It’s been quite a summer for Cock O’ The North Whisky Liqueur.
From Highland Games and Country Fairs to tastings in the heart of the Highlands, we’ve spent the season travelling across Scotland, introducing more people to our distinctive Scotch whisky liqueur and picking up a couple of rather special awards along the way.
Made with fine Single Malt whisky, hand-picked Scottish blaeberries and our closely guarded secret ingredient, Cock O’ The North has always been a liqueur with a strong sense of place, history and Highland character. This year, we decided to put it to the test against some of the finest drinks around.
First came the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC), one of the drinks industry’s most respected competitions.
The IWSC takes its judging seriously. Spirits are tasted using a double-blind process, served anonymously to expert judging panels, with a maximum of 65 samples tasted in a day to give judges sufficient time to properly assess and discuss each entry.
Cock O’ The North was awarded a Bronze medal with an impressive 88 points.
To put that result into perspective, some other well known Scottish spirits that were also awarded 88 points included; Glencadam 18yo, Bladnoch 19yo, Tormore 16yo, Tullibardine 18yo and Laphroaig 10yo.
For a proudly Scottish, small-batch liqueur, that’s something we’re delighted to celebrate.
And the good news didn’t stop there!
We also entered Cock O’ The North into the Great Taste Awards, run by the Guild of Fine Food and regarded as one of the world’s most trusted food and drink accreditation schemes. Products are blind-tasted by an expert panel, with the final decision centred above all else on one question: does it taste great?
We were delighted to receive a Great Taste one-star award, officially recognising Cock O’ The North as a product that delivers fantastic flavour.
While the judges were putting Cock O’ The North through its paces, we were busy doing some tasting of our own, although thankfully with considerably less formality.
Throughout the summer, we’ve been out and about across Scotland, pouring drams, meeting customers old and new and sharing the Cock O’ The North story at Highland Games and events around the country. We had a wonderful day at our home games in Aboyne, and we also enjoyed a fantastic few days at the Scottish Game Fair before heading to Tyndrum for a tasting at Tyndrum Whisky in the famed Green Welly Stop.
For us, those conversations are every bit as rewarding as the medals. Cock O’ The North is a liqueur rooted in Scottish heritage, and there’s nothing better than sharing it with people in the places that inspired it.
So, as another Scottish summer gives way to Autumn, we’re raising a glass to a season of new faces, memorable journeys and two awards we’re immensely proud to bring home.
Curious to taste what all the fuss is about? Discover Cock O’ The North for yourself and see why it caught the judges’ attention. Order your first bottle and raise a glass with us.