Wild Turkey’s subsidiary Longbranch brand, repped by actor Matthew McConoughey himself.
That’s a considerable feat, and cause for no small amount of upstate NY pride.
But what most stunned us was the array of so-called “high end” brands we unseated. Indeed, our Helderberg Bourbon, Bottled-in-Bond, ranked higher than several titles you might not expect.
For example, we bested Blanton’s Single Barrel Straight Bourbon, we smoked Journeyman Distillery’s Featherbone Bourbon Whiskey, and we beat out the Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon spirit. Indeed, those iconic Kentucky brands didn’t even come close.
And the judges’ discerning tastes also apparently swung for New Scotland Spirits over Jefferson’s Small Batch Bourbon, which is now the second time that we’ve been expressly told that our whiskey wins in a head-to-head matchup against Jefferson’s.
This is a big deal, folks. We knew our bonded aged 5-year wheated bourbon was good, but this designation is proof positive that we’re not coming at this from a position of bias. This is science… just as much as it is art. More than that: it’s love.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Town of New Scotland may already be on the maps. But we’re giving it a whole new reason for visitors.
— Rebecca
