South Africa’s most awarded fine brandy producer, Van Ryn’s, is delighted with a clean sweep of awards across for their range of potstill brandies at this year’s San Francisco World Spirit Competition; claiming the illustrious Gold medal for the Van Ryn’s 12 year Distiller’s Reserve, and Silver medals for Van Ryn’s 15 year Fine Cask Reserve and 20 year Collector’s Reserve respectively.

As one of the most authoritative and respected international awards competitions, this year’s San Francisco World Spirit Competition received the most entries in their 18 year history with more than 2200 premium spirit from around the world submitted for expert evaluation.

“It’s the exceptional calibre of the judges and the intense judging process on thousands of the top spirits from around the world that gives the San Francisco World Spirit Competition such authority and respect,” says Distell’s Brandy ambassador, Nick Holdcroft. “The panel comprises an international cast of 40 of the most well respected experts in the industry, who carefully evaluate more than two thousand spirits in a rigours four-day blind tasting, looking for spirit products that represent the pinnacle of achievement in their specific category.”

“We are always eager to enter our fine potstill South African brandies in the top international awards competitions to measure our quality against the world’s best,” says Holdcroft. “The regulations governing brandy production in South Africa are geared towards quality over quantity and ensure that there can be no shortcuts in the quest for perfection. In addition to this recent haul of awards from this year’s San Francisco World Spirit Competition, Van Ryn’s has won the award for world’s best brandy an incredible 12 times in the last 15 years, re-enforcing our commitment to excellence and South African Brandy’s world class status.