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My name is Martin and I live in Scotland. I love fine things in life, such as gourmet food, travelling around the world and, last but not least, whisky (naturally, I’m partial to a tipple of whiskey or bourbon as well). I have tasted hundreds of whiskies during the recent years and I finally decided to share my experience.

1 Comment

  1. Ryan
    October 8, 2011 @ 1:35 pm

    Martin, I also enjoy this discussion, and I’m still making up my mind on it a bit, but I am pretty confident that I like scores. This is from the opinion of someone who is a whisky nut and likes to do lots of whisky research before buying a whisky, and does read a lot of whisky blogs.

    You’re right that your 90 and 85 for Dalmore 12 and Ardbeg 10 are probably my 85 and 90, respectively, but I think that’s what is great about having so many good quality whisky blogs! As a reader, if I read a professional blog like “What Does John Know,” then I expect scores to be “unbiased.” That is, if those two whiskies are really equal quality then I would expect equal scores. But when I am reading amateur blogs like yours, I expect and actually enjoy seeing what people actually like. It takes some effort on the part of the reader to filter the scores in terms of what the author likes, but I think it gives you a lot more information if you’re willing to work for it. It also means that the shopper probably needs to visit more than one blog, but I think that’s a good idea anyway.

    I disagree with you that tasting notes are more helpful than scores. Certainly, I wouldn’t use a score without a review, but I think scores really help quantify how enjoyable a whisky is and this helps you decide if it’s really worth buying. I mean, just because a whisky has a banana note in it, does that mean it’s worth $50? Hard to say, I think. But, if you’re reading a blog and there are two similar style whiskies and one is a 90 and one is a 85, then that helps me decide to go buy the 90 whisky.

    So, to summarize, what you find as a fault in the scoring system – that scores are subjective to one’s tastes – I find as a positive that makes these whisky blogs more helpful for the whisky nut looking to decide where to spend his (or her) money.

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