Greetings,
Today, I’m announcing the addition of Just the Sip tastings to The Whiskey Ramble. When I began The Whiskey Ramble as Spirit Scoresheets, the intent was to provide visual reviews and tasting notes to give people a quickly understandable overview of whiskeys they might find at the store or online. I initially posted only the scoresheets but soon included written portions, providing additional thoughts if people were more curious about why I graded a certain whiskey favorably or unfavorably. Over time, I’ve leaned into writing longer form reviews to accompany the scoresheets. These are great for stretching my writing chops (which will always need work) and providing people with added context.
However, the challenge with this recent adjustment is that I don’t post as frequently as I’d like to, and my backlog (samples in particular) doesn’t get any smaller. Not to mention, writing a full review based on a two-ounce sample is nothing if not challenging, especially if it’s for something like a barrel pick when I’ve already covered the shelfer variant, and perhaps other picks under the same label. This is where Just the Sip tastings come in.
Although I could just as easily use the existing scoresheet template, post shorter written reviews along with them, and call it a day, I wanted to change things up a bit. The goals I had in mind while coming up with Just the Sip were:
- Create a separate category of reviews/tastings for samples, barrel picks, and other types of pours that may be more difficult to do a full review on
- Make the visuals simpler and easier to create, allowing a more frequent flow of content
- Maintain consistency with the existing scoresheets while having its own distinct appearance
As a result, the Just the Sip scoresheets are quite similar to the existing format, but with a couple of adjustments to the tasting notes and overall appearance. Where the existing scoresheets are more free-flowing with the tasting notes, Just the Sip scoresheets are on the rigid and simplified side. Each aspect of the tasting (nose, palate, and finish) will be limited to four individual tasting notes (vanilla, mint, apple pie, chocolate chip cookies, etc.) and three descriptor notes (warm, light, bright, full, rich, etc.). Bottle information and grades will remain intact so they can fit seamlessly within my ongoing review catalog for people to reference.
Just the Sip tastings will NOT replace the existing scoresheet format. These are additive and meant to help me post more content at a greater frequency. Initial rollout might be slow, but my goal is to start with one of each scoresheet style per week and achieve two or three Just the Sip tastings per week. However, depending on how much progress I make with my backlog (as well as reception to this addition), it may fluctuate.
Cheers!
The Whiskey Ramble 