The Famous Grouse has received the top award – Gold, Best In Class – in the Scotch whisky pure malt 30 years old category at this year’s International Wine and Spirits Competition.

In addition, The Famous Grouse Finest was awarded a silver medal in the Scotch whisky blended – no age category.

The IWSC is regarded the premier competition of its kind in the world. The whiskies, like all of the spirits and wines in the event, go through a rigorous two stage judging process. This includes blind tasting in groups divided by variety, region and vintage, followed by detailed chemical analysis.

This year, panels of up to seven judges from consumer and trade organisations sampled up to 340 Scotch whisky products, a nine per cent increase on 2006.

Parent company, The Edrington Group, also scooped a total of 12 medals for each of the 12 Highland Park and The Macallan expressions it entered into the Islands and Speyside categories respectively.

The Famous Grouse, Highland Park and The Macallan are imported, marketed and distributed by Wands Limited, a subsidiary of The Farsons Group of Companies.