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SCOTTISH FIeLD WHISkY CHALLeNGe


elcome to the first stage in this year’s Scottish Field Whisky Challenge. Now in its thirteenth year, the Challenge has really established itself as an important barometer for what’s going on in the Scottish whisky industry and its results are eagerly awaited by experts and enthusiasts alike.


One of the reasons for the success of the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge has been its unimpeachable credibility. We only appoint the most respected figures in the whisky world – men and women whose credentials, nose and provenance are impeccable – to be our judges, and this year is no exception.


‘The results of the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge are eagerly awaited by experts and enthusiasts alike’


For the 2013 Challenge we have a fabulous line-up of seven judges from our panel, who have used skills built up over a lifetime to bring you the top three whiskies in three categories: under £40, £40-£80 and over £80. As well as the kudos of winning such a prestigious award, the top three whiskies in each category are automatically entered into the Grand Final at the end of the year, when our full panel of judges get together to choose the Scottish Field Whisky of the Year 2013. With forty-two of Scotland’s top whiskies go- ing head to head, our judges had their work cut out. This year’s summer challenge waves a fond farewell to both Julie Trevisan Hunter and Regis Lemaitre, who we would like to thank for their ef- forts over the last few years and wish them well in their future endeavours. In their places we extend a warm welcome to a brand new judge, Douglas Wood of Woodwinters Wine and Whisky, who joins our regular panel. And this is what we had in store for them.


164 WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK


CHALLENGE W


The Blind Tasting


What makes this competition so unique and, importantly, so impartial, is the fact that our judges taste the whisky completely blind. With the branding and packaging completely stripped away, only the whisky is left, to be judged solely on its own merits. As with last year, we asked producers to submit new expressions (since 1 January 2012), which could include blends, grains, malts or sin- gle casks. Then, at the Scottish Field offices the forty-two bottles were decanted into 10cl sam- ple bottles with only a number for identification. These were then posted to the seven judges for tasting and scoring.


Scoring


The judges were asked to award each of the forty-two whiskies a mark out of five. We then took away the lowest and highest scores and used the remaining marks to produce an aver- age score for each of the expressions. We also asked the judges to provide us with detailed tasting notes.


The results


Once all the judges’ scores were in we sepa- rated the whiskies into their relevant categories to find the first, second and third placed whisky. The top three whiskies in each category will automati- cally be entered into our Grand Final at the end of the year. We have also listed the top ten high- est scoring whiskies.


Slainte Scottish Field Whisky Challenge Team


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