Analysis of the first 200 reviews

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:

  1. 2
  2. 3
  3. 5
  4. 5
  5. 13
  6. 26
  7. 44
  8. 46
  9. 35
  10. 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!