What’s up with the San Francisco World Spirits Competition?

It was during my typical Friday routine.

I popped in my AirPods and grabbed my phone as I boarded the treadmill for my workout. Typically this is followed by the obligatory two minutes of searching on Spotify on what would be good to listen to on my walk, but this search would only last about 30 seconds. It was an easy choice; Bourbon Pursuit had just come out with a new episode of TWiB (This Week in Bourbon) and I always look forward to those. I clicked the play button and got the treadmill rolling. It’s typically a very relaxing and lighthearted podcast that doesn’t get me thinking too much.

But this episode hit a little different.

Kenny opened with a piece about the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It’s one of the more popular competitions and honestly, I was looking forward to hearing him dole out some key results. But something Ryan said caught my attention.

“The bourbon aficionados don’t even get to be on the bourbon panel.”

I thought that was a curious statement. If that were true, what does that mean for how spirits are judged? They went on to say that when Fred Minnick went on there he would have to judge clear spirits like vodka, and may not even get to judge whiskey. A very thought-provoking statement. Then, something else followed:

“This blew my mind. Eagle Rare 17…This is something that Ryan and I both picked as our top antique collection of 2021…it received a bronze.”

“I just don’t understand how that happens. You look at it and…if Pursuit United can get a silver, we don’t deserve a silver if Eagle Rare 17 only gets a bronze. That just doesn’t even make sense in my mind.”

Then they went on to talk about how Henry McKenna ended up getting a silver which had won whiskey of the year at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition previously. It begs the question of “how could it be so different this time around?”

While this all was somewhat eyebrow-raising, I concluded my walk and kind of put in into the back of my mind. Sure, that all sounded pretty odd to me, but certainly not something to make me interested enough to write this article.

A couple days later however, I just couldn’t shake it.

I was on Instagram, doing my mindless scrolling when I saw one of the distilleries I follow on IG had won Gold at the San Fran Spirits Competition. Good for them. But then, scrolling just a bit further down my newsfeed, I found another. Then another.

All Gold winners!

At that point I couldn’t help myself. I had to learn more about this competition. What’s going on here? How are there so many winners? Were Kenny and Ryan accurate in what they said about the competition? So I decided to do a little digging.

Here’s what I found.

Overall, there were a lot of medals given out.

According to the data we found from thetastingalliance.com, it appears 4,052 spirits were on the winner list, meaning they medaled. We couldn’t find official data that stated how many entries existed for the 2022 competition, but from a recent Forbes article, we gathered that the competition featured around 5,000 entries. This would mean that roughly 4/5ths, or 80% of all bottles entered into competition won a medal.

722 Double Gold medals were awarded.

According to the official San Francisco World Spirits Competition website, Double Gold medals are “awarded to the entries that receive a Gold medal rating by all members of the judging panel; these are among the finest products in the world.”

Assuming 5,000 entries, this would mean that about 14% of all entries made it onto the Double Gold list. Which is actually a reasonably small number overall.

The only award that is above Double Gold is Platinum, and that is only awarded for a bottle that has been awarded Double Gold three years in a row in the competition. So we’re not going to focus too much on that one as it’s clearly rare and we didn’t see any bottles receive the honor from the medaling results this year.

940 Gold medals were awarded.

These medals are awarded to “exceptional spirits that are near the pinnacle of achievement; these products set the standard for their categories.” about 19% of all entries were awarded Gold medals.

1,890 Silver medals were awarded.

These medals are awarded to “outstanding spirits that show refinement, finesse, and complexity; these winners are among the best examples of their categories.” Roughly 38% of all entries were awarded Silver.

500 Bronze medals were awarded.

Bronze medals are given to “well-crafted spirits that are commercially sound, modestly attractive, and free from significant flaws; these winners are excellent examples of their categories.” 10% of all entries received this medal.

How do the judges judge?

According to the same Forbes article cited earlier, the competition featured 70 judges, though the website lists 34. We found no official number about how many judges participated in the 2022 competition from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition website.

The judges blind taste each spirit, and according to the website “judges do not receive any information on producer or price point, ensuring each spirit is judged fairly, equally, and without bias.” Which is an applaudable aspect of how it’s conducted.

They also state that “while tasting, judges evaluate each product on an individual basis—not compared to other entries in the flight. During this stage, judges determine which entries are worthy of a Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal. Entries that receive a Gold medal from all judges on a panel earn a Double Gold award.”

Later, on the last day of competition, some select Double Gold spirits will make it to their “sweepstakes round”. At this point, the judges give special designations to certain elite entries, bestowing upon them titles such as Best of Class and Best in Show.

Nothing here could either confirm or deny that certain judges with specific experience are excluded from the spirit categories that they are most expert in, so that one will remain a rumor for now.

This puts some things into perspective.

After doing this research, it was pretty clear to see why I noticed so many of the distilleries I followed were flashing their medals; bottom line is that a lot of medals were given out!

Is this a good or bad thing? I’ll let you decide. I suppose I generally see medals given in competition to the few, rare and exceptional standouts in their field, which is why I was so curious about why everyone seemed to get one. But if the competition is simply about which spirits are good, great or exceptional, and the awards are given out based on that criteria, it makes sense that many would receive medals. Even here at Homebar.io, we like to think that there are very, very few bad spirits. The competition’s website did mention that they judge each spirit on its own merit, as opposed to comparing it to the other entries in the flight. So it’s not a competition against other bottles but instead simply a comparison to what would be a generally positive tasting experience.

So what do you think? Now that you know a bit more about how the San Francisco World Spirits Competition is conducted and judged, does it give more weight to the winners? Or do you think that it just seems like a pass rating and therefore makes the medals lose their meaning? This time, you can be the judge.

Cheers, friends!