Last year we announced the first ever annual Distiller Awards. We revealed our top spirits of the year, the most highly-rated spirits by the community and even gave out a few user awards. This year we’ve expanded the user awards to highlight some of the amazing community members that make Distiller so great. Without any further ado, we present the winners of the 2018 Distiller Awards.
Distiller’s 2018 Spirits of the Year
2018 was an especially busy year when it came to new releases. It seemed like every week there were more new bottles coming out than we could even begin to cover. Still, nothing worth doing is ever easy, so we took on the challenge of reviewing as many of them as humanly possible. These are our picks for the spirits of the year in every category. To be eligible for consideration the spirit had to have been released in 2018 and received a high score from the Distiller Tasting Table.
Whisk(e)y Of The Year – 2018: Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Revival
Rum Of The Year – 2018: Mount Gay XO: The Peat Smoke Expression
Agave Spirit Of The Year – 2018: Tequila El Mayor Single Estate Los Lobos Plantation Blanco
Brandy Of The Year – 2018: BERTOUX Brandy
Gin Of The Year – 2018: Citadelle Reserve Gin (Wooden Egg Version)
Vodka Of The Year – 2018: Ketel One Botanical Grapefruit & Rose
Highest Rated Spirits of the Year
Hundreds of thousands of spirits are tasted and rated every year in Distiller, but these picks rose above the rest. These bottles had the highest average ratings for their categories. A spirit had to be tasted at least 50 times in 2018 to become eligible for consideration.
Highest User Rated Whisk(e)y – 2018: Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2018 (Average Rating for 2018: 4.67)
Highest User Rated Agave Spirit – 2018: Herradura Añejo Tequila (Average Rating for 2018: 4.40)
Highest User Rated Rum – 2018: Ron Zacapa XO Rum (Average Rating for 2018: 4.54)
Highest User Rated Brandy – 2018: Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal Cognac (Average Rating for 2018: 4.16)
Highest User Rated Gin – 2018: St. George Botanivore Gin (Average Rating for 2018: 4.25)
Highest User Rated Vodka – 2018: Belvedere Vodka (Average Rating for 2018: 4.18)
The 2018 Distiller User Awards
Distiller was born back in 2013, and since then millions of people have used the service to find their next favorite bottle. What once was a tiny whiskey website is now a massive platform containing thousands of expert reviews and hundreds of thousands of Tastes from users from all over the planet.
Last year we honored the users who created the most tasting notes and the most comments. This year we’re adding even more categories to showcase some of the amazing members of the Distiller community.
Winners will receive custom engraved Distiller trophies, along with a few other goodies.
TASTER OF THE YEAR: Soba45
This prolific taster posted a brand new taste almost every single day of the year. Talk about commitment. This award honors the person who posted the most public Tastes in 2018. Congratulations and well done, Soba45!
CONVERSATION STARTER: PBMichiganWolverine
For the second year in a row, PBMichiganWolverine takes the mantle as the most social user in Distiller, posting more comments on Tastes than anyone else. Everyone wants to be friends with a Wolverine.
POPULARITY AWARD: LeeEvolved
A brand new award for 2018, this award honors the individual whose Tastes received the most comments. You’ll probably understand why LeeEvolved won when you get to the next award.
THE WORDSMITH: LeeEvolved
Another brand new award for 2018, and what an award it is. It honors the individual whose Tastes had the most words. In 2018, LeeEvolved wrote an unreal 69,595 words in his Tastes. For reference, that is well within the range of a normal mystery novel. Sounds like Lee has a new career ahead of him.
THE JETSETTER: Dubz480
Since we added the ability for Distiller users to add locations to their Tastes earlier this year, nobody has added more unique locations than Dubz480. Well done Dubz! We can’t wait to see who wins the award next year when you’ve all had a full calendar year to tag where you’re sipping your favorite spirits.
THE COLLECTOR: Soba45
Not long ago we added the ability for app users to submit their own bottles to the database. There are so many spirits from around the world, there’s no way we’ll ever be able to get to all of them ourselves. Since making this feature public, Soba45 has added more bottles than any other user. Didn’t want to let LeeEvolved be the only one to win two awards, eh Soba?
THE EXPLORER: worldwhiskies95
There are 102 unique styles of spirits represented in Distiller, and worldwhiskies95 tasted more of them than anyone else in 2018. Variety is the spice of life. Well done.
That does it for the 2018 Distiller Awards. Winners, keep an eye out for an email from us, and as always, thank you to everyone who uses Distiller and helps us make it better every single day.
Cheers!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 Distiller Awards.
With Distiller, you’ll always know what’s in the bottle before you spend a cent. Rate, Review, and Discover spirits! Head on over to Distiller, or download the app for iOS and Android today!
