The World’s Best Gins, According To The 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition

The versatility and craftsmanship that goes into gin have made it one of the most beloved spirits in the world. Everyone from Frank Sinatra to Snoop Dogg has sung its praises, and it is a mainstay at some of the world’s finest bars. From big brassy Gin and Tonic’s in Barcelona to sublime French 75s in New York City, it anchors a broad spectrum of cocktails.

For all those reasons and more, the global gin market has been on a tear lately, with sales hitting a record high of $17.35 billion in 2023, according to Market Data Forecast. Premium and craft gin varieties and flavored gins are driving this growth. Basically, everyone is mad for fresh new gins.

This has led to a veritable overflow of gins from producers across the globe hitting the markets. While that’s a fantastic thing for drinkers, it has also led to some confusion. Not every bottle you see on the shelf is what it seems to be, and some are not that great.

Luckily, there is an easy way to sort through all the gins crowding the shelves and back bars across the globe. The esteemed San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) just released its finalists for its venerated Best in Class awards, which will be revealed this October. For a bottle to even be considered, it had to earn a double gold medal in their rigorous blind taste testing judging. If they made the finalist list, they are the crème of the crop. The finalists in their three most prominent gin groups are in no order.

Best in Class Gin Finalists

Dada Chapel Organic Dry Gin

Housed inside a converted convent in Ghent, Belgium, the team at Dada Chapel Distillery, led by a descendant of the Duvel Moortgat family of brewers, makes award-winning spirits using local raw materials. Their Organic Dry Gin eschews the trend of flavoring their gin with a wide array of botanicals. Instead, it only uses fresh-harvested juniper berries. The resultant liquid is herbaceous and crisp.

Hilbing London Dry Gin

The family behind the Hilbing Franke Distillery in Mendoza, Argentina, has been producing high-quality spirits from pure Andean Mountain water known for their delicate flavors for five generations. Their London Dry Gin blends Argentinean citrus, coriander, and juniper flavors with Malbec grapes from their vineyards to create an exceptionally smooth gin.

Ben Lomond Scottish Gin

Inspired by the majestic Ben Lomond Mountain in the Scottish Highlands, the team behind Ben Lomond Scottish Gin labors to produce gins that embody the rugged and adventurous spirit their country is known for. Their award-winning Scottish Gin uses a distinct blend of eleven botanicals to create an herbaceous liquid that’s perfect straight up or in a cocktail.

Eight Lands Organic Speyside Gin

Yet another fantastic gin from Scotland, Eight Lands Organic Speyside Gin, is the result of a meticulous focus on producing clean organic spirits. Located in the heart of Scotch whisky country, this gin from Glenrinnes Distillery was created to win the hearts of traditional Martini drinkers with its balanced flavor profile and crisp aromatics.

Juniperus Gin

Hailing from the land Down Under, this flavor-packed gin from Prohibition Liquor Company delivers quite a hit with each sip. An ultra-premium craft gin, it’s a classic London Dry Gin with layers of flavors that surface with each sip. Using exotic ingredients like Grains of Paradise and cassis bark, it is both complex yet approachable.

Best in Class Flavored Gin Finalists

Settlers Spirits Yuzu Gin

Located in South Australia, Settlers Spirits produces a range of gins designed to showcase the wide array of flavors that gin can present to drinkers. Its Yuzu Gin is one such bottle. Made from Australia’s first commercial crop of Yuzu, a citrus fruit from Japan, China, and Tibet, it is brimming with bright flavors and has a clean finish.

Gervasi Spirits Pink Peppercorn Gin

The beauty of flavored gins is that you can sip them straight or use them to punch up a cocktail. Gervasi Spirits Pink Peppercorn Gin is one such bottle. Made in Canton, Ohio, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it uses Pink and Szechuan Peppercorns to create an aromatic gin that delivers a spicy punch with each sip.

DiBaldo Spirits AU 79 Saffron Gin

DiBaldo Spirits must be onto something with their AU 79 Saffron Gin. It continually lands at the top of most major spirit competition award lists. Made in Emilia Romagna, Italy, it uses one of the world’s most expensive spices, saffron, to craft an ideal balance between Mediterranean flavors and Far East exoticism. If you are into making off-the-wall cocktails, this is the bottle for you.

Luscious Spirits Raspberry Gin

When you name your company Luscious Spirits, you better deliver some over-the-top flavors. Crafted in small batches through vapor infusion, their Raspberry Gin delivers. Using a blend of 12 botanicals and a dose of fresh raspberries, it exhibits vibrant juniper and citrus tastes up front with a sweet, fruity finish.

Junipero Smoked Rosemary Gin

If you are a fan of craft gin, then chances are you have heard of Junipero Gin. Founded in 1996, Junipero Gin was one of the first craft gin makers in America. They helped reset drinkers’ opinions on what gin could be. Still handmade in San Francisco, each of their bottles is loaded with flavors, perhaps none more so than their Smoked Rosemary Gin. An unfiltered gin bottled at 98.6 Proof, its distinctive smoky rosemary flavors make it unforgettable.

Best in Class Barrel Aged Gin Finalists

Starlight Distillery Simon’s 1794 Bottled-In-Bond American Dry Gin

When Starlight Distillery launched a little over a decade ago in Borden, Indiana, its primary goal was to produce brandies and ports using fresh fruits from the Huber Farm, of which it is a part. Luckily for drinkers, they branched out, and these days, they offer a wide array of spirits, many using ingredients from the farm, one of the largest fruit farms in the state. Their Simon’s 1794 Barrel Finished Gin is one such product. A small batch gin, its distinctive citrus and juniper flavors blend perfectly with spices from the barrel.

Crazy Eights Gold Oak Gin

One of the beautiful things about barrel-aged gins is their unpredictability. You never know quite what you will get until the first sip. Inspired by the movie Kill Bill’s murderous yakuza gang, the Crazy 88’s this gin from Hai Seas Distillery in Shanghai, China, delivers something killer. Made from a fusion of eight botanicals, Crazy Eights Gold Oak Gin is aged in the world’s first whiskey barrels made from French, American, and Chinese oak. It’s overflowing with citrus and caramel flavors.

Nozawa Onsen Distillery Barrel-Aged Gin

Made at the newly opened Nozawa Onsen Distillery in the heart of mountainous Nagano, Japan, home of the 1998 Winter Olympics, this barrel-aged gin has yet to be released to the public. Entered into the competition as a sneak peek at what’s yet to come, it wowed the judges. There is a reason for that: every gin they have released in their short lifetime has won widespread acclaim. Keep an eye out for this bottle when it is released; it’s one to grab.

Corsair Distillery Barreled Gin

When Corsair Distillery opened as the first craft distillery in Nashville, Tennessee, since prohibition, they had lofty goals: to make some of the best craft spirits in America. Well, a pile of accolades accumulated over a decade and a half points to a goal achieved. Known for their whiskeys and gins each of their bottles are ones to search out. Their smokey with whiskey undertones Barreled Gin is another bottle that is not ready for public release, but judging by its showing at the SFWSC, expect to see it soon.

Seabourne Distillery Barrel Aged Series-Pedro Ximenez Cask

When distillers decide to barrel age their gins, they often take big swings for the fences. Some work, some don’t. Often, the products they do come up with are only available in limited releases or just at the distillery itself. Such is the case with this amazing gin from Seabourne Distillery. Located in the town of Noosa in Queensland, Australia, its gins often result in drinkers making a pilgrimage to the distillery to sample their wares. This barrel-aged gin is brimming with black pepper flavors and goes down sweet.