This page is dedicated to the Owner of the Year. These are the large companies/conglomerates that own at least one whisky brand and distillery. My motivation for this award was to test my hypothesis that every conglomerate's has about the same quality distribution of whiskies. I assume each conglomerate would have a selection from budget to high end and they would all average out to be about the same. Without giving too much away, I might be wrong but I'll need at least another year's worth of data before I draw a conclusion. For the process behind the awards see the page 2019 Awards Overview and check out my Whisky of the Year and my favorite Distilleries and Brands! Without further ado... out of the 96+ different owners (I've tried), the Whisk(e)y Ranker Top Owners of 2019 are:
Gold Medal:| Constellation Brands | |||||||
| Rank | Whisk(e)y | W | L | SOS Score | Colley Rating | Page Rating | Total |
| 8 | High West A Midwinter's Night Dram | 45 | 5 | 82.5 | 89.8 | 69.7 | 159.5 |
| 30 | High West Campfire | 23 | 5 | 72.9 | 77.5 | 51.0 | 128.6 |
| 71 | High West Double Rye | 16 | 8 | 65.1 | 68.5 | 33.2 | 101.8 |
| 286 | High West American Prairie Whiskey | 4 | 10 | 37.7 | 38.1 | 5.9 | 44.0 |
The only whisky in Constellation Brands’ portfolio is High West, but if you are going to own only one that’s a pretty good one to own. This past year I loved my bottle of A Midwinter Night’s Dram, sipped a bottle of Campfire, and was surprised at my drams of the Double Rye. All three were delicious but these three also earned higher marks as they also became gifts. The Double Rye I bought as a graduation gift and the remainders of the Midwinter Night’s Dram and Campfire were given away as parting gifts before our move. Of all my gifted whisky, High West is the most common because it has always been solid. Last year I only gave Constellation Brands an honorable mention because I had only tried one of their brands… but then they ditched Black Velvet leaving only High West!
Silver Medal:
| Remy Cointreau | |||||||
| Rank | Whisk(e)y | W | L | SOS Score | Colley Rating | Page Rating | Total Rating |
| 1 | Port Charlotte CC:01 | 52 | 1 | 91.0 | 100.0 | 93.4 | 193.4 |
| 25 | Bruichladdich 16 | 5 | 0 | 100.0 | 95.8 | 38.6 | 134.4 |
| 29 | Port Charlotte 10 | 6 | 3 | 77.0 | 78.8 | 51.2 | 130.0 |
| 48 | Bruichladdich 3DC | 9 | 0 | 80.2 | 82.0 | 35.0 | 117.0 |
| 50 | Octomore 5.1 | 13 | 6 | 75.1 | 79.3 | 35.2 | 114.5 |
| 54 | Bruichladdich Bere-Barley | 19 | 7 | 72.3 | 76.8 | 35.0 | 111.8 |
| 55 | Port Charlotte 11 | 17 | 5 | 70.8 | 74.8 | 36.4 | 111.2 |
| 59 | Port Charlotte The Peat Project | 5 | 2 | 75.9 | 76.4 | 32.1 | 108.5 |
| 60 | Octomore 7.2 | 4 | 3 | 77.2 | 77.7 | 30.0 | 107.7 |
| 96 | Bruichladdich 14 | 3 | 1 | 80.0 | 76.4 | 15.9 | 92.3 |
| 106 | Octomore 6.3 | 3 | 2 | 74.6 | 73.4 | 13.7 | 87.1 |
| 173 | Bruichladdich Laddie 8 | 2 | 4 | 61.6 | 62.4 | 10.0 | 72.3 |
| 308 | Westland Sherry Cask Finish | 2 | 4 | 32.0 | 34.9 | 3.4 | 38.3 |
| 368 | Westland American Oak | 0 | 6 | 13.8 | 18.0 | 0.0 | 18.0 |
Remy Cointreau earned the Gold Medal last year due to the brands of the Bruichladdich distillery. This past year I tried a couple drams of Westland and they just didn’t do it for me. RC’s average score dropped due to the inclusion of the two Westlands, but this drop was countered by the continued strong showing of my favorite all time whisky – Port Charlotte CC:01. These are the only three Remy Cointreau’s I had this past year which completely neglected the middle ground. I’ll need to make sure I explore some of the middle grounds in 2020.
Bronze Medal:
| Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy | ||||||||
| Rank | Whisk(e)y | Normalized R-rating | W | L | SOS Score | Colley Rating | Page Rating | Total Rating |
| 23 | Glenmorangie Lasanta | 91.4 | 43 | 12 | 73.3 | 79.0 | 58.8 | 137.8 |
| 24 | Glenmorangie 10 | 90.0 | 41 | 13 | 69.9 | 74.9 | 61.4 | 136.3 |
| 36 | Ardbeg 10 | 83.1 | 49 | 46 | 52.6 | 54.3 | 69.1 | 123.5 |
| 38 | Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or | 92.1 | 21 | 3 | 76.3 | 81.3 | 41.3 | 122.6 |
| 58 | Glenmorangie Astar | 92.6 | 7 | 1 | 81.7 | 82.8 | 26.2 | 109.1 |
| 79 | Glenmorangie 18 | 92.1 | 3 | 1 | 85.7 | 81.2 | 16.2 | 97.3 |
| 85 | Glenmorangie Tayne | 79.1 | 21 | 46 | 42.5 | 42.2 | 53.3 | 95.5 |
| 93 | Glenmorangie Quinta Rubin | 84.0 | 25 | 22 | 54.8 | 56.8 | 36.0 | 92.8 |
| 123 | Ardbeg Uigeadail | 86.4 | 9 | 8 | 61.6 | 64.1 | 18.1 | 82.2 |
| 136 | Glenmorangie Cadboll | 85.2 | 9 | 7 | 58.3 | 60.5 | 18.8 | 79.3 |
| 218 | Ardbeg Corryvreckan | 81.5 | 5 | 4 | 48.1 | 49.5 | 8.3 | 57.8 |
| 292 | Glenmorangie Tarlogan | 78.8 | 2 | 2 | 37.3 | 41.3 | 1.3 | 42.6 |
| 294 | Glenmorangie Duthac | 77.8 | 2 | 5 | 36.3 | 38.4 | 3.8 | 42.1 |
Again, Glenmorangie and Ardbeg earn LVMH an award. Throughout the year I’ve sipped on Ardbeg 10 and Uigeadail, and Glenmoragie’s 10 yr old, Cadboll, Duthac, and the Tayne. But the big new is that this past year I concluded an experiment exploring how vacuum and air affect whisky using Ardbeg 10 and Glenmorangie the Tayne. (You can read all about it here.) Overall I do like Glenmorangie and Ardbeg, but with the exception of the Uigeadail, this selection of LVMH whiskies is arguably one of the least impressive one could choose from. LVMH’s score actually dropped considerably this past year because of this selection. I have some samples of the Nectar d’Or and Quinta Rubin 12 Yr so LVMH’s score will probably hold steady over the next year.
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