What do you like to see in a whisky review?

@Frost agree on all points. And also like when the reviews expression is available! Fun to read sometimes about something unusual but annoying to read a mouth watering review, only to find its been discontinued 5 years earlier...

@RikS I find Serge at WhiskyFun is often in this neighbourhood. Highland Park 34 year old single Cask, bottled in 1978 for some obscure whisky shop in Lichtenstein by an independent bottler who went out of business in 1986. I mean, sure it’s interesting, but nobody will ever see that whisky, let alone taste it.

@OdysseusUnbound I must agree with you. To me, the saving grace is the fact that our tastebuds seem quite aligned, and the website also includes tasting notes on most of the 'standard' expressions, among the obscure ones. In fact, what puzzles me with Whiskyfun is - where does he get it all from?? I mean, Serge posts every day, and as you say every post seems to include some 3-5 expressions including the most aged and obscure independent bottlings etc. Is he some form of multi-billionaire who spends all his time and money getting exotic drams and writing about it?

@RikS Maybe. He’s like Bruce Wayne, but not muscular or good-looking enough to be Batman, so he’s become Malt Man.

As a few others have already mentioned, I think my number one wish for any whisky review is a comparison to one or more other whiskies.

I find that infinitely more useful than a list of the flavours the reviewer detected. Partly because I am very bad at discovering individual flavours compared to what many people here are able to, and partly because sometimes flavours listed just don't make sense to me.

Additionally, I'm always interested to read some background information about the whisky and/or distillery. Be that mashbills, some neat background info on the release, or whatever may be interesting about that whisky.

@RikS I hardly ever check out Serge's reviews anymore since he stopped doing the music links. I could relate to the music much more than to the obscure, esoteric whiskies he was reviewing.

@BlueNote, I'm not a musician, I could never relate to Serge....I'd rather make up my own mind.