EARNED AND HONORED.

Double Gold.

Winner, 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition Double Gold Medal — Rye Whiskey

Our Operation Gothic Serpent Rye Whiskey earned a Double Gold Medal at the most prestigious spirits competition in the world. Here is what that award means, and who it is really for.

Toast & Light

A Hooten Young Series on Rituals Worth Slowing Down For

It is official. Hooten Young Operation Gothic Serpent Rye Whiskey has been awarded a Double Gold Medal in the Rye Whiskey category at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It is one of the highest honors in the spirits world, and it landed on a bottle that was never really about the medals. But because a win like this is worth understanding, let us walk through what it actually takes to earn one.

What Is the San Francisco World Spirits Competition?

The Standard the Industry Measures Itself Against

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) stands as the most prestigious spirits competition in the world, setting the industry standard for excellence. Recognizing both globally renowned distilleries and rising small-batch producers, SFWSC medal winners earn widespread recognition and respect.

The competition is produced by the Tasting Alliance, the organization behind San Francisco's long-running spirits and wine competitions, which has championed blind evaluation in the industry for decades. Founded in 2000, the SFWSC now draws thousands of entries a year, and its authority comes from how they are judged. Every entry is assessed entirely blind. The panel never sees the label, the price, the brand, or the story behind the bottle, only the liquid in the glass.

And these are not casual tasters. The panels are built from working professionals across the spirits world, distillers, buyers, bartenders, and writers, each with deep expertise in their field. Entries are poured in flights by category so like is judged against like, which means a famous name earns no head start and a new producer carries no disadvantage. The only thing on trial is what is in the glass.

That is why an SFWSC medal carries the weight it does. When a spirit wins here, it did not win on marketing or reputation. It won on taste alone, in front of some of the most experienced palates in the industry.

What a Double Gold Actually Means

A Unanimous Verdict.

There is a real difference between a Gold and a Double Gold, though both are honors worth celebrating. A Gold medal is a genuine mark of excellence, awarded when the judging panel scores a spirit at the gold standard. A Double Gold goes a step further. It is awarded only when every single judge on that blind panel independently rates the spirit a Gold, which takes complete unanimity across the entire table.

None of that makes a Gold any less meaningful. We have earned Golds across our lineup that we are proud of, and we do not take a single one lightly. What sets a Double Gold apart is the agreement behind it. Palates differ, so getting a room of expert judges to independently land on the same top score, without conferring and without knowing what they are tasting, is genuinely difficult. It is one of the rarest distinctions the competition gives out, and it marks a spirit that every judge at the table recognized as exceptional.

That is the medal our rye earned. Every judge, tasting blind, agreed.

"This one isn't for me. It's for the 19 men who didn't come home, and for the families they left behind. If this award brings any attention to their story, that's the only win that matters."

— Norm Hooten, Founder

The Whiskey That Won

Operation Gothic Serpent Rye Whiskey

The rye that earned this medal is a 7 year aged whiskey built on a high-rye mash bill, 95 percent rye to 5 percent barley, bottled at 93 proof. On the palate it leans into bright, rounded fruit, with candied apricot and caramelized pear carrying through a smooth, even finish. It is a rye with enough backbone to stand on its own and enough polish to win over a room of judges who did not know whose bottle they were tasting.

But the name on the label is the part that matters most. Operation Gothic Serpent was the 1993 mission in Mogadishu, later depicted in the film Black Hawk Down, in which founder Norm Hooten fought as a U.S. Army Master Sergeant. This rye was created to honor the 19 American service members who did not come home from that fight on October 3rd and 4th, 1993, and the families they left behind.

That is what makes this award land differently for us. A Double Gold is a remarkable thing to earn on taste alone. But for a bottle built to keep a promise of remembrance, the real hope is simpler: that the recognition points a few more people toward the story it was made to tell.

The Takeaway

A Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition is earned in the hardest way there is: blind, on taste alone, by the unanimous agreement of an expert panel. We are proud of what it says about the whiskey, and grateful to everyone who has poured a glass of it alongside us.

And we will keep saying the quiet part out loud. The medal is an honor. The service members it points back to are the reason. That is what Made to Remember has always meant.

— Toast & Light
A Hooten Young series on the rituals worth slowing down for.

Taste the Double Gold

Operation Gothic Serpent
Rye Whiskey.

— Toast & Light
A Hooten Young series on the rituals worth slowing down for.