Before the actual tasting notes there is some sort of introduction to the to be discussed sample. This includes funny and/or interesting facts about the bottling.

After that all samples always compete in four disciplines: (1) Nose, (2) Taste, (3) Finish and (4) Overall.

Obviously the last part is the most subjective one. It can happen that my conclusion does not match with yours and that is obviously fine. As known, tastes differ so please see my conclusions just as my personal opinion.

That being said I give every discussed sample a score out of 100 based on the (highly subjective) overall experience I had with it.

And this is how my scoring system works:

There are two aspects I will not write about:

1. Color: Nowadays most distilleries are still using caramel color (also known as E 150). It is recognized that color has a heavy influences on our taste adventures true to the motto “the darker the better”. However I do not share this opinion as long as is it possible (and absolute legally) to suggest a certain quality with the addition of caramel color. That is the reason why I do not pay any attention to the color . Anything else would be just not fair when comparing colored and uncolored whiskies with each other.
2. Price: I will not write about any prices here as a matter of principle. I just want to focus on the character (and the quality) of each and every sample. That way I want to have some sort of impartiality –  “expensive” whisk(e)y does not have to be good and “cheap” whisk(e)y does not have to be bad. Besides this the price (and to some extent the availability as well) depends heavily on where you live so I just simply cannot give an universal information about the price even if I wanted to.