**Thanks to World Whiskies Awards for allowing us to use this content.

Seeing as so many of you enjoyed our WWA 2019 announcement about which whiskies have been officially called the best of the best, we thought you'd be keen to read about the lucky people who get to judge the whiskies.

In case you were wondering, they are all more than qualified and it's a pretty diverse bunch (although we'd like to see a few more women on the panel!) Keep an eye out for another piece coming soon on exactly how they judge - what are the criteria? How many people taste? Is it a blind test? In the meantime, read on to see just how happy (and qualified) the 2019 WWA judges are!

Gary Gillman is a Toronto-based beer, spirits, and food blogger with approximately 1000 well-researched posts and essays to his credit at www.beeretseq.com. Gary, also a lawyer, has devoted decades to studying the history, technology, business structures, and organoleptic qualities of whisky and other spirits from all countries. In 2011 Gary was awarded the prestigious title of "Bourbonian of the Year" by www.beeretseq.com. (SB), America’s largest consumer bourbon club. Gary has visited Kentucky at least 20 times since 2001 and extensively toured distilleries and historical whisky sites there as well as Ohio, Ontario, and Scotland. Prior to establishing his website in 2015, Gary contributed extensively to SB’s, and other, whisky forums. He is credited by SB with originating the practice of “vatting”, or the home-blending of whiskies by its members. SB’s sub-forum on vatting is among its most popular features. Gary has studied the history of Canadian whisky in-depth. He has posted numerous essays on his blog expounding the theory that Canadian whisky is of American origin due to the influx of United Empire Loyalists following the American Revolution. Gary was granted a personal tour of the historic Hiram Walker distillery in Windsor, ON in 2015 due to his extensive knowledge and credentials in the whisky field.

Mark Newton is a co-editor of Malt, one of the most popular whisky websites in the world. He is Head of Communications for Waterford Distillery in Ireland, and Renegade Rum Distillery in Grenada. Previously he was a taster for Whisky Magazine. He's based in the UK.

Tim Hampson is an award-wining journalist and broadcaster. He is author of many books including the Haynes Whisky Manual.

Jason B. Standing started Whisky Squad in London 8 years ago and launched the Dramboree whisky weekend. He's frequented and worked at whisky festivals, tastings, and bars across the UK and Europe, spreading his enthusiasm for helping people find whiskies they love. Jason is not a whisky blogger, however he does have a collection of distinctive hats and trousers.

Greg Dillon is a brand strategy and social media consultant working with spirits industry brands - from the large to the small - to define, fix, build and grow their brands. He also authors GreatDrams.com and has recently authored his first whisky book, The GreatDrams of Scotland which is available now.

Dr Demetris Vrontis from Cyprus is a University Professor in Business Management. He is the co-founder and co-president of The Cyprus Whisky Association established in 2014. He is a whisky connoisseur, enthusiast and collector since 1995 and participated in hundreds of whisky tasting events around the world.

Šarunas Cesna from Lithuania studied to become a librarian and a journalist, yet ended up managing two bars and co-owning a third one. Six years ago the ‘Piano Man’ bar sparked his love for whisky, a few years later ‘Cocktail bar Alchemikas’ became his mixing playground. His bar is his library.

Anne-Sophie Bigot from France is better known as The Whisky Lady. She is a whisky influencer (blogger, consultant & writer) and also runs her own specialist whisky bar in Toulouse (France), The Hopscotch Pub & Brewery.

Costas Sariyiannis from Cyprus works for the Cyprus Police and is placed at the European Union and International Police Cooperation Directorate. He is the co-founder and co-president of The Cyprus Whisky Association established in 2014 and a whisky connoisseur, enthusiast and collector since 1998. He has held and participated in hundreds of whisky tasting events around the world.

Tim Forbes is a freelance drinks writer based in Tuscany. Tim has been in the drinks trade since 1998, working for Oddbins, The Whisky Exchange, Waitrose and Majestic Wines. He has been writing and judging for numerous publications and international spirits competitions since 2008.

Edward Bates runs Distilled London, a spirits industry consultancy. He has a wealth of experience built up over more than three decades. His interest in spirits stems from a school visit to Cognac, which has turned into a passion for for all distilled products. His acknowledged expertise is utilised by a number of brands, while he also works as a spirits writer and educator.

Charles MacLean has been writing about Scotch whisky for thirty-six years, and has published seventeen books on the subject. He was described by The Times as “Scotland’s leading whisky expert” in 2014. He sits on several judging panels, including that of the International Wine & Spirits Competition, has chaired the nosing panel of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society since 1992, and advises many whisky companies on cask selection and flavour profiling. He was the founding editor of Whisky Magazine and foreign editor of Whisky (Russia); writes regularly for several international magazines and websites and is a frequent commentator on TV and radio. He was chief presenter of the TV channel www.singlemalt.tv and starred in Ken Loach’s film The Angels Share, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. In 2009 he was elected Master of the Quaich, in 2012 won the I.W.S.C.’s ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ and in 2016 was inducted into the Whisky Hall of Fame.

Rob Allanson is the chair of the judges.

Rupert Wheeler was managing editor of Whisky Magazine from 2014-2017. He has now moved to Orkney where he works part time as a tour guide and running tasting events at Highland Park Distillery. He also continues to run a small publishing company specialising in drinks-related books.

Steve Bashore is the Director of Historic Trades at George Washington’s Mount Vernon and is a traditional miller and distiller. He oversees a staff of historic interpreters that tell the story of George Washington’s farming and entrepreneurial endeavours. Steve comes to spirits through grain milling, having run traditional water powered mills for 25 years. Steve manages Washington’s Farm, Blacksmith Shop, Distillery and Gristmill. In the water powered Gristmill grain is ground into products for sale and use in restaurants. All the grain for whiskey production is also ground in the mill. At the Distillery spirits are made using 18th century methods, to include running five wood fired pot stills. The spirits Steve produces with his staff include: rye whiskey, single malt whisky, rum, bourbon, apple brandy and peach brandy.

Franchi Ferla is co-founder of Simply Whisky, a whisky tasting events and media business. The ensuing years have seen Simply Whisky travel the globe, focusing on the pure enjoyment of whisk(e)y, its history and lore, all the while extolling the virtues to mind, body and soul that we all know it endows. Hosting tasting events for royalty, politicians, rock stars, movie stars, sport stars and the Basildon Whisky Club to name but a few, their mission remains to convert people to whisky one pair of lips at a time!

Billy Abbott is a drinks writer specialising in whisky and beer. By day he is a writer, trainer and ambassador for The Whisky Exchange. By night he is a freelance writer and drinks consultant, organiser of Whisky Squad – a London-based whisky-tasting group – and writer of his own blog, Spirited Matters.

Robin Laing is a whisky writer/ musician/ entertainer who has produced five whisky books and five whisky CDs. He is also a tasting panel chair and note writer for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Mark Bylok is a whisky author (The Whisky Cabinet), podcaster (The Whisky Topic), publisher of whisky.buzz, and speaker on the topic of all things whisky. His first book, published in 2013, became a best seller on Amazon and the podcast is a top whisky podcast in the world. Mark loves to geek out about whisky, and has succeeded in bringing in the geeky details of the whisky world in a more approachable manner. In his personal life, Mark is happily married to his wife Nicole, with twin toddler girls, and twin collie dogs.

Hans Offringa from the Netherlands is an established author, internationally renowned media expert and whisky connoisseur. He studied English and Business Journalism. He started his whisky quest at the age of 18 and has been trained by many whisky experts in the industry, among whom Michael Jackson (†), Charles MacLean and Jim Rutledge (Four Roses). Hans has written and translated many books and articles on this subject over the years, as well as visited hundreds of distilleries worldwide. He is also the European Contributing Editor of Whisky Magazine and proud to be a Kentucky Colonel, Lifetime Ambassador of the Spirit of Speyside Festival and a Keeper of the Quaich.

Becky Offringa from the Netherlands is Hans’ muse and editor but also a qualified female whisky professional and taster in her own right. She takes care of the editing and layout of her husband’s books and regularly provides photography for books and and articles. Holding a university degree in marine biology, she is a licensed real estate agent and former Vice President of a commerical real estate company. Under the name The Whisky Couple, Hans and Becky conduct whisky nosing & tasting sessions for corporate events, restaurants, hotels, business clubs and whisky festivals. The Whisky Couple works as translators/editors and photographers for the whisky industry at large.

Chris Goodrum from the UK started at wine and spirits retailer Gauntleys of Nottingham in 2000. Since then he has grown his spirits selection into a unique and eclectic collection. Since 2007 he's been a judge for the Independent Bottlers Challenge and the the World Whisky/ Drinks Awards since 2012. He also has a weekly YouTube channel called the Good Dram Show.

Pavlos Koumparos from Cyprus is a passionate collector and drinker of whiskies and part of the Cyprus Whisky Association. Alongside he is also the brand champion for Tomatin in Cyprus. He has attended, participated in and organised many different events, in Cyprus.

Marcy Rudershausen from the United States is the Founder of Raise A Dram Consulting LLC. She was inducted into Keepers of the Quaich in 2010 and has been working in the Whisky industry for 20 years educating consumers and sales teams on the finer points of whisky conducting her whisky outreach in both English and Spanish. In addition to leading whisky tastings, seminars and hosting whisky pairing dinners in the US she has also presented across South, Central and North America.

Christopher Coates from the UK has a long-standing passion for whisky and has been working for Paragraph Ltd, publisher of Whisky Magazine, since 2013. In 2016 he was appointed as Scotch editor. He is also managing editor of the travel and history publication Scotland Magazine, and a publishing manager on the Paragraph leadership team.

Gavin D Smith from the UK is the author and co-author of nearly 30 whisky-related titles. He contributes to many specialist publications around the world and is Contributing Editor Scotland for Whisky Magazine and a Keeper of the Quaich. He has been a full-time writer for more than 20 years and currently lives in the Scottish Borders. His most recent publications are Ardbeg: Heavenly Peated (2018) and The Micro-distillers’ Handbook (2018).

Jazz Jia from China is a publisher of Whisky Magazine China. He became a Keeper of The Quaich in 2017 and has run an international trade company that imports high quality spirits especially whisky to Chinese over 10 years. Meanwhile, he owns an on-line whisky trading platform called “YiKou” which is very popular in China.

George Michie from the UK was an actor for 10 long years until he eventually decided he ought to be paid for drinking so much. George is now Manager of Soho Whisky Club, a private members club specialising in whisky and cigars in the heart of London.

Sandeep Arora is India's pioneering premium spirits and whisky ambassador who introduced India to the art and appreciation of luxury spirits and rare whisky collection in 2003. Sandeep is the director of Spiritual Luxury Living, India's premier spirits consultancy and advisory service and co-founder of Cask Spirit Marketing LLP, a spirits marketing company.

Donna and David Wolff from Canada opened The Caledonian Whisky Bar in Toronto in 2010. Donna hails from Huntly Aberdeenshire and Davis from Toronto. The Caledonian boast about over 350 Single Malts and hosts numerous Tasting events. Both have been judges for The World Whiskies Awards for the past three years.

George Keeble is based in Australia and ran Soho Whisky Club in London before making the switch into whisky production in 2018. He currently works as a distiller at New World Whisky Distillery in Melbourne, Australia. He also runs a whisky cask brokering business.

Tomer Goren from Israel has distilling experience of more than 14 years and is the Head Distiller of The Milk and Honey Distillery in Israel since its establishment in 2014. He also runs Whisky Live in Israel and holds many lectures and masterclasses about whisky, among consulting to bars and restaurants, and judging in whisky competitions. Tomer also owns and runs an independent-bottling company.

Like Franchi, Simon Roser's love of whisky started in a basement bar in London over 18 years ago, not long after he co-founded Simply Whisky, a whisky tasting events and media business. The ensuing years have seen Simply Whisky travel the globe, focusing on the pure enjoyment of whisk(e)y, its history and lore, all the while extolling the virtues to mind, body and soul that we all know it endows. Hosting tasting events for royalty, politicians, rock stars, movie stars, sport stars and the Basildon Whisky Club to name but a few, their mission remains to convert people to whisky one pair of lips at a time!

Julie Christie from Ireland has worked in the Scottish whisky industry for four years and spent a further two years working in the Irish whiskey. Her experience ranges from being a tour guide of Deanston Distillery to Marketing Manager of the Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin. She has hosted many tastings, written about whisk(e)y and also organised Whiskey Live Dublin and the Irish Whiskey Awards.

Gal Kalkshtein from Israel is the owner and founder of the M&H distillery, Israel's first whisky distillery. He is a high-tech serial entrepreneur with a great passion for whisky and he turned his whisky vision into reality by opening Israel's first whisky distillery and since then, has become known as the pioneer and leader of Israel's whisky Industry.

Gregory Charles Zetzsche is from France.

Jaroslaw Buss from Poland owns Tudor House Ltd, a company that started importing and distributing whisky in 2004. He has been writing about whisky since and organizes presentations, tasting for on, off trade as well as for private clients. He has one of the the biggest Facebook groups of 22k whisky lovers and has been organizing Whisky Live Warsaw since 2015. He travels around the world, visiting distilleries to be up to date with all current happenings in the Whisky Industry.

Hans Martin Hansgaard from Denmark is a teacher by profession specializing primarily in students with autism and ADHD. He's been an avid whisky enthusiast and collector since 1995 and in 2005, he founded the first Danish whisky distillery “Stauning Whisky” together with 8 friends.

Jason Hambrey from Canada has been reviewing whisky for his blog In Search of Elegance since 2013. He has been a judge of multiple international spirits competitions and has contributed to publications such as American Whiskey Magazine.