Are All Spirits Competitions Created Equal?

Elizabeth Mack
6 days ago
3 min read

Should You Trust Spirits Awards?

Fully Blind vs. “Blind-ish” Competitions Explained

Walk into any liquor store and you’ll see it:

Gold medals. Double gold. Best in Class. Platinum winner. World’s Best.

It can start to feel like everyone won something.

So here’s the real question consumers should be asking:

Do these awards actually mean the spirit was the best… or just the best marketed?

The answer depends entirely on how the competition was judged.

And most consumers have no idea there’s a difference.

When Blind Means Blind (And When It Doesn’t)

Not all competitions are created equal. “Blind judging” sounds impressive—but it doesn’t always mean what you think it means.

Here’s how to decode it:

🥃 The Gold Standard: Fully Blind / Double-Blind

In a fully blind competition:

Bottles are hidden.
Samples are coded.
Judges do not see brand names.
Judges do not see price points.
Judges do not know who made it.

Some competitions (like IWSC) explicitly describe a double-blind process, where spirits are pre-poured into numbered glasses and judges never see the bottle.San Francisco World Spirits Competition also describes controlled blind tastings where judges don’t receive producer or price information.

That means the whiskey in a plain bottle has the same chance as the whiskey with a $10 million marketing budget.

When awards come from this kind of format, they carry real weight.

🏷 Blind — But With Value & Packaging Scoring

Some competitions taste blind to brand, but then score based on:

Price-to-quality ratio
Packaging design
Market positioning

For example, some competitions publicly state they consider value and packaging in addition to taste.

That’s not bad — it just means the award is saying:

“This is a great product for this price in this category.”

It is not saying:

“This is objectively the best spirit in the room.”

Important distinction.

📣 Not Meaningfully Blind

In some formats:

Packaging is visible.
Brand information is provided.
Public voting influences results.
Brand representatives are present.
Marketing exposure packages are heavily promoted alongside awards.

In these cases, brand recognition can influence outcomes — consciously or unconsciously.

That doesn’t mean the product isn’t good.

It just means the award may reflect more than what was in the glass.

A Simple Consumer Comparison Table

Here’s a clear way to evaluate medals when you see them:

Feature	Fully Blind / Double-Blind	Blind + Value/Packaging	Not Fully Blind
Bottle visible to judges	❌ No	❌ No	Sometimes
Brand name known during scoring	❌ No	❌ No	Often
Price considered in score	❌ No	✅ Yes	Sometimes
Packaging/design scored	❌ No	✅ Yes	Often
Public voting involved	❌ No	❌ No	Sometimes
Best for judging pure taste?	✅ Yes	⚖️ Partially	❌ No
Strong signal of liquid quality alone?	✅ High	Moderate	Low

Why This Matters

Consumers often assume all medals mean the same thing.

They don’t.

A fully blind medal tells you:

“Independent judges tasted this without knowing who made it.”

That’s powerful.

Especially for craft producers competing against legacy brands.

In fact, when small producers enter truly blind competitions, they often surprise people — because when you remove label bias, liquid quality can rise to the top.

Do Competitions Take Money?

Almost all major competitions charge entry fees. Running professional blind judging panels is expensive.

The real issue isn’t whether money is involved.

It’s whether judging is structured so that:

Judges are insulated from marketing influence.
Samples are coded.
Conflicts of interest are controlled.
Sponsorship revenue is separate from scoring.

Transparent competitions publish their judging methodology. That’s a good sign.

How Consumers Can Read Awards Smarter

Next time you see a medal on a bottle, ask:

Was it judged fully blind?
Was packaging part of the score?
Was price factored in?
Is the competition transparent about its process?

If the answer to #1 is yes — that medal deserves serious attention. We at American Icon Spirits only enter fully blind competitions. It's how we managed to be Top 3 Rye at a Global Spirits Competition and came in just behind one of the most famous brands on the planet.

If not — it may still be meaningful, but in a different way.

Bottom Line

Not all awards are equal.

Some measure marketing.

Some measure value.

Some measure design.

And some — the best ones — measure nothing but what’s in the glass.

As a consumer, knowing the difference makes you a smarter buyer.

And as a producer, it’s why I only enter competitions where the label doesn’t get a vote. I enter our labels in competitions specifically judging LABEL design NOT the whiskey/whisky.