‘A Watershed Moment for American Whiskey’: Michter’s Makes History as 1st US Distillery to Be Named World’s Most Admired Whiskey

This Jan. 25, 2019 photo shows bottles of Michter’s Bourbon displayed at the spirit maker’s new Fort Nelson Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner)

On Tuesday, Michter’s announced that it received a spot on Drinks International’s 2023 World’s Most Admired Whiskies list — and not just any spot. The Kentucky whiskey brand achieved the number one designation.

Michter’s beat out runners-up Japan’s Yamazaki and Scotland’s Ardbeg.

“I could not be prouder of what this means for Michter’s, but for the American whiskey community as a whole,” Michter’s Master of Maturation and former Chair of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association Andrea Wilson said in a news release. “It is the ultimate recognition of the attention to detail, discipline, rigor and focus on excellence that has characterized high-end American whiskey production for many years now. At home, we’ve always had tremendous belief in our approach, but then you could travel abroad and see bourbon placed on the bottom shelf almost automatically in many parts of the world, so it is really exciting to see it in such high regard.”

The World’s Most Admired Whiskies list debuted in 2021. Drinks International’s Academy selects its 10 favorite brands based on price-to-value ratio, quality and consistency.

“I would like to thank the Academy for this extraordinary honor on behalf of our entire team, past and present,” Michter’s Master Distiller Dan McKee said. “It reflects the decades of hard work and passing down of knowledge from generation to generation that it took to arrive at this point. From each and every person at Michter’s to all our trade partners and friends, this would not be possible without you. I am tremendously grateful and honored.”

Michter’s has had quite a busy year. In June, the brand’s president and CEO,Joseph Magliocco, was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.

The brand released its toasted barrel rye in late August and unveiled two new expressions within its under-the-radar Legacy Series earlier this fall.

“We are so grateful to the Academy and to all the people who have done so much over the years to make this possible. I can’t put into words how thrilled and how honored all of us at Michter’s are,” Magliocco said. “From my first days of learning about the heritage of Michter’s in Pennsylvania through the subsequent time our team has spent resurrecting the brand in Kentucky, we have always hoped that people would appreciate the brand’s legacy and dedication to quality. But if you told me that one day Michter’s would be named the World’s Most Admired Whiskey, well, I would’ve thought you’d had one too many.”

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