Balcones Distilling Wins Whiskey of The Year Award

The Texas Distillery Also Received Double Gold and Gold Awards Across Its Entire American Single Malt Portfolio at the New Orleans Spirits Competition.

WACO, Texas, Aug. 17, 2023 Balcones Distilling’s Texas 1 Single Malt was awarded the highest honor of Whiskey of the Year at the New Orleans Spirits Competition presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, which unveiled the 2023 award winners on Tuesday, July 25th. In addition to this recognition, Balcones Distilling received category Double Gold for Balcones Texas 1 Single Malt, which means it was named Best American Single Malt, as well as Best Single Malt overall. To add to the list, Balcones Lineage Texas Single Malt also won Gold in the Whiskey category.

"Tales of the Cocktail is a fantastic event and it’s a huge honor to take home any medal in The New Orleans Spirits Competition," said Jared Himstedt, head distiller at Balcones Distilling. "To be recognized for both of our American Single Malts is a testament to our team who pioneers the category every day, showing great whiskies can come from the state of Texas."

The New Orleans Spirits Competition is an international spirits judging competition, bringing wider recognition to fine beverages and spirits from top-flight producers across the globe. Presented by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, each spirit is tasted blind by a panel of industry experts, without identification, to ensure integrity and secrecy. The judging panels include preeminent industry professionals, including award winning bartenders and distillers, decorated beverage writers, and industry luminaries.

These awards come on the heels of Balcones being named American Single Malt Distillery of the Year at 2023 New York International Spirits Competition, as well as Double Gold for Texas 1 Single Malt, and Gold for Lineage Texas Single Malt and Pilgrimage Single Malt respectively.

About Balcones Distilling
Balcones Distilling pioneered a new landscape for whisky by combining centuries of single malt distilling tradition with the unique flavors of Texas. Synonymous with quality and innovation, Balcones Distilling is an award-winning distillery that is changing the state of whisky through its high-quality ingredients and unique processes to create layers of flavor in every expression.

Creator of the original Texas whisky, Balcones Distilling distills all of its beloved spirits inside the historic Texas Fireproof Storage Company building in downtown Waco. Guests can visit the distillery for tours, tastings and events to discover the new state of whisky with Balcones. Visit BalconesDistilling.com for more information.

About Diageo North America
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan’s whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness.