Three Golds and a Whisky of the Year: BNS at ISW 2026

Comic book covers. Voodoo masks. Labels with more plot than most box sets. It's fair to say we don't do whisky the conventional way!

That's exactly why it means something truly special when a competition like Meininger's International Spirits Award (ISW) gets involved. ISW has been going since 2003, run by a German publishing house that's been in the wine and spirits trade since 1903. Every year in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, a jury of over 60 tasters works through around 1,300 spirits from over 50 countries, all tasted blind and scored independently, with only the top 30% coming away with a medal.

This year we are over the moon to share that four of our whiskies received recognition, and one was even named the very best in its category.

Voodoo's "Smoking Curse" Named Scotch Whisky Single Malt of the Year

The standout result is Whisky of Voodoo "Smoking Curse" — Ardmore 8 Years Old, named Scotch Whisky Single Malt of the Year — the highest score of any single malt entered at the ISW competition.

It's a Highland whisky built as a vatting of Cognac and Laphroaig casks — two very different characters put together in one bottle. Cognac wood tends to bring fruit, spice and a certain roundness; Laphroaig brings smoke and iodine-heavy peat. Put side by side, it's not an obvious match, which is part of what makes it interesting. The judges picked up on real tobacco and smoke, good spice, and a long, complex finish, with balance and body scoring among the highest marks on the panel — proof that the two sides of this vatting were doing more than just sitting next to each other.

WhiskyHeroes "Captain Shug & The Second Sight" — Teaninich 13 Years Old received a Gold medal in the Scottish Whisky Single Malt Highland category. According to the judges, thirteen years in an Amontillado Sherry hogshead has given it plenty of dried fruit and vanilla, a solid malty backbone, and a developed oakiness that carries through to a long finish.

Whisky of Voodoo "Coven of the Red Veil" picked up Gold too, in the Scottish Whisky Blended Grain category. It's a vatting of Cameronbridge and North British grains, built on St. Emilion Grand Cru wine and sherry casks. The judges noted a well-balanced whisky with real depth of wood character and a long, even finish. Good to see blended grain get that kind of recognition, since it doesn't always draw the same attention single malts do.

Cask Masters Clynelish 10 Years Old rounded things off with a score of 90 points, with judges highlighting a strong malt character, good sweetness, and a well-developed wood influence throughout, proper Highland character for a whisky still only ten years into its life.

Results like this matter to us because they're a reminder that the work behind each release — the cask selection, the finishing, the years of waiting to see if an idea actually pays off — is what people end up tasting in the glass.

None of this happens without the people who actually pour these whiskies, share them, and tell us honestly what they think — collectors, curious newcomers, everyone in between. We're genuinely grateful for that, and results like this feel like they belong to that whole community as much as to us.

Full results are on Meininger's website.

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