The World’s Best Bourbon—According To The 2024 International Wine & Spirit Competition

For the first time, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious spirits competitions held a judging event in North America, and a small family-owned distillery came out on top.

Hudson Lindenberger covers beer, wine, spirits, and dining.

Hopes were high that the International Wine and Spirits' first-ever Global Judging event of North American whiskey on home soil would unearth some fantastic bottles. Well, it didn’t disappoint. An expert panel sampled almost 500 bottles in Kentucky in early September, and the results were just announced.

Over 430 medals were awarded, including 30 golds and four outstanding golds. The judges were wowed, to say the least.

“What they are doing here in terms of liquid quality is just insane. Some of the distilleries we’ve been around are incredible. We were amazed by the sheer detail they are going into in production, said Dawn Davies MW, a member of the Judging Committee. As for the judging itself, what was very interesting was seeing some crazy cask finishes, some different grains being used. And all of those things, whether they work or they don’t, are all fantastic to try. It’s been a fabulous few days.”

While they found many great bottles of rye, blended whiskey, and American single malt, we are going to focus on the one that had everyone on the edge of their seats: bourbon. Nine Kentucky straight bourbons won gold medals, and one took home the only outstanding gold award in the entire bourbon category.

That bottle is Kentucky Peerless Distilling Toasted Bourbon. It bested bottles from gold medal winners from luminaries like Blanton’s, Four Roses, W.L Weller, Eagle Rare, George T Stagg, 15 Stars, and Blue Run.

Founded in 1889, Peerless was one of the most successful distilleries in Kentucky until Prohibition forced it to close. It lay dormant for decades until it was relaunched in 2015 by founder Henry Kraver’s great-grandson Corky Taylor and his son Carson Taylor as a premium small-batch distillery in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.

From the get-go, Peerless blazed their own path. They adhered to a strict grain-to-bottle process, meaning they control every step of the production in-house and do not source their liquid from outside channels. Peerless uses a sweet mash process, starting each fermentation fresh with new mash, unlike the typical sour mash method that reuses leftovers from previous batches. This labor-intensive approach results in a more nuanced, fresher flavor. They also skip chill filtration, which many distilleries use to remove particulates, in order to retain a richer mouthfeel and fuller flavor.