Once I’ve chosen, it’s time to drink. My aim is to taste the whisky over as many different sessions as possible, preferably over a few weeks. This allows me to get a real sense of the liquid, accounting for as many variables as possible (my mood, different glassware, the food I’ve eaten, social setting etc). I usually don’t start to write anything down until I feel comfortable with what’s happening with my tastebuds.

Now it’s time for the ‘professional’ tasting. This is when I grab the ISO glass, make sure my palate is as clean as possible, and bring my environment to as neutral setting as possible (that means my recording studio usually). I’ll then apply something similar to the WSET style of tasting. I’ll try to remove as much of my own opinion as possible, focusing on the quality and flavours, and I’ll try to convey them in such a way that most people will understand my meaning. I’m not about extravagant or pretentious tasting notes, I’ll leave that to distillery marketing teams. I want to give you a general idea of what it tastes and smells like and allow you to decide if it’s something you’re interested in or not.

I have a dedicated journal to write down my notes. I find this helps me keep it all in one place and retain some sort of format that I can use to keep the style of my videos fairly consistent. That way, you’ll know what to expect from me when you tune into a review.

At this point, the focus has been the liquid. I won’t have made any effort to look online for information about it (though it is likely I will inherently know something anyway), and I will have largely ignored the box and labels. I do this to try to avoid external factors in my notes. That said, my reviews tend to have an opening section where I explain a little bit about the bottle and distillery, so I will now hit the books and try to find a couple of nuggets of info I can share that some might find interesting. Made up stories don’t interest me, but if there is a point to be made on the marketing, I’ll share it.

It’s here a writer might start to bring everything together and begin crafting their article. Video is a little different, and we all do it in different ways. Years ago, I tried writing scripts, but I’m no good at remembering what to say and it made editing a nightmare. So, my style is very loose and conversational, like I’m just telling a buddy about the bottle down the pub. I use my 1-page notes to remind me of key facts, but the rest flows as naturally as I can muster on the day.

The last part of my videos is dedicated to discussing the ‘value’ of a whisky. Not the price. That’s two very different things. Value can reasonably mean anything to anyone, so this is where my personal perspective comes into play. Am I happy with the price? Would I buy it again? Does the experience and quality match the asking price? You’ll have to make your own mind up, but I’ll do my best to convey my point.
When you watch my videos, you’ll note that I never score a whisky. I have two main reasons for this. The first is, 0-10 scales are very misused. I see websites all the time with comments like “Awful whisky 4/10”. To me 4/10 is just below average, not awful.
The second is doubts about my own consistency. In the 8 years I’ve been reviewing whisky, my tastes have changed and evolved pretty much constantly. If I put a 7/10 against a whisky in 2018, there is no way that can be compared to the same score in 2024. To me, it makes no sense to put an arbitrary number to a product. It’s far better to use words, thoughts and feelings to give an idea about a dram.

And that’s it. Once I’ve stopped recording, I’ll do all the post-production, upload to YouTube and release is on Monday or Thursday. Hopefully people will enjoy it, but if not that’s ok, there’s always another whisky around the corner.”