Sometime last week I promised to start blogging again with renewed vigor and all that. Thusfar, not much has come from that and that got me thinking.

I love the blog, I love blogging and I love the ‘culture’ around it. However, I have to admit I am getting a bit tired of the random tasting notes I’ve published over the last couple of months. I like publishing tasting notes from Bottle-Shares, Festivals and tastings, but ‘I’ve tried the new Fettercairn Fior’ is not something that I get overly excited about. The same goes for the beer reviews.

Beer and other booze

Considering the beer reviews, I am thinking that since they get lower hits consistently, they’re not that popular. There are some that have incredible scores on the stats, like that post on BrewDog a few months ago (biggest day ever on the blog), but just a wee list of beers I had over the last week doesn’t cut it. Especially since beer drinking has gotten a bit in the way of whisk(e)y drinking, I’ll be cutting down on that a little bit.

I do like trying out new things, though. That means that there might be the occasional post on absinthe, rum, calvados or whatever I can get my hands on. There is some good stuff out there and it would be a waste to not give it some time, since it isn’t whisky… I will, as promised at an earlier point, not do any posts about wine. Too random, too many producers, to limited (to shops, vintages and such) and everybody wins some award.

Tasting notes

So, what to do about it? It’s rather easy actually. Skip the random tasting notes more often. Focus on the cool stuff. I definetly don’t want to become some elitarian (?) blogger that only writes about super premium bottlings of at least 200 euros each, but I do want to focus on more obscure, more rare bottles.

Also, I think I am going to simplefy my scoring system. I keep having issues with the 40 point system I conjured up myself. I prefer the 100 point system the rest of the world is using but I think I find myself working the points too often. During a video cast from ‘Village of the Drammed‘ they talked about it too and their conclusion (with which I fully agree) is that, in the end, you only use the 0 to 5 star ratings.

0 stars: Avoid

1 star: Not good but neither terrible

2 stars: Uninteresting

3 stars: Nice

4 stars: Very good and worth searching out

5 stars: Savour every drop, surprisingly great and such

And keep in mind, these are my findings. Not a group’s or committee’s, but mine. I represent no one and I might get things wrong. I sometimes do, even to myself. Trying a whisky in a different setting might give a different result.

Themes

Also, more themes I guess. 10 Bourbons, a flight of rye whiskies and a week of Japanese whiskies. Stuff like that. Tastings, Festivals, Bottle-Shares and other samples I’ve received.

I am not solely doing this to keep it more interesting for myself, but also to be a bit more timely with my reviews. Over the last few months, even with three weeks off from tasting during my vacation, I have an enormous backlog of tasting notes. Apparently, I just can’t get through them. By focussing more on the cool samples and bottles I’ve managed to taste, I think I can get through that too my notebook more quickly too.

I still think to write up the random whiskies I tasted, but more in a ‘gather’ post. The end of the week, five random tasting notes with somewhat shorter descriptions. I think it feels right.

Other stuff

Apart from changes here on the blog, I’ve noticed something happening that everybody has been talking about. Rising prices. I was more or less shoved into this at last weekend’s Pot Still Festival in Amersfoort at the Gordon & MacPhail stand. I was there with my friend JP, trying some of the new Reserve bottlings and I noticed a difference with last years prices. In my first Bottle-Share I was able to get a 16 year old Bladnoch and a 19 year old Lochside for 60 euros each. This year’s prices state that a 11 or 13 year old Caol Ila should cost around 70 euros per bottle. Apart from the apparent age difference there is also the rarity difference. It is far more common to see Caol Ila popping up with bottlers than either of the other two. This makes the price increase even bigger to me. Apparently, things are getting more expensive. Bummer.

This makes me sad and hopeful at the same time, because I can now hope that bourbon and other American whiskies get a bigger foothold in Europe. There have been increasingly great bottlings coming from that side of the Atlantic, but most whisky drinkers I know still shun them a bit. If you read between the lines, you can easily conclude that I will be focussing a bit more on American whiskey. There are some true gems out there!

I also hope to be able to write some more in depth articles about liquor shops and whisky specialists I know and frequent. Maybe about whisky itself, although I do not consider myself to be an authority on production processes and such. Maybe some pieces about distilleries with data I can more easily research. Of course, there will be book reviews, distillery and brewery visits. If I get around to it, maybe even posts about the results of my home-brewing (which still has to start)…