Double, Triple, Naked, Spouted?

I have had quite a few strange espresso experiences as of late... things that would get me kicked out of the third wave.  I am just slightly kidding when I say that, but here in Milwaukee with our limited quality barista base and those in the know being too stubborn to change their baskets, blends and portafilters to try something different it is hard for me to get a quality shot just about anywhere.  I've gotta say that I have walked into many shops and have purchased espresso and not even touched it for watching and listening to how the shots are prepared and pulled scared me away from the attempt of trying said shots.  My thoughts range from, "Did they just not tamp?" to "Wow, thats a 54 second, 4 1/2 ounce double shot of espresso."

So, although I have these experiences, they are not the ones I am actually talking about.  The ones I am specifically referring to occurred when I began to work with Brett for competition.  I have always been partial to the triple ristretto shot pulled to 1 1/2 to 2 ounces from a bottomless portafilter.  With the competition though, the shots were required to be pulled as a double shot with each shot being one ounce from a double basket and spouted portafilter.  What does this mean? And why should it matter.  Well, in a sense, they are different brew methods all together... it would be like dosing your Chem-ex way more and changing the grind setting drastically to compensate for the excess of coffee like when pulling the triple ristretto, up-dosing and modifying the grind setting.  That being said, I have for the most part always been a fan of triple ristretto (bottomless portafilter) shots for the reasoning that they are usually never over-extracted, super-bodied, great crema, and over all very flavor-ful.  Why have I not preferred the double basket (spouted) shots? Mostly I have never been privy to favorable shots pulled in this fashion, with the results mostly over-extracted, thin, and without much crema (instant peaking.)

As it happens, like I said this began to change around the time of working with Brett for competition... Brett and I were looking for single origin coffees that he could use for competition and we were not finding anything that hit all the senses.  We then began to look at blends and different blend combinations where we came across the Ethiopia- Yirga-Cheffe, Costa Rica- Herbazu Estate, and Guatemala- Finca El Injerto blend that he ultimately used and got in the top 10 in the Great Lakes.  The funny thing is that the shots when dialed in and pulled were amazing citrus and tropical fruits, chocolates, and creamy like a mother!  And this was with a double basket pulled from a spouted portafilter.  We tried the same blend pulled from the triple baskets (bottomless) and as you can guess, it just really did not taste all that good, actually it tasted pretty bad.

I know there have been a ton of debates all over the Internet about bottomless vs spouted portafilters and basket sizes and shapes and so on and so on.  I guess what I am taking away from the whole experience is that I have had quite a few shots since from double baskets both spouted and bottomless as well as triple baskets (bottomless) and have thus far strongly preferred the double shots and what I have gotten from them.  Maybe my pallet has moved past wanting that super-strong over-powering triple ristretto shot and is liking the intricacies of the delicate nature that is found in the double shot when pulled right.

As a final question, and I am not sure how much of this has been answered in other places on-line, but I am wondering if the triple basket is merely a tool to ensure that the shot is not over-extracted and the bottomless portafilter a tool for bad crema on improperly pulled espresso? Almost a compensation tool for how the barista might mess up on a double (spouted?)