I’m taking a short break from drinking for the start of the year and I just finished review #200 so I figured this would be a good time to do an analysis of my first 200 reviews.
High Level Stats
Average: 7.09
Std Dev: 1.7
Mode: 8
Median: 7
Max: 10
Min: 1
Distribution:
- 2
- 3
- 5
- 5
- 13
- 26
- 44
- 46
- 35
- 5
I’m pretty happy with those numbers though it does reveal that I fall into the same behavior as a lot of other internet reviewers and tend to give out a lot of 8s even if they were neck and neck with 7s. I feel like 5/200 for perfect 10s is pretty reasonable with top 3% being a good approximation of the best whiskies I’ve reviewed. Clearly there aren’t many 1-4 reviews and I am fine with that since I am not going to buy much whiskey I don’t care for at this point and I don’t like to spend too much of my creative time being negative about things.
The 10 point reviews went to a distillery release of High West Rendezvous Rye aged for 4 years and 7 months in port pipes(basically MWND but higher proof and more port), 2018 Old Rip Van Winkle, Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend Batch 12, 2019 William Larue Weller and Remus Volstead Reserve. I pretty much stand by all of these and haven’t given up hopes of finding that High West release.
*Quick note that when I moved to my current scale and account I did update the reviews on atxbourbon.com but not the reviews posted on Reddit as u/scottmotorrad and the above distribution is based on the updated scores. Of course discussing the numbers without looking at the scale doesn’t tell a very complete picture so that’s up next.
Scale
Quality
10 - an all time favorite, must buy/hunt - Old Rip Van Winkle 2018
9 - a favorite I always try to keep on my shelf - EH Taylor Barrel Proof 2019
8 - an excellent bottle I’d like to have at home - Blanton’s
7 - a great whiskey I’d order at a bar - Rare Breed
6 - a good whiskey I’m still happy to drink - 1792 Small Batch
5 - a whiskey with notable strengths but also held back by some flaws - High West Campfire
4 - a fine whiskey that does not standout in either direction - Evan Williams Black Label
3 - Better than not drinking whiskey but just barely - Crown Royal Deluxe
2 - Mixer only - Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye
1 - Pouring out the bottle, Coke Zero deserves better - Hazmat MGP Light Whiskey
Value
Great - A great deal, I’d buy it again - Eagle Rare, 1792 Small Batch
Fair - Worth the money, happy with my purchase - Rare Breed, A Mid Winter Night’s Dram
Poor - Overpriced, not worth the money - Kentucky Owl Confiscated, Heaven’s Door 10 year
I am very happy with the breakdown into 2 parts 1 for quality and 1 for value.
I think 10 points might still be too many though. I’ve considered something like the New York Times restaurant scale that lumps everything from ok down into the 0 star bucket so from 5 down on my current scale and then has 1-4 stars for good to extraordinary. I do like reserving a number at the bottom for things that are outright bad though so it doesn’t quite work for me. Moving to a 7 or 8 point scale seems counter intuitive compared to a 5 or 10 point and 5 feels just a little too tight. Anyways I’m going to keep thinking about it, if you have any suggestions please send them my way!
Breakdown by type
Bourbon
Count: 128
Average: 7.34
Max: 10
Rye*
Count: 32
Average: 7.00
Max: 10
Speyside
Count: 17
Average: 7.47
Max: 9
American
Count: 10
Average: 4.80
Max: 7
Japan
Count: 4
Average: 7.50
Max: 8
Canada*
Count: 3
Average: 4
Max: 6
Islay
Count: 3
Average: 6.67
Max: 8
Highland
Count: 2
Average: 7.5
Max: 8
France
Count: 1
Average: 2
Max: 2
*Canadian Rye sold as Straight Rye whiskey in the US is bucketed as Rye
Not a lot of surprises here for me. I like bourbon a lot and drink it the most so naturally most of my reviews were bourbon. With my tastes tending towards higher proofs these days and the new tariffs I just don’t see myself getting back into scotch all that much. I’ll still drink it from time to time especially for things like the r/scotch Wardhead pick and definitely when I am in Europe and can get cask strength stuff at a reasonable cost. American and Canadian whiskey that are not straight bourbon or straight rye are generally not for me and that shows in the stats.
TL;DR The first 200 reviews went well. Looking forward to 200 more!