Australia's Most Awarded Whiskies

I decided to compile a list of the best-performing Australian whiskies, at whisky competitions, on the world stage – judged, over the course of a decade, by the world's toughest blind-tasting panels. Each entry was made irrespective of price or availability, just to keep things pure. I thought this list would be interesting, and a reference. I ran the numbers and it turned out to be both.

How this list is built (and why that matters)

Most "Best Australian Whisky" lists are one person's opinion – and indeed, in time, that’s what I will compile. But this one isn't. All the whiskies listed here have earned their place courtesy of: a world title, a global award, or a documented role in building the Australian industry from nothing.

Now is a good/great time to compile such a list for one simply reason: Australian whisky has spent the last decade quietly collecting the highest honours in the global business of whisky. The world's judges, tasting blind, have told us which of these whiskies stand alongside the best on earth – because that’s what our best whiskies now do. This list simply reports what the judges found, and points you toward the bottles that earned it.

Unfortunately this means that a lot of the whiskies listed here are, let’s just say, on the high side, price-wise. Or are ultra difficult to obtain. But not all of them are. In fact, there are some surprises.

This list is organised in three tiers, by the kind of claim each whisky has: the world champions, the current global medallists, and the founders.

Tier one – The world champions

These are the Australian whiskies that have gone all the way: beaten every other country's best, in their category, on the global stage.

Tier two – The 2026 world medallists

These Australian whiskies sit a step below a World's Best title, but only a step. At the 2026 World Whiskies Awards, Australia took 21 gold medals and a swag of Country and Category Winner titles. This means that each of the whiskies here was judged the best of its style produced anywhere in Australia, and then medalled against competition from around the world. (The tier above went one further and won their category outright, globally.) This is current-form evidence: not history, not hype, but what international panels rated highest right now. All of what follows comes from the same competition, the World Whiskies Awards, judged blind.

Tier three — The founders

These whiskies (and the people behind them) don't need a current medal to belong. They built the industry the rest are winning in. Their claim is historical, and it's unimpeachable.

How to read this list

If you want to taste the best Australian whisky has ever produced, start at the top: Sullivans Cove is the one the world has crowned more than any other. If you want to understand where the industry came from, read tier three – Lark, Belgrove, Bakery Hill – and you'll have the whole origin story in five bottles. And if you want to know what's winning right now, tier two is a snapshot of the 2026 world results.

What you won't find here is a single number ranking one whisky above another, because that's a job for a palate – which we’ll get to in other articles and areas of this site – and this list is built on specifically on the accumulated verdict of the world's judges, over more than a decade, tasting blind. These awards have told us that these whiskies belong among the best on earth.

And so, you should try them.