The San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) has revealed the six finalists in its Best of Class field for 2026, with two Australian gins in the mix.
After rigorous blind tastings by SFWSC’s judging panels, Two Cats Distillery, a husband-and-wife operation run by Theresa and Craig Williams in Newton, South Australia, was lauded for its Main Coon Gin.
The name is both personal — they’re cat lovers — and historical, nodding to the long relationship between cats and distilling, from guarding botanicals against pests to the “Puss & Mew” carved wooden cats that dispensed illicit gin in 18th-century London.
SFWSC describes Maine Coon as “the distillery’s big, bold London Dry for the traditionalist, named for the famously rambunctious cat breed first bred in Maine in the 1850s. It’s emphatically juniper-forward with fresh piney character.”
The judges described it as “herbaceous and boisterous with earthy roots and stewed herbs”.
Also in the running for world’s best is 78 Degrees Juniphex Gin. SFWSC said: “Juniphex is the range’s juniper purist’s statement — the name itself a declaration. Where much of the modern category chases novel botanicals, this one puts pine and citrus front and center and lets the classical structure of gin do the work, with the distillery’s signature restraint keeping every note in focus.”
78 Degrees takes its name from its defining constraint: botanicals are never heated above 78.1°C, the temperature at which ethanol boils, preserving the delicate oils and aromatics that harsher distillation destroys. Produced in South Australia using a distinctive column-and-basket vapour distillation method over a grape spirit base, the house style is prized for its full mouthfeel and precision.
The judges said it featured “classically correct gin character, with generous green peppery spice and a pleasant bitter edge”.
The other four contenders are Argentina’s Gin Ayres, Ecuador’s Crespo, the UK’s Martin Miller Westbourne and South Africa’s Hout Bay.
SFWSC will announce this year’s at its Top Shelf 2026 Awards Gala in November. Learn more here.