A honeyed Highland malt finished in sweet wine casks took the top whisky honour in New York, while a 21-year-old sherry bomb from Speyside was named the best Scotch in San Francisco. Those are the headlines among the Top Shelf 2026 whisky winners, announced at the Tasting Alliance’s black-tie awards gala in San Francisco on 8 November.
We were not in the room this year, and we will admit that hurts a little. Watching the results come in from Denmark is one thing. Standing in the ballroom when the Best in Show names are read out is something we would genuinely love to experience one day. For now, we have been through the full results list, and this is our guide to the bottles that matter most for whisky drinkers, with a clear focus on Scotch.
What is Top Shelf 2026?
Top Shelf is the Tasting Alliance’s annual awards weekend, where the top results from its family of competitions are revealed together. The 2026 edition ran on 7 and 8 November at Hotel Nikko San Francisco, with the gala on the final evening.
The results cover five spirits competitions: the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC), the New York World Spirits Competition (NYWSC), the Asia World Spirits Competition (AWSC), the Latin America World Spirits Competition (LAWSC) and the San Francisco Ready to Drink Competition. Results from the San Francisco International Wine Competition were only partly released at the time of writing.
All entries are judged blind by panels of buyers, bartenders, distillers, importers and writers. The awards run in tiers. Best of Class goes to the top entry in a specific category, Best Overall to the top entry in a broader group such as Scotch or bourbon, and Best New to the strongest new release in each spirit type. At the very top sit 15 Best in Show honours across the five competitions, the highest award an entry can receive.
This is the first time we have covered the Tasting Alliance at The Daily Whisky. Given how many whisky categories it judges, and how international the field has become, it will not be the last.
Top Shelf 2026 whisky winners at a glance
| Award | Whisky | Competition |
|---|---|---|
| Best in Show Whiskey | Glenmorangie The Nectar 16 Year Old | NYWSC |
| Best in Show Whiskey | Epoch Maryland Straight Rye 6 Year Old Cask Strength | SFWSC |
| Best in Show Whiskey | The Donn Single Malt Irish Whiskey | AWSC |
| Best Overall Scotch | Tamdhu 21 Year Old | SFWSC |
| Best Overall Scotch | Glenmorangie The Nectar 16 Year Old | NYWSC |
| Best Overall Blended Scotch | Dewar’s Double Double 32 Year Old | SFWSC |
| Best Overall Bourbon | Elijah Craig 15 Year Old Single Barrel | SFWSC |
| Best Overall Bourbon | K.LUKE Batch 6 Small Batch 100 Proof | NYWSC |
| Best Overall Irish Whiskey | The Donn Single Malt | AWSC and NYWSC |
| Best New Scotch | KinGlassie Double Matured 8 Year Old | All |
| Best New Japanese Whisky | Saburomaru V The Hierophant Cask Strength | All |
| Best New Bourbon | Fathertime The Caboose Small Batch: Empty Nester Strength | All |
| Best New Rye | Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers Rye 1 Whisky | All |
The Scotch winners at Top Shelf 2026
Scotch had a very good gala. Between San Francisco and New York, Scottish single malts and blends collected one Best in Show, three Best Overall titles and a long list of Best of Class wins across age bands from 12 years to well past 30.
Glenmorangie The Nectar 16: Best in Show in New York
The single biggest Scotch result of the night belongs to Glenmorangie. The Nectar 16 Year Old won Best in Show Whiskey at the New York World Spirits Competition, as well as Best Overall Scotch and Best of Class in the 13 to 19 Year Single Malt category.
The Nectar is the successor to the long-running Nectar D’Or. Where the old version was finished in Sauternes alone, the 16-year-old spends 14 years in bourbon casks before a two-year finish in a range of sweet wine casks, including Sauternes and Monbazillac from France, Moscatel from Spain and Tokaji from Hungary. Glenmorangie’s Dr Bill Lumsden has always described the inspiration as walking into a French pastry shop, and that brioche, honey and almond character is exactly what judges rewarded here. It is bottled at 46% ABV.
Glenmorangie did not stop there in New York. The Original 12 Years Old, the Highland distillery’s flagship since it was reimagined from 10 to 12 years in 2024, took Best of Class in the Up to 12 Years category. It is a 100% ex-bourbon whisky at 40% ABV, all orange, peach and vanilla, and one of the most widely available single malts in the world.
Tamdhu 21: Best Overall Scotch in San Francisco
Over in San Francisco, the Best Overall Scotch title went to Tamdhu 21 Year Old. It also won Best Overall Distillers’ Single Malt Scotch and Best of Class in the 20+ Year single malt category.
Tamdhu is a distillery we know well. Since Ian Macleod Distillers bought it in 2011, every bottled Tamdhu has been matured exclusively in Oloroso sherry casks, and if you love heavy, rich sherry notes in your whisky, this is a Speyside name that delivers every time.
The 21 Year Old is Tamdhu’s oldest core expression. It is fully matured in first-fill and refill Oloroso casks, with a dominant share of European oak, bottled at 47.5% ABV with natural colour, and released as a limited annual batch of 12,000 bottles worldwide.
Dewar’s Double Double 32: best blended Scotch
The Best Overall Blended Scotch award at SFWSC went to Dewar’s Double Double 32 Year Old, which also won Best of Class for blends aged 16 years and over.
The Double Double name refers to Dewar’s four-stage ageing process. Malt and grain whiskies are matured separately, blended and returned to cask, then married again before a final finish in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. The result is bottled at 46% ABV, without chill filtration or added colour. It is no stranger to awards either: the same whisky was named Whisky of the Year at the International Whisky Competition back in 2020.
Ardbeg Trudernish 15 and Corryvreckan: Islay on the podium
Ardbeg, Glenmorangie’s sister distillery on Islay, had two class wins of its own. In San Francisco, the brand new Trudernish 15 Year Old took Best of Class in the 13 to 19 Year single malt category. In New York, Corryvreckan won Best of Class for No Age Statement single malt.
Trudernish is a significant release for Ardbeg. Launched in autumn 2026, it is the distillery’s first permanent 15-year-old, matured in bourbon casks, new charred oak and Oloroso sherry casks and bottled at 48.8% ABV, non-chill filtered. The distillery describes it as soft smoke with a creamy texture, which makes it an interesting counterpoint to Corryvreckan, the full-strength Ardbeg at 57.1% ABV that has been in the range since 2008.
Ardbeg is a distillery we have spent plenty of time with in the glass
Taken together, Glenmorangie and Ardbeg (both part of The Glenmorangie Company) collected a Best in Show, a Best Overall Scotch title and four Best of Class wins across the two American competitions. That is a remarkable spread for two distilleries with such different house styles.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12: a classic still winning
It is easy to overlook the bottles that have been on the shelf for decades, but the judges did not. The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 won Best of Class in the Up to 12 Years single malt category at SFWSC.
DoubleWood was launched in 1993 and is one of the whiskies that made cask finishing mainstream. It spends its first years in American oak ex-bourbon casks before moving to European oak Oloroso sherry casks for around nine months. For us, it is a lovely, classic whisky with soft, rounded notes of honey, vanilla and gentle sherry fruit, and the kind of bottle that is always good to have in the cabinet.
More Scotch Best of Class winners
The SFWSC Scotch list went further. Sassenach Spirits’ Spirit of Home won Best of Class for No Age Statement blended Scotch, John Crabbie’s Virgin Oak Peated took No Age Statement single malt, and Noble Rebel Hazelnut Harmony won in the blended malt category.
KinGlassie Double Matured 8: Best New Scotch
The Best New Scotch award went to KinGlassie Double Matured 8 Years Fife Single Malt from InchDairnie Distillery in Fife. It is the distillery’s first single malt range, released in May 2025, and a heavily peated whisky at around 50ppm. It is matured for five years in ex-bourbon casks and three years in Amontillado sherry casks, then bottled at 46.3% ABV.
InchDairnie is one of the most technically curious distilleries in Scotland, known for its RyeLaw single grain rye and an approach that leans hard into experimentation. Seeing its very first single malt pick up Best New Scotch against an international field is a big moment for a young Lowland distillery.
Redbreast 12 and the Irish whiskey winners
Our one detour from Scotland is a whiskey we simply cannot leave out. Redbreast 12 Year Old won Best of Class for Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey at the New York World Spirits Competition.
Redbreast is made at Midleton Distillery in County Cork from a mash of malted and unmalted barley, distilled in copper pot stills, and matured in a mix of ex-bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks. The 12 Year Old is bottled at 40% ABV. Honestly, it is a fantastic whiskey: spice, dried fruit and that oily, rich pot still texture that has made it the reference point for the whole single pot still style.
What makes the Redbreast result even more impressive is that the family won Pure Pot Still in all three competitions. The 12 Year Old Cask Strength took the category in San Francisco, the standard 12 Year Old in New York, and the 27 Year Old at the Asia World Spirits Competition.
The other big Irish story is The Donn, a single malt from Craft Irish Whiskey. It won Best in Show Whiskey at the Asia World Spirits Competition and Best Overall Irish Whiskey in both Asia and New York, and Best of Class Single Malt Irish in San Francisco. Egan’s Conviction 21 rounded off the Irish list with Best of Class for blended Irish whiskey at SFWSC.
American and world whisky winners at Top Shelf 2026
The Best in Show Whiskey award at the flagship San Francisco competition went to a rye: Baltimore Spirits Company’s Epoch Maryland Straight Rye Whiskey 6 Year Old Cask Strength, which also won Best of Class Rye.
In bourbon, Elijah Craig 15 Year Old Single Barrel was named Best Overall Bourbon at SFWSC, as well as Best Overall Single Barrel Bourbon. It is a bottle we have not spent enough time with ourselves, but friends whose palates we trust speak very highly of it, and it is now firmly on our list. In New York, K.LUKE Whiskey Company’s Batch 6 Small Batch 100 Proof Bourbon took Best Overall Bourbon. Other American class winners included Heaven Hill, Uncle Nearest, Pinhook, Henry McKenna and Leiper’s Fork.
The world whisky winners show how global the category has become. Saburomaru won Best of Class Japanese whisky and Best New Japanese Whisky for V The Hierophant Cask Strength. Ki One’s Sun Korean Single Malt, Callington Mill’s El Sol from Australia, Bearface from Canada and Omar’s sherry cask single malt from Taiwan all took Best of Class in their categories.
The other Best in Show winners
Outside whisky, the San Francisco Best in Show list included Delamain Pléiade La Rambaudie Cognac (brandy), Funk Harbor Silver rum (unaged white spirit), Jinmac Soju Poet’s Rock 47 (aged white spirit) and Kumaheinoume Kumahei (liqueur).
In New York, Del Maguey Tobalá Single Village mezcal and Kasa Kaña Morena Rum took the white spirit honours. At the Asia competition, Mezcal Vago, Wenzhoulaojiuhan’s Chenqi baijiu and Super Pandan liqueur were the Best in Show winners, while The Lost Explorer Tequila Blanco won Best in Show Agave Spirit at the Latin America competition. Tip Top Proper Cocktails’ Naked & Famous was named Best in Show Ready-to-Drink.
Where to buy the Scotch winners
Most of the Top Shelf 2026 Scotch winners are core-range bottles available internationally through specialist retailers and the distilleries’ own shops.
Glenmorangie The Nectar 16: 46% ABV, around €80 RRP in Europe and $100 to $120 in the US. Widely available worldwide.
Glenmorangie The Original 12: 40% ABV, £40 RRP in the UK. One of the easiest single malts to find in any market.
Tamdhu 21 Year Old: 47.5% ABV, £299 / $400 RRP. Limited to 12,000 bottles per annual batch, available from specialist retailers worldwide and the Tamdhu website.
Dewar’s Double Double 32 Year Old: 46% ABV, 50cl in the UK £426
Ardbeg Trudernish 15: 48.8% ABV,£80
Ardbeg Corryvreckan: 57.1% ABV, around £83 at UK specialist retailers. Widely available.
KinGlassie Double Matured 8: 46.3% ABV, £79 RRP. Available from InchDairnie’s own shop and specialist retailers in the UK and Europe.
Redbreast 12 Year Old: 40% ABV, around £65 in the UK. Available worldwide.
Our take on the Top Shelf 2026 whisky winners
What stands out most is the range of Scotch on the podium. A sweet wine finished Highland malt, a fully sherried 21-year-old Speysider, a 32-year-old blend, a peated Islay newcomer, a 1993 classic and a debut single malt from Fife all won major awards at the same gala. There is no single style of Scotch winning here, and that is exactly how it should be.
If you want one bottle to take away from these results, The Nectar 16 is the easy recommendation: Best in Show quality at a core-range price. If you love big sherry, Tamdhu 21 is the one to hunt down before this year’s allocation goes. And if you have never tried Redbreast 12, these results are as good a reason as any to start.
We will be digging deeper into the Scotch, Irish and world whisky results in follow-up articles. And one day, we hope to cover the Top Shelf gala from inside the room.
FAQ
What is Top Shelf 2026?
Top Shelf 2026 is the Tasting Alliance’s annual awards weekend, held on 7 and 8 November 2026 at Hotel Nikko San Francisco. The top results from the San Francisco, New York, Asia and Latin America World Spirits Competitions and the San Francisco Ready to Drink Competition were announced at a black-tie gala on 8 November.
What won Best in Show Whiskey at Top Shelf 2026?
Three whiskies won Best in Show: Epoch Maryland Straight Rye 6 Year Old Cask Strength at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Glenmorangie The Nectar 16 Year Old at the New York World Spirits Competition, and The Donn Single Malt Irish Whiskey at the Asia World Spirits Competition.
What was the best Scotch whisky at Top Shelf 2026?
Tamdhu 21 Year Old won Best Overall Scotch at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and Glenmorangie The Nectar 16 Year Old won Best Overall Scotch at the New York World Spirits Competition. Dewar’s Double Double 32 Year Old was named Best Overall Blended Scotch in San Francisco.
What is the difference between Best in Show, Best Overall and Best of Class?
Best of Class is awarded to the top entry in a specific category, such as Single Malt Scotch 13 to 19 Years. Best Overall goes to the top entry in a broader group, such as all Scotch or all bourbon. Best in Show is the highest award, with 15 honours given across the five spirits competitions.
Which Irish whiskey won at Top Shelf 2026?
The Donn Single Malt Irish Whiskey won Best in Show at the Asia World Spirits Competition and Best Overall Irish Whiskey in Asia and New York. Redbreast won Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey in all three competitions, with the 12 Year Old Cask Strength in San Francisco, the 12 Year Old in New York and the 27 Year Old in Asia.
What was the Best New Scotch at Top Shelf 2026?
The Best New Scotch award went to KinGlassie Double Matured 8 Years Fife Single Malt from InchDairnie Distillery, a heavily peated single malt matured in ex-bourbon and Amontillado sherry casks and bottled at 46.3% ABV.
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