The Amaro liqueur made by Port Townsend’s Admiralty Distillers won a gold medal at the recent 2020 Honey Spirits Competition.

The competition recognizes the best spirits in the United States that use honey either as a sweetener, flavor or distillate.

This year’s categories included vodka, brandy, moonshine, liqueurs, spirits distilled from honey and spirits distilled from honey with flavors added, officials said. 

Nine spirits won gold medals, including a “design gold” that recognized the best honey or honey bee-related label graphics. 

More than 50 spirits took home silver and bronze medals, and an expert panel of spirits judges evaluated the submitted spirits on their appearance, nose, palate and the role honey played in the flavor. 

A gin-inspired spirit distilled from honey took home Best in Show honors at this, the third annual competition: Egg Harbor, Wisconsin-based Hatch Distilling Co.’s gin.

There had been talk of calling off the competition, officials said, though ultimately it was decided to proceed. 

“We talked to quite a few distillers about whether we should host this year’s competition due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the spirits industry,” said Catherine Barry, National Honey Board’s director of marketing. “Since this is a free competition that promotes distillers, we moved forward knowing that the industry could use some positive press for making some amazing products. The quality of spirits at this year’s event was remarkable, and we were excited to award more gold medals than we ever have before.”

The National Honey Board is an industry-funded agriculture promotion group that works to educate consumers about the benefits and uses for honey and honey products through research, marketing and promotional programs.

Visit www.honeyspiritscompetition.com to learn more and view a complete list of winners.