Category: Reviews

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:

Beam Suntory Ao World Whisky

by Jeff Bernheisel | Japanese Whisky, Reviews | 0 |

Ao, a blend of whiskies from the five countries where Beam Suntory owns distilleries – Scotland, Ireland, United States, Canada and Japan has finally hit the retail shelves in the US.

Kentucky Owl Takumi Edition

by Jeff Bernheisel | Bourbon, Reviews | 0 |

After releasing a collaboration with Irish Whiskey Bonder Louise McGuane last year called the St. Patrick’s Edition, Kentucky Owl decided to make the team-ups an annual release. For its second limited-edition bourbon, they worked with Nagahama, the smallest distillery in Japan, headed up by Master Blender Yahisa Yusuke.

Compass Box Vellichor

by Jeff Bernheisel | Reviews, Scotch Whisky | 0 |

Certain whiskies exude a bookish perfume, particularly those with a couple of decades of maturation behind them. With Vellichor, we have brought together several parcels reminiscent of yellowing paper, scratched leather and myriad tiny scents found in spaces housing old volumes.