Food / November 29, 2021

Icons of Whisky awards Irish whiskey’s winners.

Photo from Teeling Whiskey
Food / November 29, 2021

Icons of Whisky awards Irish whiskey’s winners.

Words by Shamim de Brún

The Icons of Whisky awards took place at the Iveagh Garden Hotel in Dublin. Thursday’s event marked a return to in-person awards ceremonies for the industry.

The Icons of Whisky awards aim to celebrate the best people and places in the sector. They shine a light on individuals and businesses that work to support and promote whiskey as well as the distilleries themselves.

There were big wins for Dublin. Matt Healy of potstilled.com took home the coveted competitive Communicator of the Year award. Teeling swooped in to win Most Sustainable Distillery and Brand Ambassador of the year.

Healy said, “It was a fantastic evening. A real privilege to be among the industry’s best flavour creators and marketeers… I was delighted to see that it was back in person for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic!”

The Icons of Whisky Awards were first introduced by Whisky Magazine in 2007. From there they’ve gone on to become one of the biggest competitions in the international whiskey world.

Photo by Matt Healy

Commenting on their two wins Dingle’s head distiller Graham Coull said, “The entire Dingle team is delighted to be recognised. Not only for being a craft producer but also for its campaign innovation. The awards give us a nice confidence boost. They demonstrate that we are on the right track”

Every year there are awards for each major whiskey producing country. The winners from each category go on to compete for the International Icon of Whisky Awards in early 2022.

When asked about next years finals Healy said, “I haven’t even thought about the international competition yet. I am more than honoured that my name and website will be sharing the stage at the international level with the best”_

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