The Open Pour Method

Neck Pour: First Impressions of the Bottle

First pour off a fresh bottle. I write down one or two things that stood out. First impressions matter and this one stays with me through the whole process. It likely anchors the score to a range, but I've been surprised enough times to know that anything can happen by the time I'm done with a bottle. Just check out my Bulleit Barrel Strength review.

A bottle can taste tight, unbalanced, hot, and/or closed right off the shelf. I've found that a lot of bottles grow on me with time. My palate shifts, trying them side by side with something else changes my perspective, the bottle just opens up with oxidation, or some say the proof drops. If anything, scores tend to go up from here.

Now a lot of people add water to open things up at the start. I might do this from time to time, but overall I like drinking it the way the distillery released it. Once I bring water in, it is so hard to know how much I added so reviewing it off an unknown proof becomes tricky. So I typically just let it hang out on the shelf and wait.

Blind Pour: Label Off

Some time later, after some air has gotten in, I taste it without knowing what it is. No label, no price, no reputation. Just the whiskey in the glass against at least one other thing on my shelf. Usually my wife helps me with this part. This is where I find out if I actually like it or just liked the idea of it. I've been surprised in both directions.

How I Choose the Blind

I pick all the bottles. I try to find something close in proof and category. A 100 proof bourbon goes up against another bourbon in a similar proof range, not a 120 proof rye. Once I've picked the two, my wife pours them without me watching. She's not a whiskey drinker, which makes her the perfect person for the job. I go in without having pre-tasted both to memorize them. It's a simple blind. I usually try to guess which is which anyway, I can't help it, but the point is just to get a side by side comparison without knowing for sure. That's all it needs to be.

If you want to see me blind bottles I didn't choose, check out the blog page and look for posts labeled Truely Blind

Why Blind Tasting Matters

Brand bias is real. A $200 bottle tastes different when you know it's $200. A famous distillery's name changes how your brain processes flavor. A stunning label influences expectation. These biases aren't conscious but they shape your entire experience of a whiskey.

Blind tasting removes these visual and narrative anchors. When you don't know the brand, price, or story, you're left with pure sensory experience. A $30 Buffalo Trace might outshine a $200 limited release. An unknown rye might rival the famous names. That's where blind tasting reveals truth.

At Open Pour, my differentiation is blind tasting. Every review incorporates a blind, every score is honest, and every bottle gets the same fair evaluation regardless of brand prestige or price tag. You wont find any reviews in my main homepage table based on single pours at the bar, though I may put out a blog post.

Open Pour: The Main Review

By the time I'm writing the full review the bottle has been open for a few weeks. I've had it as a regular pour, seen how it changes, and come back to it enough times to know what I actually think. The score comes from here. Not a snapshot but the full picture of what it's like to drink over time. You can follow along with the whole process on the blog. And if you want to know whether it's worth the money, that's in here too.

Frequently Asked Questions