The Scoring System

I use the T8ke scale. A 1 to 10 system I borrowed because the whole number tiers actually mean something distinct. On a lot of scales, good, great, and incredible all end up clustered between 9.0 and 9.5. Here a 7 is great, an 8 is excellent, and a 9 is incredible and those are genuinely different bottles. On this scale anything above a 5 is good, the higher the better, but don't expect a lot of 9s or even 8s.

Total scores are not an average of individual scores, but they do anchor the scoring to a range.

I also score value separately because price matters. A bottle can be a genuinely good whiskey and still not be worth what they're asking for it. The value score is my honest take on whether it's worth your money. Again, anything 5 or up is worth the money.

Both scores are in every review.

Quality
Value
10
Perfect Perfect.
Steal Exceptional value; far better quality/experience than price suggests.
9
Incredible An all time favorite.
Excellent Value Significantly better than you'd expect for the price.
8
Excellent Really quite exceptional.
Very Good Value Worth the money; you get more than you pay for.
7
Great Well above average.
Good Value Fair deal; quality justifies the cost.
6
Very Good A cut above.
Fair Value Reasonable; you're not overpaying, but not saving either.
5
Good Good, just fine.
Baseline Value Average for the price.
4
Sub-par Not bad, but better exists.
Poor Value Overpriced relative to quality.
3
Bad Multiple flaws.
Bad Value Hard to justify the cost.
2
Poor I wouldn't consume by choice.
Terrible Value Significantly overpriced.
1
Disgusting So bad I poured it out.
Rip-off Never worth buying.