About Our Tasting Notes and Ratings

We judge whiskey based on personal enjoyment. Because what's more important than that?

We established this rating structure in 2006, and since then it's been adopted by most of the spirits reviewers and websites in the US.

Anything B- or above is at least “good whiskey worth trying.” Tasting notes will vary in format. Some notes are by experienced whiskey experts and others are from newcomers. Some notes are formal tastings while others are off-the-cuff impressions. It's a mix, but a useful one.

When we say a bottle is a "definitely want to own," that consideration is (usually) independent of price. Meaning, based on the taster's enjoyment of that whisky, would they like to have it at home to drink? The fact that everyone would like to own a $10,000 whisky bottle doesn't count. 

 ~ USING THE MAIN WHISKY LIST ~

The Main Whiskey List is fully dynamic.  You can filter it via the picklists at the top.  You can also sort the list by column headers -- for instance, starting with the highest-rated whiskies, or the lowest-priced. Clicking a column header a second time will sort the list in reverse direction.

When set to "one popup," that single popup will automatically refresh with a newly chosen whiskey. That popup will also stay wherever you move it.  Multiple popups are useful to allow you to compare various whiskies.