The World’s Best Vodka—According To The 2024 TAG Global Spirit Awards

The results are in from the third annual TAG Global Spirits Awards in Las Vegas, and I’ll be sharing some of the highlights in the days to come, beginning with the top-rated vodka you see pictured above. But first let’s give you a very brief rundown on what TAG is and why you should care what they say, or how they rate.

The relative newcomer to the already dense spirits award space is named after Tony Abou-Ganim, author of The Modern Mixologist: Contemporary Classic Cocktails & Vodka Distilled. He spent years working the prestigious panels of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition—the grandaddy of them all—before forming this one alongside Julio Bermejo, tequila expert and beverage manager at legendary Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant, and David Graphsi a notable international spirits supplier and distributor. Today they count around a dozen more icons of the industry amongst their midsts, including Dale DeGroff and Charlotte Voisey.

“TAG is not like the others,” according to is executive director, Sean Ludford. “This year’s judges took specific time to taste the distinguishing attributes making a product stand-out from another. Finally, we grade each product on a five-point scale of Sapidity — from the Latin Sapidus – to have and express flavor, taste, and be savory.”

That metric was applied to hundreds of bottlings, ultimately whittling all entires down to 56 Best In Shows, 99 Finalists, and 86 Best Buys. The Finalist and Best Buy designations were both new to the 2024 awards.

When it came time to taste through all the vodka, one bottle stood head and shoulders above the rest. The winner (with 95 out of 100 points) was Meili, a craft offering that hails from the rugged mountains of Western Montana. Pronounced (MAY-lee) the 80-proof spirit was launched in early 2023 by actor Jason Momoa and longtime friend and artisan Blaine Halvorson. The brand creates separation by sourcing farm fresh grains from as close to the distillery as possible, and through the use of what it calls one of the “purest water sources on earth” — as measured by EPA standards.

Momoa, who actually is a pretty big scotch drinker himself, was persuaded to join the team after Halvorson convinced him that a well-made vodka can actually be sippable, on its own, without even the addition of ice. It’s all about the quality of those starting ingredients. Though Meili doesn’t disclose the exact grains used, I suspect a bit of corn could be involved because of the subtle sweetness it carries (and because it advertises itself as gluten-free). It noses with a nice touch of vanilla, and there’s a nice tickle of candied citrus zest in the palate.

What you won’t suss out here are any elements of ethanol burn. This is pleasant pour from nose through to the finish. And so it’s not too difficult to see how it won over the expert palates at TAG. You can see for yourself, by picking up a $30 bottle of the spirit, recognizable on shelves in its polished, slightly iridescent packaging, which consists of 100% post-consumer recycled glass.

Follow along for more Best In Show results from the TAG Global Spirits Awards in the days ahead!