{"id":73586,"date":"2026-08-17T04:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T04:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/73586\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T04:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T04:38:37","slug":"wa-distillers-shine-at-2026-perth-royal-food-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/73586\/","title":{"rendered":"WA Distillers Shine at 2026 Perth Royal Food Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Perth Royal Food Awards | Ross Brown, Production Manager at Matso’s Broome & Sunshine Coast (Champion Distillery). Photo by Dan MacBride<\/p>\n

Western Australia\u2019s thriving distilling industry has once again proven it is among the best in the country, with local producers taking out many of the top honours at the 2026 Perth Royal Food Awards \u2013 Distilled Spirits.<\/p>\n

Hosted by the Royal Agricultural Society of WA (RASWA), the annual competition celebrates excellence in Australian distilling, recognising outstanding whisky, gin, vodka, brandy, liqueurs, ready-to-drink beverages and alternative spirits.<\/p>\n

This year, 197 entries from across Australia were judged by an independent panel of industry experts. Judges awarded 22 Gold, 77 Silver and 55 Bronze medals, along with 12 Champion trophies.<\/p>\n

Matso\u2019s named Champion Distillery<\/p>\n

Leading the winners was\u00a0Matso\u2019s Broome & Sunshine Coast (Palmyra, WA), which claimed the prestigious\u00a0Champion Distillery\u00a0title.<\/p>\n

Matso\u2019s Production Manager Ross Brown said the award was a proud moment for the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Matso\u2019s we love to push the boundaries on flavour and showcase amazing Australian ingredients in our drinks. We are proud of our Kimberley roots, and it still inspires our creativity and relaxed approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the award recognised the dedication of the team and the quality of Australian distilling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern Australia has some absolutely world-class producers and talented, innovative distillers and we are stoked to be recognised amongst such incredible peers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Champion Spirit heads to South Australia<\/p>\n

The coveted\u00a0Champion Spirit\u00a0award went to\u00a0St Agnes Distillery (Renmark, SA)\u00a0for its\u00a0St Agnes XO, which also won\u00a0Champion Brandy.<\/p>\n

The award-winning brandy inspired a special cocktail for the presentation evening, created by renowned WA bartender Charlie Coates from Nextdoor.<\/p>\n

WA producers dominate the winners\u2019 list<\/p>\n

Western Australian distilleries enjoyed an outstanding year, reflecting the rapid growth of the state\u2019s spirits industry, which now boasts more than 120 operating distilleries.<\/p>\n

Champion winners from WA included:<\/p>\n

Carmel Cider Company\u00a0\u2013 Champion Vodka (Orchard Alchemy Lucent) and Champion Liqueur (Orchard Alchemy Limoncello)<\/p>\n

Old Young\u2019s (Henley Brook)\u00a0\u2013 Champion Gin for Six Seasons Gin<\/p>\n

Esperance Distillery Co\u00a0\u2013 Champion Whisky for Single Malt Whisky \u2013 Hungarian Oak<\/p>\n

Little Stiller Distillery (Mandurah)\u00a0\u2013 Champion Alternative Spirit for Coffee Vodka<\/p>\n

Idle Hands Drinks Co (West Leederville)\u00a0\u2013 Champion Ready to Serve for Lychee and Yuzu Hiball<\/p>\n

Among the Special Trophies,\u00a0Tattarang Springs (Perth)\u00a0received\u00a0Best New Product\u00a0for its Great Southern \u2013 Ocean Gin, while\u00a0Fleurieu Distillery (Goolwa, SA)\u00a0was named\u00a0Best New Distillery.<\/p>\n

Industry continues to grow<\/p>\n

Chief Judge Luke McCarthy praised both the quality of this year\u2019s entries and the strength of the local industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern Australia is such an exciting place for spirits making. Australia is producing some of the best spirits in the world right now, and the quality across this year\u2019s champion spirits was outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

RASWA CEO Robyn Sermon said the awards highlighted the close relationship between agriculture and distilling.<\/p>\n

\u201cDistilling is an extraordinary meeting point between agriculture, science and creativity. A great spirit starts with great raw ingredients, but it takes tremendous skill and patience to transform them into a product with its own character and identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said this year\u2019s winners demonstrated the remarkable diversity and innovation found across Australia\u2019s distilling industry.<\/p>\n

Every spirit was assessed through a blind judging process, with products evaluated on aroma, palate, balance, complexity and finish. The independent judging provides valuable industry benchmarking while giving consumers confidence that medal-winning products represent outstanding quality.<\/p>\n

For a full list of medal and trophy winners, visit the official\u00a02026 Perth Royal Food Awards \u2013 Distilled Spirits Results Catalogue.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perth Royal Food Awards | Ross Brown, Production Manager at Matso’s Broome & Sunshine Coast (Champion Distillery). Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2449,105424,18788,105425,105426,335,32576,105427,14947,353],"class_list":["post-73586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-awards","tag-distilling-champions","tag-food-drink","tag-food-wine","tag-food-awards","tag-perth","tag-perth-royal-food-awards","tag-perth-royal-show","tag-spirits","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}