HIGH WEST RENDEZVOUS RYE WHISKEY
Winner of the Double Gold!
San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2008

San Francisco, March 2008 – The most influential spirits industry professionals in the United States gathered at San Francisco's Mandarin Oriental Hotel March 15th and 16th to swirl, sniff, sip, spit and rank the world's best spirits at the 8th annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the only competition of its kind in the United States.

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition Executive Director, Anthony Dias Blue of Patterson's the Tasting Panel Magazine, along with Director of Judging, F. Paul Pacult, Writer/Journalist of The Spirit Journal, have established an unparalleled reputation for the competition and its principles since its inception eight years ago. This year 847 spirits were submitted and evaluated, up from 715 in 2007, and six out of the seven continents (only Antarctica was missing) were represented, making this a globally influential spirits competition.

"The San Francisco World Spirits Competition receives entries from the best spirits companies worldwide every year, and we have to match that caliber with top-quality judges showing consistent and objective evaluation," Blue noted. "These factors create a highly successful environment to host one of the world's largest spirits competitions."

This year, 25 judges tasted through spirits of 439 different brand classifications, presenting a large number of medals.

Spirits received Bronze, Silver, Gold or a Double Gold Medal. Double Gold occurs when all judges on a panel agree that the spirit is Gold, which immediately upgrades the selection to Double Gold status. In all, 25 judges tasted 847 spirits from 63 countries, and awarded 103 Double Gold Medals — 159 Gold Medals, 308 Silver Medals and 179 Bronze Medals.