Whisky and other wonderful things

Or points of note?

I give points on a scale from 1 to 10, and try to avoid anything more detailed than half points. I find other people’s scores give me limited information beyond good, bad or indifferent in any case, and my sensorial memory isn’t good enough to decide whether the whisky in hand is better than the one I had last year on a more detailed scale. To improve the way my scores compare to each other, I try to taste several whiskies against each other every now and again, but in general my scores will just give you (and me) a general indication of just how great (or not) I thought a certain dram was at a given point in time.

Also, I use the whole scale. Nothing gets 5 points simply for being a whisky. There may not be such a thing as a bad whisky, but there are certainly whiskies I don’t like AT ALL.

This is an approximation of what the scores mean:

0-0.5       Undrinkable, possibly poisonous.
1-1.5       Not nice. I take it as a personal affront that someone even bottled this.
2-2.5       This is wrong – I will not finish the dram once I’ve done with my note taking.
3-3.5       Still not very nice, but I will consider finishing the dram before rinsing my mouth out with something better.
4-4.5       Drinkable, but I wouldn’t pay for a(nother) dram.
5-5.5       Ok, I might get another one, and even a bottle if the cupboard was bare and nothing better was on offer, but I fail to get enthusiastic.
6-6.5       Now we’re talking - good dram for every day wear and nice to have available.
7-7.5       This is nice, and I’d recommend it to others.
8-8.5       I’d be carrying the bottle round pressing drams on others if practicable.
9              We’re approaching the ultimate whisky, my wallet may scream in agony, but I might not hear it.
9.5-10     ”Hello malt, will you marry me?”

Also note that price matters, a nice but expensive dram will get less points than an equally nice, cheap dram.