Whisky Blog
All of the blog entries for Whisky Whiskey.
The Whisky Whiskey Rating System 2025
8 March, 2025The original the ranking system has been a solid foundation however as I’ve sampled more and more Whiskies, I’ve needed to tweak a few things early this year. In addition I’ve decided to add a new, Lower-Cost category I’m calling “1L” or “1 Low” for bottles under $50 AUD, calling it “Ultra Affordable.” There will be a series of episodes focussing on Whisky in this category.
Generally though I’ve added the concept for quality of Low, Solid and High for those drams that are on the borderline between. Simply put for each Quality Category, the lower, barely making that Quality level is a “Low,” with anything firmly in the middle of that Quality Category being a “Solid” for that level, such as “a Solid 3” for example, and anything that is almost, but not quite the next highest Quality level is a “High.” I’m denoting these as an “L” for Low and a “H” for High, with Solid not having anything after it. Hence you’ll start to see “2H” for a High 2 for Quality, and “4L” for a Low 4 for Quality and so on.
Updated Cost Table:
| Cost | Description |
|---|---|
| 1L: <$50 | Ultra Affordable! |
| 1: <$80 | Very Affordable. |
| 2: <$150 | Affordable for good Whisky. |
| 3: <$300 | Stretching the Budget a bit! |
| 4: <=$1k | Serious money. You may need serious help. |
| 5: >$1k | Mortgage your house, may lead to divorce, probably never drink it, why are you buying it? |
Updated Quality Table:
| Quality | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Never drinking this again, not even as a mixer. |
| 1 | Don’t drink it neat, maybe as a mixer. |
| 2 | Nice drink for some occasional variety. |
| 3 | Go to pleasant drink that makes me smile. |
| 4 | An amazing drink that makes me giggle, enjoy it slowly! |
| 5 | Incredible! Savour every drop, it makes me melt inside. |
Updated Overall Table:
| Overall | Description |
|---|---|
| Green | Generally keep some of these on hand. |
| Yellow | A few bottles in this category for something different. |
| Orange | Invest in one, only if you’re really keen. |
| Red | Probably don’t buy it. |
The updated ranking matrix below:
But in the end it’s still all subjective. Hopefully this scoring system will be a good sanity check for myself in the first instance and for others as well that are following along at home when trying to decide which bottle they should or should NOT buy.
Good luck.
Whisky Truths
27 January, 2025I’ve had the opportunity to try many more Whiskies over my Christmas break and with my return to work I wanted to reflect on some epiphanies I’d had regarding Whisky and this journey I’m on to better understand it.
- You’re never going to be able to try them all.
Reality check: There are globally over a thousand active distilleries making Whisky of various volumes, all with their own unique mash bills, grains, yeasts, fermentation times, stills, double/triple distillation, barrel woods, barrel ex-contents, maturation durations and final blenders with their own palettes that, whilst it’s not an infinite number of combinations…there are more combinations than I could reasonably try even if I tried one glass of each day between now and the day I die. So…accept you’ll never be able to try them all and focus in on what you like the most, and try to understand why you like that type, style, profile, whatever you want to call it, to better inform future decisions of what you’ll buy and what you won’t.
- Whisky is to be enjoyed, not collected.
When I was initially trying and buying bottles of the ones I liked and watched the space on the shelf getting lower, I had to pause and ponder. At what point do you limit how many you have? There’s an episode coming up where I’ll delve into safe drinking quantities or at least, health-department guidelines/recommendations but it’s clear that a single drink per day is probably “safe” enough (whatever that means) and for a standard bottle volume that would mean you should get just over 3 weeks from a bottle…call it a month. Therefore what’s the point of having more than about 12 bottles since 12 is an easy number as there’s 12 months in a year?
I’ve found people online with Whisky collections that are in the dozens, hundreds and a few with over a thousand! That’s never going to be me. Where do you store it all? It’s not possible to drink it all without being ill or dying so what’s the point unless you’re truly collecting which means you can’t drink or enjoy it? I’ve decided to enforce a bottle quantity limit for myself with some variety in styles on the shelf. It makes sense to me to have a nice easy-sipping one, perhaps a nice really strong, cask-strength one, perhaps a lightly and heavily peated one and so on, so you could pick based on your mood or meal it’s being paired with.
The problem with rotating through bottles unevenly, is that a half-empty bottle will oxidise and particularly Peated whiskies, if you leave them with large amounts of head-space in the bottle, without a wine-preserver gas or something in them, they will slowly lose their flavour and become flat between the 6-12 month mark. If you choose this approach then be aware of that at least. A few of the Whiskies I have on my shelf have been there for a year and if they’re nicer, rarer, or more expensive, then I can see that becoming multiple years.
- Whisky should be shared.
One of the challenges I have personally is that no-one in my family, close or extended, likes Whisky. I’ve found that discussing the dram in hand with others that share your interest and passion for Whisky is far, faaar more enjoyable than when you’re on your own…and I don’t mean alone physically, but that too. Enjoying a nice Scotch when surrounded by people all drinking beer or wine takes away some of the enjoyment you’d otherwise get from being surrounded by other Whisky lovers.
- Pick a day, week or month to voluntarily go dry.
This is the hard truth dot point. The downside of enjoying alcohol, whatever its form, is that can be habit forming. Having several drinks, every single day, can lead to dependence and permanent damage to your body, most notably the liver. This is something many people gloss-over or try not to look at, but it’s the truth. There are also many people in the world that draw the hardest of lines in the sand, saying that even a single drop of alcohol is bad and you should never drink at all. I’ve seen forum posts and Whisky podcasters, Whisky-tubers and the like, be labelled “Alcoholics” and that they “clearly have a problem,” when that’s not generally true.
The litmus test is our ability to choose. Take it from someone that’s had a weight problem in the past, our ability to say “no” to ourselves is the key. I like the idea of “Dry-July” or pick a month that suits, but you can pick a day, a week, a month, or hell even a year if you like…where you have no alcohol. If you can do this, you’re fine. If you can’t do this…you may have a problem.
I’ve started asking people to “…always remember to drink responsibly, in moderation and where and when appropriate…” in every episode as I want to explore and enjoy Whisky, but I don’t want myself or others to forget that without moderation and your ability to choose, it’s a slippery slope that you don’t want to be on.
- Savour every drop.
I’ve now tasted over 120 Whiskies at the time of writing this and I’ve got a really good idea of what I like and what I don’t like. I’ve therefore made the decision that I will not buy a bottle of anything that I’ve ranked as a Quaity of 1 or a 2 again. I’d prefer to save up for a nicer drink, take my time with it and savour every drop. Nose it. Sip it. Don’t rush it. Enjoy it. Quality NOT quantity is my ultimate goal. If I wanted to get smashed, like I’m in my 20s again, I wouldn’t be sipping nice Whisky. That’s for sure.
Cheers and enjoy 2025.
The Whisky Whiskey Rating System Tweaks
11 January, 2025It’s been four months since I started ranking Whiskies both for my own and others potential future reference and benefit. I’ve now tasted over a hundred different Whiskies and am learning more every passing day. With that I’ve decided to subtly tweak some of the definitions, particularly around quality as I’ve learned more about my own reactions in response to trying certain types. In the three tables below I’ve highlighted with ** against the row for those that I tweaked and most changes are grammatical, but I’d like to draw attention to the following four specifically:
- Cost: >$1k, I removed “Collect Only” from this line since it’s quite possible I may buy or be gifted a very expensive Whisky at some point and I have no intention of just looking at it, so I wanted to modify the language away from the idea that super-expensive bottles can only be collectors items.
- Quality: 4 & 5, I demoted drinks that make me giggle from 5 down to 4 as a reflection of the fact I noticed my own reactions to tasting exceptional Whiskies and instead added a clarifier that to be a 5 it has to make me melt on the inside. This now better reflects the fact I’ve only ever tried two Whiskies now I would rank a 5. They’re rare and they’re usually expensive for a good reason.
- Overall: Green, I removed the “Should” since you shouldn’t buy alcohol unless you want to. Seemed too strict to me upon reflection.
- Overall: Yellow, I changed out “Special Occasions” for “Something Different” to reflect the fact that there are still affordable Whiskies in the Yellow category and I realised that I’d crossed the cost/quality streams…which was the exact problem I wanted to avoid with my ranking system for Whiskies, that frankly, so many others fall into the trap of doing. Consider it corrected.
Updated Cost Table:
| Cost | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|
| <$80 | Very Affordable. | Very Affordable. |
| <$150 | Affordable for good Whisky. | Affordable for good Whisky. |
| <$300 | Stretching the Budget a bit! | Stretching the Budget a bit! |
| <=$1k | Serious money. You may need serious help. | Serious money. You may need serious help. |
| >$1k** | Mortgage your house, may lead to divorce, probably never drink this - collect only, why are you buying it?? | Mortgage your house, may lead to divorce, probably never drink it, why are you buying it? |
Updated Quality Table:
| Quality | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Never drinking this again, not even as a mixer. | Never drinking this again, not even as a mixer. |
| 1** | Would buy it as a mixer, never drinking it neat. | Don’t drink it neat, maybe as a mixer. |
| 2 | Nice drink for some occasional variety. | Nice drink for some occasional variety. |
| 3** | Go to pleasant drink, it makes me smile. | Go to pleasant drink that makes me smile. |
| 4** | An amazing drink I would recommend, drink slowly and enjoy. | An amazing drink that makes me giggle, enjoy it slowly! |
| 5** | Incredible Savour every single drop, so good it makes me giggle. | Incredible! Savour every drop, it makes me melt inside. |
Updated Overall Table:
| Overall | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Green** | Should generally keep stock of these on hand. | Generally keep some of these on hand. |
| Yellow** | A few bottles in this category perhaps for special occasions. | A few bottles in this category for something different. |
| Orange** | Consider investing only if you’re really keen. | Invest in one, only if you’re really keen. |
| Red** | Probably shouldn’t invest in this. | Probably don’t buy it. |
As I said previously, it’s still all subjective. Hopefully this tweaked scoring system will better reflect my position on the Whiskies I try and will proceed forward now with minimal further tweaking. I retrospectively looked at the Whiskies I’d ranked and don’t see that this changes any of my prior conclusions or recommendations.
Good luck.
Macallan Colour Tasting
11 December, 2024I recently returned from a long anticipated family cruise from Sydney to New Zealand, predominantly the South Island. I had hoped for some opportunities to sample some higher end Whiskies however being on Royal Caribbean I had heard that such things were not common.
That said, being a fan of (The) Macallan I had hoped that there might be a Whisky tasting for their Quest line-up, however those had effectively ended their rotation last year. They were in fact offering a Colour Collection tasting at a cost of $50 USD on the fourth day of the cruise. However, it was not a complete line up as they only had the 12 year, 15 year and 18 year available. The 21 year and 30 year were not included and the primary intention of the tasting, for all travel exclusives, is to drive sales in the Port Merchants Duty Free Alcohol Store on board.
As with all Macallan colour collection these are not artificially coloured (that’s rather the point of calling them a ‘colour collection’) though they’re all chill-filtered and whilst the 12 year is 40% ABV, the other two are both 43% ABV. When I was told about the tasting, I was at the Vintages Bar at the rear of Deck 5 on the ship (Ovation of the Seas) and noted that it was only on the printed list, and not the Royal Caribbean app. This meant that unless you noticed it when you went to that bar, you would have no idea it was happening.
It turned out in fact that only three people had said they were coming to the tasting, of which I was one of those three. Despite this, the Vintages Bar had been set up for a lot more than that…
As it turned out, 18 minutes after it was due to begin, I was the only person that showed up. I therefore got the entire tasting as a one on one with the bar staff member that was running the tasting. He poured mine and his (half-nips for him…since he was on duty!) and we watched each of the videos for each of them, talking about each in turn. Nosing…palette…finish and impressions. The tasting was supposed to run for only 45 minutes, but we went 15 minutes longer, beyond the 18 minutes late…we were just enjoying talking Macallan too much!
In the end the host gave me a complimentary Macallan Glencairn glass (not part of the tasting fee) as a special thank you. I had taken my own tasting notes afterward and upon wrapping up I went to the Port Traders to confirm what I already knew: they had NO STOCK of ANY Macallan Whisky for sale.
I returned to Vintages late in the cruise and asked if there were any 18 year unopened bottles on the ship they could sell me…and unfortunately the rules forbid them from selling them through the bar. They could sell wine bottles through the bar, but not spirits bottles. Ultimately though by the end of the cruise, the 12 year was completely gone.
The 12 year resembled my 12 year Sherry Oak at home slightly, however with a far less pronounced Sherry influence and perhaps somewhere between the Double-Cask and Sherry Oak 12 year in palette, but I drank a fair bit of this and rated it a 4 out of 5. The 15 year wasn’t as sweet and had more pronounced oak spices that lingered on the finish nicely and I also rated it a 4 out of 5. The really impressive one was the 18 year.
Admittedly I’ve only tasted maybe 75 whiskies or so in my life, however the Macallan 18 year Colour Collection is the first I’ve given 5 out of 5 to. I was quite literally giggling after every single sip. It has a delicious, coating mouthfeel to it, with a buttery, creamy caramel and vanilla taste that lingers for ages with a delightful finish. That said, it cost $46 USD a shot on board and a bottle would set me back $900 AUD for a bottle off-ship…from a dodgy seller since it’s technically a Travel Exclusive.
The reason I was keen to try and nab one on-board was it was selling for $350USD a bottle, Duty Free, on-board but alas they had no stock they were allowed to sell me.
However it ended, it was an interesting experience and I shall remember it every time I use my Macallan Glencairn glass.
The Whisky Whiskey Rating System
21 October, 2024I’ve been reading and listening to lots and lots of Whisky Reviews in the past few months and I’ve come to the conclusion that, since taste is highly subjective, all ratings scales and Whisky rankings against them are unique to the individual. That said, there are good and bad scales that don’t help and can lead to skewed results.
I’ve decided to have a crack at my own, because, of course I have…
I propose to rank all of the Whiskies that I try against two Axes: the Columns represent a quantitative measure: the current amount (at time of review) a standard 700mL bottle costs. For bottles that aren’t available in this size (eg. many Australian Whiskies are sold in 500mL bottles) then the costs will be linearly re-scaled. Cost will also exclude sale pricing and will be based on recommended retail and will be in Australian Dollars because…well…I’m Australian. Prices overseas will vary based import duties, local taxes and currency conversion factors so you kilometerage may vary.
I understand that prices will vary over time due to supply and demand, manufacturer economies of scale and desirability in the market. As these things change, so too will their position if/when I revisit a review. Price bracketing was guided by the quantity of bottles available that fell into those pricing categories. To be clear you can get a Single Malt Scotch for under $80 but there aren’t many, and those that are, generally aren’t going to set your world on fire. There are passable Blended Whiskies however that can be great everyday sippers.
The second scale is the inevitable Qualitative scale of Taste (which is subjective) about how much I personally would desire drinking the Whisky at some point again in the future. For this I propose a scale of 1 to 5 which is intentionally not too granular but groups together the most common positions I’ve taken when trying different Whiskies. I also decided it’s important to add a ZERO (0) row since there are ones I’ve tried, that I will simply never drink…again.
This leads to a simple table below:
Finally I’m going to simplify the outcome with a colour recommendation. I’ve coloured each box with a slant against people that have loads of disposable income to buy expensive alcohol. Generally speaking, if it’s more than $300 for a bottle, it needs be a truly impressive drink to consider investing in one. Whereas a lower scored 2, a nice drink for some occasional variety, if it’s less than $80 and you’re into Whisky, then it’s Green: Always keep stock of these on hand. Of course your evaluation of how much you’re willing to spend on a nice Whisky will vary but for me, at least for now, is my guide.
I have intentionally NOT split out Legs, Finish, Palette or Nose on their own scales and I’ve intentionally kept the two axes separate since a great nose but a bad finish could end up with a score that matches a bad nose but a great finish. To me the assessment is overall, which includes all of those factors. Like a good Whisky, the qualitative assessment needs to be balanced.
But in the end it’s still all subjective. Hopefully this scoring system will be a good sanity check for myself in the first instance and for others as well that are following along at home when trying to decide which bottle they should or should NOT buy.
Good luck.
Introducing Whisky Whiskey
28 September, 2024I’ve been a bourbon drinker for most of my adult life and have dabbled in Scotch from time to time, however in mid-2024 a suggestion to try a Whisky subscription service opened my eyes to a wide-world of Whiskies I’d never understood, which inspired me to create a Video series about my journey and everything I’ve learned.
Whisky Whiskey is intended to be a mixture of individual Whisky reviews as well as comparatives between different Whiskies that are 10 to 15 minutes long each. Some episodes I’ll cover backgrounds behind terminologies and distilleries and try to come to terms with all the history and complexities of Whisky.
Videos will be listed in a Video-Podcast/RSS Feed like all other material on TEN, however the 4K versions will be available via YouTube and embedded on the website on each episode page as well. Episodes on YouTube will have standard advertising on them per YouTube monetisation, however those from the feed directly will always be ad-free.
If you enjoy the videos and would like to see more of them, remember to support the show via normal channels.