Reviews

I myself use a scoring system that goes something like this.....anything under 70 honestly means "Keep looking, not worth the money) 71-75 more of a meh, 76-79 is good, 80-85 is darn good, 86-90 is pretty darn good, 91 to 95 is brilliant, start looking for this one and anything 96+ is "absolutely stellar and I couldn't find anything to seriously fault the whisky and I'd be inclined to give it a 100, but there always could be something better out there"

I also tend to rate/judge on price too. So if a $30 bottle gets an 85 it's a damn good whisky and why don't you have it in your cabinet. if it's a $300 dollar realistically it's not bad, but for that price point there are alot better whiskies out there.

I hope that makes sense, I'm completely buggered tonight so if it didnt please feel free to PM and I'll try and explain better.

No that makes perfect sense, thanks, and I guess when reading others reviews or from guides etc. that is what I would have expected. What I was more keen to try and get my head around is how you arrive at a particular score of your own for each section ie aroma etc.

@Sroberts86 For me on the aroma etc I go with "Aroma-I want something that MAKES me want to take a drink, something that makes me salivate, something that keeps me coming back to nose the glass again and again to see what it is"

Flavour-Something that makes me want to take another drink, it doesnt have to be super complex, but something that is enjoyable and preferably lovely. Is it really bitter? Do I THINK it was SUPPOSED to be bitter? sometimes when you drink something you'll notice it's really bitter or sour and you KNOW that's not what was intended. I mark down for something like that.

Finish- Long finish? short finish? pleasant? once more does it make you want another drink? If it finishes and it makes me NOT want another drink, then mark down.

Balance is pretty explanatory....sorta. Whisky I had last night could have been brilliant....except the oak and citrus took over the flavor profile. Almost drowned out everything else. Mark down.

reviews take time and just go with what you feel. You'll likely find that your reviews evolve over time and what you started with, arent where you end. Just take it easy. So many people I know stress it and I think it becomes a chore for them. Just enjoy it. Remember you're doing this for fun!!

Cheers man. Also know you enjoy it so just saw a bottle of snow phoenix for £65. Cant make my mind up just yet.

@Sroberts86 Brilliant whisky and getting harder and harder to find by the day. Just so you know 65 pounds is STUPID cheap so if you're debating .... I strongly suggest grabbing it. I think my last 2 bottles of it were at 100+ pounds easy. I want to say 125ish :D I HIGHLY doubt that it'll be a whisky you regret. It's what made my wife decide that whisky was awesome hahaha.

I'll give it some serious consideration, pretty sure there were 5 left.

Generally you can't really compare scores across reviewers due to everyone having different tastes, even though if you look at review's many whisky's generally have a near unanimous score from everyone who's written on it. I agree with SquidgyAsh that a score under 70 is a 'keep looking' score, whisky is a quite expensive hobby and as such you should always try to buy the good stuff (which is generally why most of my review's are scored in the 80's). As I write review's I try to be ordinal with the scoring, ie I prefer a whisky I've scored 88 to one I scored 87 however once you've done a few review's this can be hard to keep track of. If you want a tip on how to write a review just have fun and try to be as descriptive as possible, think of it as telling a little story.

On a side not where did you see a bottle of Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix for 65pounds? I will totally be taking one of those 5 bottles left if they do online ordering and shipping.

@fraid that is unlikely, its a relatively new online auction in Scotland. There were five bottles sitting at £65 (still are in fact) and the auction closes quite soon. I'll have a read about their shipping policy actually and let you know.

@Sroberts86 was it this auction site?

scotchwhiskyauctions.com/store/category/…

If so jut so you know Jason they charge something like 120 pounds for the first bottle to be shipped. I've had to pick up 3 bottles to make shipping worthwhile (mind you I got a 30 yr old Caol Ila) and still plan on picking them up when I'm in Scotland.

Damn, it's a bottle I've always wanted to get a hold of. Especially considering the only Glenfidich I've had is the 12yo. I want to see what the largest single malt producer is made of :D

Actually I have a sad story about the snow phenix, almost got my hands on it. I saw one on sale at Dan Murphy's (big local liquor store) a week ago for 189(AU) but didn't have the money on me to buy it outright at the time, payday was literally tomorrow. So I asked some store attendent to put it on hold for me, come back the next day armed with money and it's gone :(

Gutting, sorry to hear that man @Jason0142

Thats the one, the guys are really friendly. I bet they would hold on to them for a long time. Bit weird, but if not, I wouldn't mind doing it at all.

This is the scale I use: 50-59 flawed / 60-69: not worth the effort, would not try again / 70-79 : middle of the road whisky, I'll have another one / 80-85 well worth the effort, try to track down a bottle / 86-89 Damn good whisky, this is what it's all about / 90-94 Outstanding, excellent, stunning : we want more! / 95 and up: for the Gods! Get it if you can afford it, you'll regret it if you don't (life is too short!). / 100: never gonna happen.

I'm a teacher, so I go by the grading scale I've used for years. 92 and above is an A (with 96 being the highest I've ever scored a whisky -- no A+plusses yet); 90-91 is an A-minus; 89 is a B+plus, 82 to 88 a B, and so forth. I think most here use a scale close to this, even if they don't have "grades" in mind. What bugs me is the (very occasional) review that says "I liked this!" and then awards a score of 55.

@Sroberts86 They are very friendly! I'm going to be picking my bottles up from them when my wife and I go to Scotland next May.

@Jason Man I'm so sorry to hear that. It sucks that they didn't set it aside for you!!