Press Release: Highest Accolades for St. Kilian Distillers at the World-Spirits Award 2023

Germany's largest whisky distillery awarded World-Class Distillery and Distillery of the Year in Gold

Rüdenau, March 2023

At the World-Spirits Award (WSA), the elite of the spirits scene is honored with titles, awards, and medals. At the Award Celebration, which took place on March 24 and 25, 2023, in Tramin an der Weinstraße in South Tyrol, St. Kilian Distillers from Rüdenau near Miltenberg am Main in Lower Franconia became the first whisky distillery in the 20-year history of the WSA to receive the "World-Class Distillery" and "Distillery of the Year" awards in gold, as well as the overall award. From a total of 304 different spirits from 77 distilleries across 15 nations, an international jury honored the extensive product portfolio of St. Kilian Distillers with an outstanding fourteen medals. "This competition is of very high quality, fair, transparent, and extremely professional for us. We are very proud of these great results, and it makes us happy that we were able to win so many awards among the many spirits companies that participated here," says managing director Philipp Trützler, who personally accepted the trophies along with Master Distiller Mario Rudolf.

Wins in the Whisky Worldwide category

In addition to awarding medals for products - evaluated according to the WOB 100-point rating system developed by organizer Wolfram Ortner and tailored to spirits - the respective production facilities are also classified. Compared to other international spirits competitions, the WSA thus holds a special position. The differentiation ranges from "First-Class" to "World-Class" and "Distillery of the Year". In the "Whisky Worldwide" category, St. Kilian Distillers received the highest awards "Distillery of the Year 2023" and "World-Class Distillery 2023". In addition, the core range bottling St. Kilian Peated – Rich & Smoky – Single Malt Whisky, along with the smoky Terence Hill – The Hero – Whisky, were awarded the "World-Spirits Award" as group winner and the "Spirits of the Year" title as category winner in the "Whisky Worldwide" category. "For us as a young distillery, it's a great success to win this award to such an extent here in the German-speaking world. Above all, it's enormously important that our newly formed core range and the Bud Spencer and Terence Hill whiskies are so well received, all of which are permanently available in our product range. That makes us extremely proud and is a great success for the entire team," says Mario Rudolf, overjoyed.

The awards in detail:

• Distillery of the Year: St. Kilian Distillers GmbH
• World-Spirits Award & Spirits of the Year: St. Kilian PEATED – Rich & Smoky – Single Malt Whisky
• World-Spirits Award & Spirits of the Year: Terence Hill – The Hero – Whisky (Smoky)
• DOUBLE-GOLD: Single Cask Ex PX Sherry #1527 peated – Single Malt Whisky (96.7 Pts.)
• DOUBLE-GOLD: St. Kilian PEATED – Rich & Smoky – Single Malt Whisky (95.7 Pts.)
• DOUBLE-GOLD: Terence Hill – The Hero – Whisky (Smoky) (95.7 Pts.)
• GOLD: Bud Spencer – The Legend – Whisky (Mild) (93.3 Pts.)
• GOLD: Terence Hill – The Hero – Whisky (Mild) (93 Pts.)
• GOLD: Bud Spencer – The Legend – Single Malt Whisky (Smoky) (91.3 Pts.)
• GOLD: Judas Priest – 50 Heavy Metal Years – Single Malt Whisky (91 Pts.)
• GOLD: St. Kilian CLASSIC – Mild & Fruity – Single Malt Whisky (90.3 Pts.)
• Silver: Signature Edition ELEVEN – Single Malt Whisky (89 Pts.)
• Silver: Ambassador's Choice V – Mario Rudolf and Olli Fink – Single Malt Whisky (85 Pts.)
• BRONZE: Ambassador's Choice VI – Mario Rudolf and Udo Sonntag – Single Malt Whisky (78 Pts.)

Award-winning bottlings available

The two bottlings St. Kilian Classic – Mild & Fruity – Single Malt Whisky and St. Kilian Peated – Rich & Smoky – Single Malt Whisky form the new core range at St. Kilian Distillers. These Single Malt Whiskies, bottled in 0.7-liter pot-still bottles, are permanently available alongside the Bud Spencer and Terence Hill Whiskies. Furthermore, all St. Kilian Distillers whiskies awarded at the WSA 2023, with the exception of the DOUBLE-GOLD winner Single Cask Ex PX Sherry #1527 peated – Single Malt Whisky, can be purchased in the online shop, at the distillery in Rüdenau, and from specialist retailers.

About St. Kilian Distillers GmbH

Germany's largest whisky distillery from Rüdenau near Miltenberg am Main in Lower Franconia produces top-class whisky that regularly receives numerous gold medals at the most renowned whisky competitions around the globe. In addition, awards such as "World-Class Distillery", "Distillery of the Year", and "Whisky of the Year" attest to the international top level that the young distillery, founded in 2012 by investment banker Andreas Thümmler, has now reached with its whiskies. St. Kilian Distillers supports the responsible consumption of alcohol, which you can learn more about at https://www.massvoll-geniessen.de/. Further information about the company and its portfolio can be found at www.stkiliandistillers.com.