The Donn from Craft Irish Whiskey takes home the top prize at the inaugural Asia Spirits Ratings
Photo illustration: Brad Japhe
The Asia Spirits Ratings debuted earlier this autumn, promising to deliver a “first-of-its-kind competition aligning spirit excellence with real commercial performance” across the continent. What does that mean in practice? Well, judges were looking for more than just quality from the hundreds of liquids evaluated. Excellence, balance and character was merely the starting point. Beyond that, they took pricing, packaging and overall value into account when awarding their top winners across 11 total categories of spirit.
In order to ensure this conflation of peerlessness, presentation and performance, tasting panels were purpose-built to include independent retailers, importers, buyers and on-premise beverage directors. Having the insight and expertise of all these separate levels of trade guaranteed that the highest accolades went out to expressions poised to make an impact in the key markets of Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and China.
“Our mission is to help brands enter and scale across Asia — by building consumer trust, offering retail validation, and providing exposure to qualified trade buyers,” according to Sid Patel, CEO for ASR and it’s parent company, the Beverage Trade Network. “Asia is one of the most exciting growth markets in spirits today. We are proud to highlight spirits positioned to succeed in Asia’s retail and travel-retail ecosystems.”
When it comes to whiskey, the top honor went to a relatively obscure cask-strength single malt out of Ireland: The Donn ‘23 Edition from Craft Irish Whiskey Company. The non-age-stated liquid was matured across a battery of casks, including bourbon, Tawny port, Hungarian oak, and PX sherry. This dynamic aging process has resulted in a profoundly rich and roundly textured sipping experience.
Showing mahogany in its tapered decanter and nosing with brûlée and berry in the dram, this quaffable 46.15%-ABV whiskey dances atop the palate a compelling jig from opening sip to finish. It begins in a dry, almost rye-like spice, resolving in the roasted and robust—a molasses and mocha-inspired sweetness.
It might seem like something of a dark horse pick; an Irish offering besting widely-known competitors from Scotland, Japan and Bourbon Country. And not even an Old Guard Irish brand like, say, Bushmills, Redbreast or Midleton. But the runaway success of The Donn at Asia Spirits Ratings won’t arrive as too much of a surprise for anyone paying attention to the awards circuit. In 2023, this same bottle was named the World’s Best Irish whiskey at the Global Spirits Masters Blind Tasting. Last year it was named the Single Malt Irish Whiskey of the Year at ASR’s sister competition, the USA Spirits Ratings.
Quite an auspicious showing for a supremely allocated expression that currently retails for around $350 a bottle. It’s just not something that’s easy to find outside of Ireland and the UK as of yet. Nevertheless, it’s another milestone for the super-premium Irish Whiskey sector—a subcategory which has grown in the US by a staggering 1,874% since 2003, according to data from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. And if the results of the inaugural ASR serve as any sort of bellwether, Asian markets can expect to see similar movement in the very near future.
The complete results of the 2025 Asia Spirits Ratings can be found here.
DUBLIN, IRELAND – MAY 6: The Temple Bar Whiskey Tasting Experience, on May 6, 2024, in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradjaphe/2025/11/30/the-worlds-best-whiskey-according-to-the-2025-asia-spirits-ratings/
