I believe that whisky reviews only tell half of the story and so I have decided to institute a ratings system to go alongside my reviews in order to provide a better idea of how highly (or lowly) I rate a particular whisky.

I have decided to not include a rating for the Islay Series for now and the ratings system will come into effect from the 9th review onwards.

The ratings system is based on a scale of 0-100 and works as follows:

96-100 – Unbelievably good whisky (buy without any hesitation whatsoever, highly drinkable and highly collectible)

91-95 – Exceptionally good whisky (well worth the outlay and widely enjoyed)

86-90 – Very good whisky (good value for money and provides a lot of enjoyment)

81-85 – Generally good whisky (fairly good value for money and somewhat stands out from the middle pack)

71-80 – Acceptable whisky (not the greatest, but still good)

61-70 – Run of the mill whisky (what you would buy when there were no better options)

51-60 – Uninspiring whisky (doesn’t capture the imagination or the palate, but still drinkable)

41-50 – Poor whisky (not worth the outlay)

31-40 – Unacceptable whisky (don’t bother)

0-30 – Dreadful whisky (not even fit to be used as a toilet cleaner)

How does The Ratings System work?

Previously, the ratings which I have bestowed on posts have been rather arbitrary and therefore didn’t provide much information apart from how much I particularly liked a specific whisky.

I have therefore revised the ratings system for reviews to take into account the various aspects that make up the flavour profile:

• Nose (Will be given a rating out of 25)
  
• Palate (Will be given a rating out of 25)
  
• Finish (Will be given a rating out of 25)
• Balance (Will be given a rating out of 25)

All these ratings will combine to give the final score out of 100. I believe that this will remove some of the arbitrary elements to the ratings system and give a more fair representation to what each aspect brings to the dram being reviewed.