How I Review

Okay, so I’m a little OCD.  Okay, more than a little.

I really cling on to habits, and I crave a sense of order in my life.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, this blog is no exception.  I post a review every Saturday and a bit of “Whiskey Trivia” on Wednesday.  My reviews are always in a certain format and seldom venture too far off from that formula.  My images are all shot and edited in a consistent way, and my writing style doesn’t differ too much from blog post to blog post.

So, if I’m that crazy, how do I organize my reviews?

It’s really pretty simple.  First, I find a whiskey in my collection that fits into a category I haven’t reviewed in a little while.  If I just reviewed a Scotch, then I might review a bourbon.  If I already reviewed those, I might check out a rye whiskey.

After selection, I make sure I have a picture of the bottle.  I pour just a little bit into a snifter with no ice or water.  I’ll then smell the whiskey and start to write my background story.  Typically, I have some kind of story to share about how I came to hear about the whiskey or what my first experience with it was.

Next, I do my best to identify the key characteristics of the nose of the whiskey.  I try to spend as much time as I can on this section before taking that first sip (which is actually very difficult!).  Once I am ready, I take a small sip, and let the whiskey sit in my mouth for a little while.  I try to absorb all of the flavors and determine what I can pick up from the taste.  I’ll do this several times until I have an accurate description of the full spectrum of the whiskey being reviewed.  Afterward, I will identify the aftertaste and the associated experiences.

The last thing I do is rate the whiskey.  My rating system isn’t an exact science; rather comparing the whiskey I am reviewing relative to the rest of the whiskeys I have tried in my lifetime on a scale from 1 to 100.

So that’s it!  Not much to it, but I hope it helps produce some interesting reviews.

-Ryan