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The Spirit Journal/Web Site Readers' All-Time Favorites Survey Results For nine years, Spirit Journal subscribers have been dutifully reading our thoughts, opinions, and occasional ravings, both pro and con, on over 3,500 spirits, beers, and fortified wines. As part of our September 1999 edition (Volume 9, Issue 3), we included a readers' survey as to which products have become the three all-time favorites over the years in the categories of Whiskey, Brandy, Fortified Wine, Beer/Cider, Liqueurs, and White Spirits. We also posted a survey on our Web site, asking those people who logged on to give us their opinions as well. The response was remarkable both in the number of responses received via fax, mail, and e-mail from around the world, but also in what brands are held in esteem by drinkers from twenty-seven nations and four continents. Survey participants were given three choices for each of the SJ's half-dozen standard categories, the first choice being the favorite. We tabulated the ultimate reader favorites by specific brand rather than by specific bottlings. For instance, when a voter selected, say, The Glenlivet 12 Scotch Whisky, we recorded it as The Glenlivet. The reason is simple...only about 52% of the respondents cited specific bottlings with the balance giving general brands that they like. As a result, we decided to keep the final results focused on brands rather than individual bottlings. The votes were tabulated as follows: The first choice received
three points, the second choice earned two points, and the third
favorite got one point. The brand that garnered the most points
ended up being the top selection for the category. The whiskey category received the most votes by SJ readers. The top vote-getters were: #1) The Macallan (Scotland) Honorable Mentions: Editors' comments: First of all, we were impressed by the overwhelming choice of The Macallan as the whiskey favorite. It ran away from the rest of the field by an astounding amount of points. Plus, those voters who did name individual bottlings were across the board with their Macallan favorites, from the 12 Year Old to the 18 to the Gran Reserva to the 25. Basically, it can be said that The Macallan routed the other whiskies in the reader voting, period. While single malt Scotch whiskies clearly ruled the Whiskey category selections, plenty of votes came in for Bourbon (especially Maker's Mark, A.H. Hirsch, W.L. Weller) and Irish whiskeys, in particular Jameson. The whiskies from Canada (Canadian Club) and Tennessee (George Dickel) as well as Scotch blends lagged far behind the single malts of Scotland and the top-notch Bourbons and Irish brands. Curiously missing were many votes for Jack Daniel's or The Glenlivet (Glenlivet 1969 got one 2 points). Also, Glenfiddich outpointed its chief rival Glenlivet. The brandy category garnered the second most votes in SJ Readers Survey. The top vote-getters were: #1) Delamain (France) Honorable Mentions: Editors' comments: Obviously, the huge winner ended up being Cognac in general, with Cognacs receiving the lion's share of the vote tally. Beside the aforementioned vote-getters from Cognac, add A. de Fussigny, Courvoisier, Martell, Chateau Montifaud, and Hine, all of whom earned significant numbers of votes. The next biggest block of votes belonged to Armagnac. Quite a few quality producers were mentioned, most prominently, Boingnères, Laberdolive, DeMontal, and Sempé. Not entirely to our surprise, only a handful of Calvados distillers were voted for while American apple brandy-maker, Laird's, received a couple of votes for their 12 Year Old bottling (which is reviewed in this issue). But, worth mentioning are all the votes entered for northern California's Germain-Robin, the distilling magicians so often lauded in the pages of the SJ. The fact that an American pot still brandy is running with the likes of Delamain, Pierre Ferrand, and Jean Fillioux attests to the enormous strides they've made in the rugged mountains of Mendocino County, California. We're also delighted that the SJ subscribers displayed their
savvy by making G-R the number three choice overall. Brilliant. Coming in third in the number of votes cast was the White Spirits category. And the winners were: #1) Bombay Gin (England) Honorable Mentions: Editors' comments: Much to our shock and, admittedly, delirious merriment a Gin, our team favorite White Spirit subcategory, ran away with the voting. Unbelievable. Bombay Gin, made in England, was the hands-down victor, especially the impressive Sapphire bottling which easily received the most mentions from those voters who cited actual bottlings. But, to be truthful, we thought the voting in this category was among the most sophisticated and thoughtful in terms of product knowledge. Additionally, the voting was spread with near-stunning equality among the four subcategories of Rum, Gin, Vodka, and Tequila. Go figure, when you consider how thoroughly Vodka dominates the category as a whole. Other White Spirit brands that received substantial readership backing were Boodles Gin, Jose Cuervo Tequila, Myers's Rum, Pampero Rum, Finlandia Vodka, Herradura Tequila, and Stolichnaya Vodka. Readers' All-Time Favorites: Liqueurs The fourth most voted on category was Liqueurs. The top vote-getters, all traditional libations, ended up being: #1) Drambuie (Scotland) Honorable Mentions: Editors' comments: This was the category with the closest voting totals, with venerable Drambuie winning by a nose over equally wonderful Grand Marnier. The SJ readership overwhelmingly opted for the classics, coldly shunning the newer generation of sweeties. But to us the largest bust by a country mile was Baileys. The heavyweight from Ireland garnered a mere handful of votes and was handily out-pointed by the likes of Campari, Mandarine Napoleon, Opal Nera, Galliano, and even the insufferably miserable Wild Turkey Honey Liqueur. Now, that's an authentic meltdown, mate. Readers' All-Time Favorites: Beers/Ciders Tied for fifth in the number of category votes were Beer and Fortified Wines. Let's first look at the results of the suds voting. The top brewers were: #1) Samuel Adams (MA-USA) Honorable Mentions: Editors' comments: To give you an example of how beer appreciation has taken on an international aura in the last decade, the leading twelve beers/ales in terms of vote totals came from eight nations. The U.S. (Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada), Czech Republic (Pilsner Urquell), Belgium (Chimay and Orval), England (Samuel Smith's and Fuller's), Australia (Cooper's), Holland (Heineken), Germany (Beck's and St Pauli Girl), and Canada (Chambly). Remarkable. Some brewers that received votes but frankly didn't do as well as we expected included Pete's (USA), Ommegang (NY-USA), Saranac (NY-USA), Catamount (VT-USA), Yuengling (PA-USA), Thomas Hardy's (England), Paulaner (Germany), Marston's (England), and Corona (Mexico). There were, in our opinion, some memorable omissions who were completely overlooked, most notably Young's (England), Celis (TX-USA), and, probably most strikingly to us, Hoegaarden (Belgium, our Beer of the Year in 1998). And, none too surprising, cider failed to get a single vote. Question to SJ Faithful: Has the beer/ale craze finally lost its anchor steam? Readers' All-Time Favorites: Fortified Wines Last but certainly not least is the Fortified Wine category. The top vote-getters were: #1) Taylor Fladgate Portos (Portugal) Honorable Mentions: Editors' comments: Madeira was nearly a no-show subcategory on the tally sheet with only a very lonely single vote for Blandy's lighting up the scoreboard. Pineau des Charentes from Cognac didn't garner one vote. What is crystal clear is that Port owns the Fortified Wine category for the subscribers of The Spirit Journal, lock, stock, and barrel, followed at a distant second by Sherry. But, make no mistake, Port rules. We were mildly intrigued that port lodges with strong track records such as Graham, Dow (an SJ staff pet), Quinta do Vesuvio, Fonseca, and Ferreira stumbled on the voting ballots while others like Smith Woodhouse and Ramos Pinto did quite well. With Sherry, moderate support was seen for brands like Domecq (largely because of La Ina Fino) and Gonzalez Byass (due primarily to Tio Pepe), but at the end of the rainbow Emilio Lustau's magnificent Sherries just simply shone brighter in the eyes of consumers than anyone else's. Also, whither Valdespino? Editors' Final Thoughts: We, at The Spirit Journal, learned a lot from this exercise. For the first time, we got the opportunity to hear what SJ readers are imbibing via the to-the-point avenue of the voting ballot. No fluff. No bluster. Just pure data. The information gathered during the voting tabulation process gives us direction on which products you like to read about the most. Thanks very much to the thousands of subscribers and Web site friends who participated. |
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