With a growing number of microdistilleries and an expanding number of offerings from large corporate entities, a number of institutions have arisen to provide professional evaluations of individual spirits. These entities, while recognizing that individual palates are unique and a great deal of subjectivity enters into any assessment, generally use expert panels and blind tastings within a given category to create meaningful and objective ratings.

Most tastings striving for objective results follow a similar format:

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2000 by Anthony Dias Blue. Blue is the current director of both the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and the San Francisco International Wine Competition. The Spirits Competition assesses hundreds of entrants annually (more than ~1100 in 2011 from 61 countries) with "blind" tastings involving panels of expert judges selected each year from the spirits industry including world-renowned mixologists, spirits buyers, and media from across the United States. Producers must submit their product for the competition and pay a fee ($450 for 2011) for its evaluation. Not all entries are given awards (those not judged of sufficient quality are not given an award) but most receive a bronze, silver, or gold medal from the tasting panel. The fact that most entrants receive an award likely involves some degree of self-selection, as the spirits producers choose whether to enter each of their brands in the competition and pay to receive a rating. Those entrants that are given a unanimous gold medal by the panel are given the distinction of a "double-gold" medal. Additionally, a "best in show" designation is awarded in each main category of spirits.

Iain Banks (born on 16 February 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. He writes mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks, and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, including the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies. In 2008, The Times named Banks in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was a professional ice skater. Banks studied English, philosophy, and psychology at the University of Stirling.

After attending the University of Stirling, Banks moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edinburgh and then Fife.

Banks met his future wife Annie in London, before the 1984 release of his first book. They married in Hawaii in 1992. It was announced in early 2007 that, after 25 years together, they had separated. Annie died in 2009, two months after their divorce had become final. Banks currently lives in North Queensferry, a village on the north side of the Firth of Forth, with the published author and founder of the Dead by Dawn film festival Adèle Hartley. The two have been together since 2006.

Gregory Porter is a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actor. His debut album, Water, released in 2010 via Motéma Music, was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. He was also a member of the original Broadway cast of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues. His sophomore album, Be Good, which contains many of Porter's compositions, was released on February 14th, 2012, and garnered critical acclaim for both his distinctive singing and his compositions, such as "Be Good (Lion's Song), "Real Good Hands", and "On My Way To Harlem".

Porter was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Bakersfield, California, where his mother was a minister. He attended San Diego State University on a football scholarship until a shoulder injury sidelined him permanently. Performing in local jazz clubs, Porter met saxophonist, pianist, and composer Kamau Kenyatta, whose mentoring played an integral role in Porter's career trajectory and professional development. Kenyatta introduced Gregory to flautist Hubert Laws who, upon hearing Porter singing along to Charlie Chaplin's "Smile", chose to include a bonus track featuring Porter's vocals on his Hubert Laws' Remembers the Unforgettable Nat King Cole (1998). Eloise Laws, Hubert's sister, happened to be visiting the studio, and helped get Porter cast in one of the leading roles in a new musical, It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues, which premiered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts before moving to Off-Broadway and ultimately Broadway, in spite of previously having appeared in only one other theatrical work, Avenue X.