Doing Reviews
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:09 pm
I see new members names appear regularly...........yet, most never post.
There is nothing wrong with this of course, many people prefer to read and remain anonymous. But, when it comes to expressing your opinions about the bourbons you enjoy, or don't enjoy, please take the time to play with us.
My opinions, Mike Veach's, Gary Gillman's, MikeK's, JoeBourbon's and the other reviewer's opinions are only our opinions, with our limitations as tasters and reviewers.
I take some time when I review a whiskey, I smell and smell, and wait and wait, and taste and taste, and take notes, and more notes, and try to identify different aromas...........feeling my way, asking my self, what the hell is that aroma? And, to top it off, I almost always use a 'control' bourbon.......one whose qualities with which I am confortable.......to set a context. I am not good enough to take a bourbon blind and evaluate it, and I won't apologize for that, it is how I work. Take that for what it is worth. I can't always put my finger on a taste or aroma, but I will go out on a limb sometimes.................which explains why I am beginning to do reviews of bourbons I reviewed in the past.
I am pretty good now at identifying things like what I call the 'warmth' of rye, or leather, or citrus aromas, or floral elements. I am not so good, as MikeK is, at finding the dark fruit such as cherries (without MikeK, I don't think I would ever have noticed them).
I respect other reviewers a lot and have learned so much from them. Maybe you have more than you think to say. In my reviews I have my notes before me on the aromas and tastes and the finish, but that is it. What I end up saying, for good or ill, comes at the time I do the reivew. The act of doing the review gives me ideas as I do it..........some bad ideas no doubt, but some good ones too.
I believe that my appreciation of bourbon, and other whiskies, has improved immensely as a result of reading BE reviews and of doing my own reviews and risking the chance of appearing foolish...........I never have to worry about being foolish, it will happen today or tomorrow. Sometimes it bothers me, until my wife and my tendency to float brings me back to center............almost always because I must not take myself too seriously, my sense of humor works best as a defense mechanism!
There is nothing wrong with this of course, many people prefer to read and remain anonymous. But, when it comes to expressing your opinions about the bourbons you enjoy, or don't enjoy, please take the time to play with us.
My opinions, Mike Veach's, Gary Gillman's, MikeK's, JoeBourbon's and the other reviewer's opinions are only our opinions, with our limitations as tasters and reviewers.
I take some time when I review a whiskey, I smell and smell, and wait and wait, and taste and taste, and take notes, and more notes, and try to identify different aromas...........feeling my way, asking my self, what the hell is that aroma? And, to top it off, I almost always use a 'control' bourbon.......one whose qualities with which I am confortable.......to set a context. I am not good enough to take a bourbon blind and evaluate it, and I won't apologize for that, it is how I work. Take that for what it is worth. I can't always put my finger on a taste or aroma, but I will go out on a limb sometimes.................which explains why I am beginning to do reviews of bourbons I reviewed in the past.
I am pretty good now at identifying things like what I call the 'warmth' of rye, or leather, or citrus aromas, or floral elements. I am not so good, as MikeK is, at finding the dark fruit such as cherries (without MikeK, I don't think I would ever have noticed them).
I respect other reviewers a lot and have learned so much from them. Maybe you have more than you think to say. In my reviews I have my notes before me on the aromas and tastes and the finish, but that is it. What I end up saying, for good or ill, comes at the time I do the reivew. The act of doing the review gives me ideas as I do it..........some bad ideas no doubt, but some good ones too.
I believe that my appreciation of bourbon, and other whiskies, has improved immensely as a result of reading BE reviews and of doing my own reviews and risking the chance of appearing foolish...........I never have to worry about being foolish, it will happen today or tomorrow. Sometimes it bothers me, until my wife and my tendency to float brings me back to center............almost always because I must not take myself too seriously, my sense of humor works best as a defense mechanism!