About Open Pour

About the Reviewer

I'm Noah. I have a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences, which mostly means I'm professionally suspicious of my own conclusions and obsessive about controlling variables. That carries over into how I review whiskey. All reviews on this website are performed by me.

I've been drinking whiskey seriously for about ten years and more deliberately collecting for the past three. I try to expand the selection whenever I travel for work or vacation, hunting bottles in new markets and keeping an eye on what's trending. The category is booming with ingenuity and there's no shortage of things worth trying. I tried using some of the available and free ratings apps to review my collection, but I decided they weren't quite what I wanted so I started Open Pour.

I don't exclusively chase allocated bottles but I don't avoid them either. What I do mind is price. I try not to go more than 15% over MSRP, and when I do it's selective. My local shop, Grizzly Liquor in Missoula, keeps a wide and rotating selection with good prices and I'd rather support that than pay a premium somewhere else. I hear buying online is all the rage these days, but it honestly is too easy to buy and my wallet needs me to be more measured.

Honesty is the whole point. If something is overhyped I'll say so. If a cheap bottle outperforms something twice the price I'll say that too.

How to Use This Site

Start with the Reviews table. Filter by category, proof, price, or score to find something worth opening. Click any whiskey to read the full review and see how it evolved across all three stages.

The Method page has more detail on the process. The Blog is for anything that doesn't fit in a review.

Get in touch

Have a bottle recommendation, a disagreement, or just want to talk whiskey? Email [email protected].