Australia has triumphed at the World Whiskies Awards and Icons of Whisky, Rest of World 2025, taking out 21 Gold ‘Best in Category’ medals and five Icons awards.

Awards director Anita Ujszaszi said: “It’s been a phenomenal year for the World Whiskies Awards and the Icons of Whisky. We’ve seen a truly innovative and unique range of products throughout this competition, and it’s been a pleasure to talk to all the passionate individuals behind each creation as well as our wonderful judging panel.

“We see strong candidates every year in all the awards categories and this year was no exception. Congratulations to all our winners and thank you to all those who entered. It’s your determination and hard work that makes this industry so great!”

Winners from this round of World Whiskies Awards will go on to compete against other winners from France, Scotland, United States and Ireland with the chance to become the ‘World’s Best’ in their category, the results of which will be announced in London in March.

Australian Gold category winners included:

• 36 South Double Grain
• Hellyers Road American Oak Cask 22 Years Old
• Hellyers Road Peat Cask Finish 21 Years Old
• Hellyers Road Voyager Cask 20 Years Old
• Hobart Whisky Winter Feast 2024 Limited Release
• Iniquity Talamara Cask Strength
• Lark Symphony No 1
• Limeburners Directors Cut
• Nullaki Single Malt – Young Spirit
• Sullivans Cove Old & Rare American Oak Second Fill 18 Years Old
• Tiger Snake Rye of the Tiger
• Transportation and Killara Descendants Return
• Transportation Whiskey Coffin Ship Cask Strength
• Transportation Whiskey Shipwrights Cure Cask Strength
• Waubs Harbour Waubs Original
• Westie Double Malt
• Whipper Snapper Single Malt
• Whipper Snapper Upshot
• Whipper Snapper Wheat
• Whiskey Jypsi Legacy Batch
• Woodwater Shiraz Cask

Sullivan’s Cove triumphs in 2025 Icons of Whisky

Sullivans Cove was recognised with a series of wins at the 2025 World Whiskies Awards and Icons of Whisky 2025 in the Rest of World judging round.

The Sullivans Cove Visitor Experience Team, led by Ash Pryor,  won Visitor Attraction Team of the Year. The significantly upgraded visitor experience opened in late 2024 and provides a luxurious setting to enjoy whisky while overlooking the working distillery where it all comes to life.

The Sullivans Cove Marketing team won Marketing Team of the Year and Campaign Innovator of the Year for brand and campaign activity undertaken in the distillery’s 30th anniversary celebration year. This featured a distillery launch event, brand identity evolution, and the release of two extraordinary whiskies; Double Cask Batch Nº DC30th and 24-Year-Old American Oak Second Fill Single Cask Nº HH0004 – Australia’s oldest whisky.

Recognised for the second year running, the Sullivans Cove’s sales team, led by Sam Cumming and Ally Bhana, won Sales Team of the Year. The win recognised the team’s excellence in managing global relationships, focusing on quality, exclusivity, and customer service. In recent years, the brand has amassed a global following, with product available only via online ballot, waitlist, or on-pour at a select number of venues, operating almost exclusively direct to consumer.

Sullivans Cove’s 18-Year-Old American Oak Second Fill Single Cask Nº TD0033 was awarded Category Winner Gold in the Single Cask Single Malt 13 to 20 Years category. American Oak Second-Fill whiskies mature in casks previously used for aging an earlier batch of Sullivans Cove single malt. Only the highest quality casks are chosen to mature a second whisky.

“Second-Fill whisky presents our spirit in its purest form. The heart and soul of the distillery on display, with nowhere to hide,” said Heather Tillott, Distillery Manager. “From the still house to the front-of-house, we take immense pride in everything we do, and we’re thrilled to be recognised on the world stage once again.”

Another big win for Waubs Harbour 

Waubs Harbour took out Category Winner for its Waubs Original whisky at the World Whiskies Awards 2025.

“This is the Olympics of awards in whisky so to win a Category Award is huge for our little Tasmanian distillery, especially to back it up two years in a row,” said co-founder Tim Polmear.

Waubs Harbour is a maritime Tasmanian family run distillery that sits literally metres from the edge of the ocean in Bicheno on the far east coast of Tasmania.

After purchasing a shuttered oyster hatchery and neighbouring old abalone farm buildings for their maritime maturation environment, the whisky distillery now spans across four buildings at the gulch in Bicheno, reminiscent of Scottish maritime distilleries such as Laphroig and Lagavulin.

Waubs Harbour’s Waubs Original won Australia’s best Small Batch Single Malt, 12 yrs & under and now has a shot at the title of Australia’s Best and World’s Best Single Malt. 

Waubs Original, bottled at 43%, was matured in American Oak ex Bourbon casks to highlight the Waubs maritime salted toffee characters with a layer of tawny port cask for a creamy raisin and butterscotch finish.

Its Founder’s Reserve whisky was also highly awarded with a Silver in its category of Australian Single Malt, 12 yrs & Under.  Founder’s Reserve, bottled at 62%, was made using their highest quality ex-tawny port casks as rated by their head distiller, reserved to be bottled at cask strength. The high strength retains oils and intense flavour. Big sultana port notes with a little chocolate and long salted caramel finish.

“We’re absolutely thrilled with the result and these awards are confidence that the whisky we’re making is truly world class,” said Co-Founder Bec Polmear.

The Whisky List recognised in Communicator category

The Whisky List’s Emma Cookson received a Highly Commended award in the Communicator category at Icons of Whisky.

The Whisky List is Australia’s largest online whisky retailer. In early 2024 it acquired Australia’s largest whisky festival The Whisky Show, which travels across the country year-round showcasing some of the finest local and international whiskies to thousands of whisky drinkers.

Cookson’s win followers her collecting the trophy for 2023 Global Communicator of the Year at the Icons of Whisky Global Awards. She also took out International Wine & Spirit Competition 2024’s Emerging Talent in Spirits Communication.

“My goal is to broach the tricky and nuanced aspects of whisky history and production in a way that everyone of any experience level can learn something new from it,” she said.

“I’m so humbled that our work writing about whisky is valued and noticed by international leaders in the industry.”

Click here to see the full list of winners for the World Whiskies Awards RoW 2025.