Category: Industry News

A bit about how we rate the whiskies in our whiskey reviews:

Several years ago, back when I was involved with a different whiskey website... I received a whisk(e)y tasting set as a gift from a local Portland company called the 33 Books Co.

The set contains your standard Glencairn nosing glass, and 2 tasting journals. One for Scotch and one for basically all other whiskies.

I quickly became a fan of the simplicity of these journals, and have since filled out several (each is good for 33 tastings - hence the name). On each page you'll find space for your tasting notes along with a color meter, flavor wheel and the standard 5 star rating used for most reviews.

Personally, I also like to rate the nose, palate and finish individually (and on a 100 point system) as to give a better overall idea of what you'll experience when tasting... so on our review posts you'll see my full grading breakdown at the bottom, along with the 5 star rating our readers can leave based on their own tasting experience.

Here's my personal breakdown of both the 5 star and 100 point system for reference:

5/5 - Among the best I've ever had - A+ | 100
5/5 - Highly recommended ~ A/A+ | 94-99
4.5/5 Very good ~ A- | 90-93
4/5 Definitely recommend ~ B+ | 87-89
3.5/5 Tasty and worth trying~ B | 83-86
3/5 Above average ~ B- | 80-82
2.5/5 Average ~ C+ | 77-79
2/5 Drinkable but probably not enjoyable ~ C | 73-76
1.5/5 No good ~ C- | 70-72
1/5 Terrible ~ D+ | 67-69
0.5/5 Avoid at all costs ~ D-/D | 60-66
0/5 So bad ~ “F” | 0-59