Spirit ratings

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.

All of these competitions are non-competitive and all are pay to enter, so only products that have paid an entrance fee will be judged. Although gold, silver and bronze awards are offered, there are no limits as to how many of each may be awarded.

Most tastings striving for objective results follow a similar format:

Experts typically begin by assessing a given spirit based upon its "appearance" and "nose", its aroma. It will often be held up to light in clear glass to examine its color and "legs" while sniffing for other flavor "notes".

Second, experts will taste the spirit and let it wash over the palate (tongue) searching for more "notes" or flavors and often comment about different foods or scents that it evokes.

There are numerous liquor, spirits, beer and wine competitions.

The Beverage Testing Institute is based in Chicago, US, and founded in 1981 with its initial focus on wine but later branching into spirits and beer. They use a dedicated tasting laboratory in order to create consistent results and minimize external distractions. Each periodic tasting is conducted at the same time of day under identical conditions. The panelists are selected from the professional world of restaurants and publications under the leadership of director Jerald O'Kennard. Not all spirits are given a rating. Those of sufficient merit are awarded a point score between 80 and 100.

The institute seeks to produce "fair and impartial wine reviews for consumers". Buying guides have appeared in All About Beer, Epicurious.com, International Wine Review, Wine Enthusiast, Restaurant Hospitality, The New Yorker Magazine, Wine & Spirits, etc.

The International Whisky Competition rates whiskies from around the world based on quality. These are blind tasted and rated by a professional tasting panel using 15 different criteria. These criteria produce tasting notes along with aroma and flavor profiles.

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Wikipedia