The Top Whiskeys from the Whiskey Bible 2018, Revealed

Mark Yocca / Supercall
Mark Yocca / Supercall

Last week, Jim Murray dropped the 2018 edition of his much-lauded guide, the Whiskey Bible, which lists the world’s top whiskeys accompanied by Murray’s comprehensive notes. For the past 15 years, Murray has published this detailed guide to all the whiskeys worth sipping (there are more than 4,600 bottles in this year’s volume), singling out the best bottlings in each category.

This year, a bourbon from the Buffalo Trace distillery took the top spot overall—Colonel E.H. Taylor 4 Grain Bottled-in-Bond Aged 12 Years scored a 97.5 out of 100. According to Murray, “Nothing could match the astonishing beauty of its surprisingly delicate weight and complexity combined.” Coming in at number two: Redbreast Aged 21 Years, a pot still Irish whiskey with one of the world’s “most wonderful noses.” Glen Grant Aged 18 Years Rare Edition took third place, dropping down from its position as runner-up last year.

Winners of more specific categories include Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye, which took the Canadian Whisky of the Year; The Norfolk Parched, an English whisky, took European Whisky of the Year; and Nikka Coffey Malt (a favorite of ours) snagged Japanese Whisky of the Year. Proving that India is an up-and-coming whisky powerhouse, Paul John Kanya was awarded Asian Whisky of the year, and Australian-produced Limeburners Darkest Winter won Southern Hemisphere Whisky of the Year (it also should have been awarded best name).

If past issues of the Whiskey Bible are any indication, many of these top bottles will be snatched up in no time. If you want in on the bounty, we suggest heading to your local liquor store as soon as possible to buy every bottle of Colonel E.H. Taylor you can find—or be prepared to pay some seriously inflated prices. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.