Whisky competitions in the world
WWA
World whisky awards is held in London by Whisky magazine from 2007 and it was Best of Best by Paragraph Publishing from 2001.
Japanese whisky doesn't have independent category although Canadian and American whisky has own independent category. There are no "Other whisky category" so that whiskys from other countries are selected by material and vatting category.
Awards are ranked as category world best, category country best and category country selected.
Suntory and Nikka have been participating since the 2007 and Kirin joined from 2013. Chichibu also has been participating from 2009 and got several awards.
ISC
International spirits challenge is held in London from 1995.
Japanese whisky has independent category as same as Scotch, American and Irish whisky altough Canadian whisky is categorized as world whisky.
Awards are ranked as Trophy, Double gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Suntory and Nikka have been participating since the 2000s and Kirin joined from 2014. Kurayoshi distillery and Japanese whisky conceptors(Aiko Importer and Boutique Whisky Company) also joined from 2019.
IWSC
International wine and sprirts competition is held in London from 1969.
Japanese whisky is categorized as world whisky although Scotch, American and Irish whisky have own independent cateogries. It also has sake cateogry but IWC (International wine challenge) is more major than it.
Awards are ranked as Trophy, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Suntory was actively participating from 2006 to 2011 and Karuizawa won gold medal in 2001 and 2002 although no Japanese whisky distilleries participate today.
SWSC
San Francisco World Spirits Competition is held from 2000.
Japanese whisky is categorized as other whisky or single grain whisky including rice whisky although Bourbon, American whisky and Scotch have several own cateogries and Canadian and Irish whisky have own independent category.
Awards are ranked as Best of category, Double gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Suntory was actively participating from 2005 to 2018 but Major companies don't join today and only new distilleries and import whisky bottling companies are participating.
WHISKY ADVOCATE
Whisky advocate in USA has been held annual awards from 1994.
It was divided by prduction country & area category till 2016 and then it becamse simply TOP20 from 2017. There were Japanese whisky category till 2016.
Awards were simply each category top till 2016 and TOP20 from 2017.
Suntory and Nikka were actively participating from 2007 to 2018 and got several awards as best Japanese whisky.
Awards by Japanese whisky distillery
Suntory's Awards
WWA
- 2007 World Best : Hibiki 30Y
- 2008 World Best : Hibiki 30Y
- 2010 World Best : Hibiki 21Y
- 2011 World Best : Hibiki 21Y, Yamazaki 1984
- 2012 World Best : Yamazaki 25Y
- 2013 World Best : Hibiki 21Y
- 2016 World Best : Hibiki 21Y
- 2017 World Best : Hibiki 21Y
- 2018 World Best : Hakushu 25Y
- 2019 World Best : Hibiki 21Y
- 2020 World Best : Hakushu 25Y
ISC
- 2004 Trophy : Hibiki 30Y
- 2006 Trophy : Hibiki 30Y
- 2007 Trophy : Hibiki 30Y
- 2008 Trophy : Hibiki 30Y
- 2010 Trophy : Yamazaki 1984
- 2012 Trophy : Yamazaki 18Y, Hakushu 25Y
- 2013 Trophy : Hibiki 21Y
- 2014 Trophy : Hibiki 21Y
- 2015 Trophy : Hibiki 21Y
- 2016 Trophy : Hibiki 21Y
- 2017 Trophy : Hibiki 21Y
- 2018 Trophy : Hibiki 21Y, Hakushu 25Y
Double Gold : Yamazaki 12/18Y
- 2019 Double Gold : Hibiki 21Y, Yamazaki 18Y
IWSC
- 2006 Trophy : Yamazaki 18Y
- 2007 Gold : Hibiki 17/30Y, Hakushu 18Y
- 2009 Gold : Hakushu 12/25Y
- 2010 Gold : Hibiki 12/18/21Y & Heavily Peated, Hibiki 12Y
- 2011 Gold : Hakushu 25Y
SWSC
- 2005 Double Gold : Yamazaki 18Y
- 2008 Double Gold : Yamazaki 18Y
- 2009 Best of Category : Yamazaki 12/18Y
- 2010 Double Gold : Yamazaki 10Y/1984
- 2011 Best of Category : Yamazaki 18Y, Hakushu 12Y
- 2012 Best of Category : Yamazaki 12/18Y, Hibiki 12Y
- 2013 Double Gold : Yamazaki 18Y, Hakushu 12Y
- 2014 Double Gold : Hibiki 12Y
- 2015 Best of Category : Yamazaki 18Y
- 2015 Double Gold : Yamazaki 25Y, Hakushu 18Y
- 2016 Double Gold : Hibiki Japanese Harmony, Hakushu 12Y/18Y
- 2018 Double Gold : Yamazaki 12Y
Whisky advocate
- 2007 World whisky best : Yamazaki 18Y
- 2015 Japanese whiksy best : Hibiki Harmony
Nikka's Awards
WWA
- 2001 World Best : Yoichi Single Cask 10Y
- 2007 World Best : Teketsuru 21Y, Yoichi 1986
- 2008 World Best : Yoichi 1987
- 2009 World Best : Taketsuru 21Y
- 2010 World Best : Taketsuru 21Y
- 2011 World Best : Taketsuru 21Y
- 2012 World Best : Taketsuru 17Y
- 2014 World Best : Taketsuru 17Y
- 2015 World Best : Taketsuru 17Y
- 2017 World Best : Taketsuru 17Y
- 2018 World Best : Taketsuru 17Y
- 2019 World Best : Taketsuru 25Y
ISC
- 2009 Trophy : Taketsuru 21Y
- 2015 Trophy : Nikka from the barrel
- 2017 Trophy : Nikka coffey malt
- 2019 Trophy : Taketsuru 25Y
SWSC
- 2015 Double gold : Taketsuru
Whisky advocate
- 2013 Japanese whisky best : Yoichi 1988 Single cask
- 2016 Japanese whisky best : Yoichi
- 2018 Top1 : Nikka from the barrel
Kirin's Awards
WWA
- 2016 World Best : Fuji-Gotemba Single Grain 25Y
- 2017 World Best : Fuji-Gotemba Single Grain 25Y
- 2019 World Best : Fuji-Gotemba Single Grain 25Y
- 2020 World Best : Fuji Single Grain 30Y
ISC
- 2019 Double gold : Fuji-Gotemba Single Malt 17Y
SWSC
- 2018 Double gold : Blender's Choice Single Malt
Ichiro's Malt's Awards
WWA
- 2009 World Best : Chichibu Winewood reserve
- 2010 World Best : Chichibu Mizunarawood reserve
- 2011 World Best : Chichibu Double distillery
- 2017 World Best : Chichibu Matsuri 2017 Single cask
- 2018 World Best : Ichiro's Malt & Grain Japanese Blended Whisky Limited Edition
- 2019 World Best : Ichiro's Malt & Grain Japanese Blended Whisky Limited Edition 2019
- 2020 World Best : Ichiro's Malt & Grain Japanese Blended Whisky Limited Edition 2020
ISC
- 2019 Double gold : Fuji-Gotemba Single Malt 17Y
SWSC
- 2018 Double gold : Blender's Choice Single Malt
Whisky advocate
- 2011 Best Japanese whisky : Chichibu the first
- 2014 Best Japanese whisky : Ichiro's Malt the jorker
Other's Awards
WWA
- 2013 World Best : Mars Maltage 3+25 28Y
IWSC
- 2001 Gold : Karuizawa 12Y
- 2002 Gold : Karuizawa Master's blend 10Y
SWSC
- 2019 Double gold : Matsui Mizunara Cask Single Malt
- 2020 Double gold : Akkeshi Sarorunkamuy
(Kaiyo Peated 2nd Edition, Kurayoshi 8Y, Shin 10Y Mizunara Oak Finished)
Whisky advocate
- 2017 TOP20 : Fukano 2017 edition
- 2019 TOP19 : Matsui The Peated
(TOP14 : Kaiyo Mizunara Oak)