Whisky: The Whisky Whiskey Rating System Tweaks

11 January, 2025

It’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.