The 2025 John Barleycorn Awards results are in, and one bourbon brand walked away with not one but two major wins. 15 STARS, a whiskey brand built around the art of blending, earned both Blender of the Year and Best Bourbon honors this spring, a double victory that puts the label squarely in the national bourbon conversation.
A Second Blender of the Year Win Cements a Reputation
The Blender of the Year award is not new territory for 15 STARS. The brand previously took home the same title back in 2023, which makes this latest win a repeat performance rather than a fluke. Winning the award twice in three years says something about consistency, and in the bourbon world, consistency from a blending operation is no small feat.
Blending bourbon is sometimes looked at sideways by purists who prefer single barrel or single distillery expressions. But the philosophy behind 15 STARS leans hard into the idea that blending different whiskeys together can produce something better than any one component on its own. The second Blender of the Year nod from the John Barleycorn judges backs that idea up with hardware.
The brand has said this recognition "reinforces the craftsmanship and complexity we strive for in every expression as well as our belief in blending as a way to create improved flavors in whiskey." It is a confident statement, but one that carries more weight when judges keep agreeing.
The Artisan Collection Takes Best Bourbon
The second piece of the double win came when the 15 STARS Artisan Collection was named Best Bourbon of 2025 at the same competition. For a brand to take home both the overall blending title and the top bourbon award in a single year is a significant sweep, especially in a category as crowded and competitive as American bourbon.
The Artisan Collection is a limited release expression that blends straight bourbon whiskeys sourced from Kentucky and Indiana. The bourbon in the bottle has been aged 15 and 12 years respectively, which puts it firmly in the well-aged category that tends to attract serious collectors and sippers. It is bottled at 109 proof, or 54.5% alcohol by volume, landing it in that sweet spot where the heat carries flavor without overwhelming the palate.
At a retail price of $179.00, the Artisan Collection is not an everyday pour. It sits in the premium tier where buyers expect a certain level of depth and complexity, and based on both the award results and the tasting profile, it appears to deliver.
What Is Actually in the Glass
For anyone considering tracking down a bottle, the tasting notes paint a picture of a bourbon that balances sweetness with dark, rich complexity.
On the nose, the whiskey opens with sweet notes up front. Maple and caramel lead the way, followed by a dried fruit combination that includes orange citrus, black cherry, plum, and apple. Underneath that sweetness sits a layer of spice and earthiness, with nutmeg, cracked pepper, tobacco, fresh oak, and hay field aromas rounding things out and keeping the nose from becoming one-dimensional.
The palate follows a similar arc, starting with caramel and vanilla before shifting into bolder territory. Aged oak and old leather come through in the middle, and the back end brings dark fruit notes of prune, raisin, and plum. That progression from sweet to savory to dark fruit is the kind of layered drinking experience that well-aged blended bourbons can offer when the components are chosen carefully.
The finish is long, which is what drinkers paying north of $150 for a bottle want to hear. Plum and caramel show up again at the start of the finish, then transition into dark chocolate, roasted nuts, oak, and leather. A finish like that tends to linger and evolve, giving the drinker something to sit with after each sip.
Awards Keep Stacking Up
The John Barleycorn wins are the headline, but the Artisan Collection has been picking up recognition from multiple competitions. The expression earned a 95 rating from the New York International Spirits Competition, a Platinum award from the Ascot Awards in 2025, and a Double Gold from the SIP Awards. When a bourbon starts collecting hardware across multiple independent judging panels, it suggests the quality is real and not just the result of one group of judges having a particular preference on a particular day.
That kind of multi-competition validation matters for a brand that is still building its name. The bourbon market is packed with established distilleries that have decades of brand recognition behind them. For a blending-focused operation like 15 STARS, stacking awards from respected competitions is one of the most effective ways to earn credibility with discerning buyers.
The Case for Blended Bourbon
The success of 15 STARS at the 2025 John Barleycorn Awards highlights a broader trend worth paying attention to. Blended bourbon has historically played second fiddle to single barrel and small batch releases in the minds of many American whiskey drinkers. There is a perception, fair or not, that blending is what large producers do to maintain consistency across millions of bottles rather than what craft-minded operations do to chase exceptional flavor.
But that perception is shifting. The argument 15 STARS is making, both in their bottles and through their competition results, is that careful blending of aged whiskeys from different distilleries and different states can produce bourbons that stand up against anything coming out of a single operation. When a blend of Kentucky and Indiana bourbons aged 12 and 15 years beats out the field for Best Bourbon, it becomes harder to dismiss blending as a lesser approach.
For bourbon drinkers who have been focused exclusively on single barrel picks and distillery-exclusive releases, the 15 STARS Artisan Collection represents a different way of thinking about what makes a great whiskey. The raw materials matter, but so does the skill involved in combining them. That is the argument this brand keeps making, and the judges keep agreeing.
Limited Availability Means Acting Fast
One detail worth noting is that the Artisan Collection is a limited release. That label gets thrown around a lot in the bourbon world, sometimes more as a marketing tool than an actual reflection of scarcity. But when a limited release bourbon starts winning Best Bourbon at major competitions, the bottles tend to move quickly. Anyone interested in getting their hands on the Artisan Collection would be wise to not wait around.
The 2025 John Barleycorn Awards double win is the kind of result that can move a bourbon brand from the "worth watching" category into the "worth hunting" category overnight. For 15 STARS, this spring has been a very good season.
