98 Entries, One Glass: Inside the Investec Trophy Spirits Show

Now in its eighth year, the Investec Trophy Spirits Show puts Cape brandy in front of the same panel as Cognac, and craft gin beside the largest houses in the category. Ninety eight entries were judged this year, with South African producers again finishing among the winners. For an industry more than 350 years old, it has become the most credible measure of what is actually in the bottle.

Where the argument ends

The tasting bench is an unsentimental place. A pot still brandy from the Cape is poured alongside one from Cognac, the panel works through the flight without the comfort of a label, and the score settles the argument. That principle, rather than any trophy, is what gives the Investec Trophy Spirits Show its authority.

Now in its eighth successive year, the show applies the judging methodology first developed at the Investec Trophy Wine Show, a system now widely emulated. It remains one of very few competitions where everything in a category meets in the same glass regardless of where it was made. Pot distilled grape spirits from the Cape and from France face one another across the benches. Gins from major international producers go head to head with craft distillates made by local artisans. In the whisky classes, Scottish malts and blends take on the best pot distillates from across the Irish Sea.

That structure is demanding, and this year it drew 98 entries from 21 producers and distributors, representing 46 brands across eight categories.

Brandy edges ahead

The most telling statistic of the 2026 show is a narrow one. Pot still brandies from the Cape and France submitted 27 entries against 26 from the whisky classes, pushing the world’s most globally marketed brown spirit into second place by volume of entries. It is a small margin, but a significant signal in a market where brandy has spent years quietly rebuilding its case with a younger drinker.

The whisky classes still delivered the greatest breadth, with malt, pot still and blended whiskies and whiskeys all on the benches. That most major brands chose to enter says something about the standing of the competition. Producers do not submit to a blind panel unless they trust the verdict.

Elsewhere the entries tracked global appetite closely. All three gin categories, London Dry, Distilled and Flavoured, attracted a fair spread of local craft submissions and international entries. Tequila and agave spirits and rum were well represented, reflecting the worldwide surge of interest in both, while vodkas and cream liqueurs completed the line.

How the verdict is reached

Each panel is made up of three senior judges, with an associate whose input is noted but not necessarily carried into the final tally. This year the senior panel comprised Andy Watts, Jason McEvoy, Dave Gunns, Neil Paterson, Dr Mare-Loe Prinsloo, Dr Carla Weightman, Sean Gunns, Kresan Naidu and Dr Winnie Bowman CWM, with Matthew Cox, René Groenewald CWM and Sulette Oelofse serving as associates. Show convenor Michael Fridjhon chaired the judging.

The results are equally unambiguous. Silver medallists score between 90 and 94 out of 100, bronze medallists between 85 and 89, and every medal is published on the show’s website rather than reserved for the winners’ own marketing. With the 2026 results now announced, the standout performances have again come from South African brands, an outcome the show attributes to craftsmanship built over many generations rather than to any home advantage. There is none available. The glass does not know where the liquid came from.

For Investec, that credibility is the point of the association.

“We’re proud to support platforms that recognise excellence and create opportunities for local industries and the talent behind them to be seen alongside the best in the world,” says Peta Dixon, Head of Sponsorships at Investec. “The Investec Trophy Spirits Show reflects that commitment, giving South African producers a respected stage and a meaningful benchmark against international entries, while helping to raise the profile of the country’s spirits sector.”

The 2026 roll of honour

Trophy winners

• Trophy for Best Potstill Brandy and Investec Trophy for Best Brandy of Show: KWV XO Cellar Reserve Potstill Brandy
• Investec Trophy for Best Malt Whisky and Investec Trophy for Best Whisky of Show: Sinfonia Minor Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
• Investec Trophy for Best London Dry Gin and Riedel Trophy for Best Gin of Show: Tanqueray London Dry Gin
• Investec Trophy for Best Single Potstill Whisk(e)y and Vinolok Trophy for Best Premium Spirit: Redbreast 21 Year Old Single Potstill Irish Whiskey
• Investec Trophy for Best Blended Whisk(e)y: O’Driscolls Irish Whiskey Matured in Bourbon Cask
• Trophy for Best Cognac: Frapin XO Château Fontpinot Cognac
• Trophy for Best Tequila: Herradura Selección Suprema Tequila
• Trophy for Best Vodka: Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka
• Trophy for Best Aperitif: Dullstroom Lemonlicious Limonchilli
• Trophy for Best Liqueur: Wild Africa Chocolate Cream

Gold medallists

• Aberlour A’Bunadh Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
• Boschendal Potstill Brandy XO 10 Year Old
• Chivas Regal 18 Aged 18 Years
• Coppersmith 1904 London Dry Gin
• el Jimador Reposado Tequila
• KWV TEN Year Old Brandy KWV VS Brandy
• KWV VSOP Brandy
• Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Silver medallists

• Aberlour Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 12 Year Old Double Cask Matured
• Aberlour Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 16 Year Old Double Cask Matured
• Anarchy Premium Dark Rum
• Avante XO Cape Brandy Avante XV Founders’ Fifteen Cape Brandy
• Bella Baci Arancello Liqueur
• Bella Baci Limoncello
• Boschendal Potstill XXO Brandy 21 Year Old
• Casamigos Blanco Tequila
• Don Julio 1942 Tequila Anejo
• Frapin Grande Champagne Cognac 1270
• Gordon’s Special London Dry Gin
• IMAGIN Original London Dry Gin Classic Juniper
• Jameson Triple Distilled Blended Irish Whiskey 18 Year Old
• Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky
• Johnnie Walker Blue Label Blended Scotch Whisky
• Kavalan Lán Single Malt Whisky
• KWV THREE KWV FIVE
• Maclean’s Nose Blended Scotch Whisky
• Masau Spirits Golden Liqueur
• Masau Wooded Cane Spirit Aperitif Metanoia Husk Spirit
• Metanoia Klein Karoo Signature Single Malt Whisky
• Metanoia Klein Karoo Signature Whisky
• Redbreast 15 Year Old Single Potstill Irish Whiskey
• Redbreast 18 Year Old Single Potstill Irish Whiskey
• Rocco Torro Reposado 100% De Agave Spirit Roe & Co. Blended Irish Whiskey
• Speyburn Bourbon Cask Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
• Speyburn Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 10 Years Sydney Back Finest Matured Potstill 10 Year Old Brandy
• Sydney Back Limited Reserve Potstill 25 Year Old Brandy
• Tanqueray No. Ten
• The Glenlivet 15 Year Old The Glenlivet 18 Year Old
• The Glenlivet 21 Year Old
• The Singleton of Dufftown Luscious Nectar 12 Years Old
• Wild Africa Café Latte Cream Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Kentucky Straight Malt Whiskey

Full results, including bronze medallists, are published on the show’s website.

An industry with a long memory

South Africa’s spirits story began alongside the Cape’s earliest wine production more than three and a half centuries ago, and expanded as local producers developed real technical depth in distillation and brandy making. By the late twentieth century the country had also become a substantial market for imported spirits, Scotch whisky chief among them. Rum, gin, vodka and liqueurs followed, shaped by local ingredients, international influence and generations of technical craft.

That dual identity, producer and market, is precisely why a competition of this kind matters here more than it would elsewhere. South African drinkers are not choosing between local options. They are choosing between local and imported bottles on the same shelf, often at the same price.

A medal won in front of a panel that tasted the imported bottle in the very next glass carries a different weight to a purely national award. It tells a consumer in Johannesburg or Cape Town something useful, and it tells an export buyer in London or Singapore something more useful still. Eight years in, that is the quiet achievement of the Investec Trophy Spirits Show. It has stopped asking whether South African spirits are good enough for the world, and started publishing the answer.