The map-breakers
- Kavalan (Taiwan) — subtropical speed made it a world-beater within a decade; Solist Vinho Barrique was named world's best single malt in 2015
- Amrut (India) — the Bangalore pioneer whose Fusion was ranked the world's third-finest whisky in 2010
- Paul John (India) — Goa's honeyed six-row-barley malts, with peated editions of real weight
- Crown Royal (Canada) — the royal-visit blend of 1939, now the best-selling Canadian whisky on earth
- Lot No. 40 (Canada) — the 100% rye that experts pour to convert bourbon drinkers
- Canadian Club (Canada) — the Prohibition legend from Hiram Walker's Windsor riverside — the whisky the rum-runners ran
- Starward (Australia) — Melbourne malt defined by maturation in freshly emptied Australian wine barrels
- Sullivans Cove (Australia) — the Tasmanian that beat the world in 2014
The expert consensus of the 2020s: the question is no longer 'can whisky from elsewhere be great?' — it's 'which country surprises us next?'