The World’s Best Whisky—According To The 2025 International Spirits Challenge

The Yamazaki 18 has been named Supreme Champion Spirit at the prestigious International Spirits Challenge 2025.

Photo illustration: Brad Japhe

In late September, the International Spirits Challenge convened in London to reveal its annual list of the best bottles from across the globe. Founded in 1995, it’s one of the industry’s longest-running and most-trusted competitions. This legacy is forwarded into the future by a panel of leading drinks experts who blindly evaluate thousands of entries representing, today, more than 7o countries from six continents.

The sheer number of spirit competitions crowding the field in 2025 is overwhelming, to be sure. To stand out, ISC does things a bit differently. Notably, at the conclusion of each competition, a “Supreme Champion Spirit” is awarded to the one expression that amasses the highest score across all categories of alcohol. This year that esteemed distinction was bestowed upon Yamazaki 18 Years Old – a highly coveted Japanese single malt from the House of Suntory.

In praising the liquid, which can retail for as much as $800 a bottle in the United States, the judges at ISC noted its “exceptional smoothness paired with remarkable intensity of flavor.” More specifically, Yamazaki 18 stands out for its sophisticated union of dark fruit and sandalwood tonalities. In this regard it is the premiere testament to the distillery’s elevation of both Spanish oak as well as Mizunara cooperage; its dark fruit palate coming from the former, the incense-like complexities of its finish owed to the latter.

It marks the third year in a row that the 102-year-old operation, located just outside of Osaka, has locked down “Supreme Champion” honors at the competition for one of its age stated offerings. In 2023, Yamazaki 25 Years Old held the highest scores. Last year, it was Yamazaki 12 Years Old. An unprecedented run of success in the competition’s 31-year history.

“Winning the Supreme Champion Spirit title for the third year in a row is a tremendous honor and it embodies our commitment to kaizen—continuous improvement and dedication to craftsmanship,” said Masaki “Mory” Morimoto, president of the House of Suntory, in a written press release. “This recognition is a testament to the pioneering spirit and exceptional craftsmanship of Yamazaki.”

It’s also a fitting way to cap off what has been a banner year for the distillery and its sister brands, including Hakashu Single Malt, Hibiki Blended Whisky and Haku Vodka – to name but a few. The inimitable Hakashu 25 took home Double Gold at this year’s ISC, to go along with 11 more Gold medals for other labels from the malt maker. Hibiki hauled home 4 more, including one for its limited edition 100 Years Anniversary Blend. Overall, Suntory held onto the title of “Producer of the Year” in the Japanese whisky category for the sixth straight year.

Haku, for its part, introduced its first flavored release in early autumn, a clean liquid infused with Yuzu citrus. It’s been met with instant embrace both on- and off-premise. Then, earlier in November, we highlighted the fact that House of Suntory chief blender, Shinji Fukuyo, had become one of the world’s most decorated whisky makers throughout his legendary tenure at the company.

Throughout the calendar year, the spirits brand has been collaborating on high-profile activations to raise its stature across the globe. That’s literally the case in London this winter, at SACHI, a popular Japanese restaurant in Belgravia. By way of an exclusive partnership with the House of Suntory, whisky fans are enjoying Hibiki Highballs and Hot Toddys on a fitted out rooftop overlooking the cityscape.

Back in the US, Fukuyo just took the unprecedented step of welcoming his biggest competitors in the Japanese whisky – Hiromi Ozaki of Nikka, and Jota Tanaka of Fuji – into the Suntory Global Spirits headquarters in New York. The trio laid out the next steps for enshrining protections for the category. On that front, the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Assocation (JSLMA) adopted a new logo earlier in the year: a round JW emblem that has been submitted to the Japan Patent Office and will soon be filed in international markets. It guarantees to consumers that the liquid in the accompanying bottle was distilled, aged, and bottled entirely in Japan.

A formal Geographical Identification (GI) should follow in the year ahead and with it a legally binding definition for the category. All of it is intended to affirm faith in the integrity of the category. Meanwhile, with accolades as lofty as “Supreme Champion Spirit,” Yamazaki is doing its part to prove to the world that actual Japanese whisky is something worth protecting. And something without equal.