Notes & Scoring Systems

Why Memory Alone Isn't Enough

Smells fade from memory faster than you'd think. What feels crystal clear during the tasting, like "ripe pear with a hint of smoke", often becomes vague within a week. What's left is usually little more than a "it was decent" or "not really my thing." This isn't down to a bad nose. Olfactory impressions simply fade especially quickly if you don't put them into words and record them.

A short note taken right during the tasting is enough to stop this loss. You don't need to write polished, publishable sentences—a few keywords on the nose, palate, and finish are perfectly sufficient.

What Belongs in a Good Tasting Note

A useful note usually follows the same structure as the tasting itself. Start with the color in one or two words, then the key impressions on the nose. Next comes what the palate reveals, and finally the length and character of the finish. Also note whether you added water and how it changed the impression. This will later explain why two notes on the same whisky might differ.

Also jot down a brief overall impression: would you buy this whisky again, who would you recommend it to, what does it remind you of. This final, personal line is often the one that helps you most later on.

Scoring Systems: Helpful, But Just a Tool

Many tasters add a score to their notes to help sort whiskies more quickly later on. Hundred-point scales, borrowed from wine criticism and adopted by some well-known whisky books, are widely used. Equally common are simpler systems using five stars or school grades. None of these systems is objectively correct. They're all just an attempt to compress a complex impression into a single, comparable number.

More important than the scale itself is using it consistently. An 85 from you should mean roughly the same thing a year from now as it does today, otherwise comparing old and new notes becomes worthless.

A System of Your Own That You'll Actually Use

Use whatever scoring system you'll actually maintain, whether that's a small notebook, a notes app on your phone, or a simple spreadsheet. What matters is that every tasting runs through the same categories. This way, you can genuinely compare whiskies across months and years, instead of relying on a faded memory.

Over time, this collection becomes more than just a list of numbers. It reveals which flavors you truly enjoy and which casks and regions consistently score well with you. This will gradually make you a far more confident taster, no formal training required.

Short Notes Are Enough, As Long As You Actually Write Them

Three lines are often enough. Color, one word for the nose, one word for the palate, one word for the finish, done. You don't need more than that to find your way back to the moment of tasting later on. What matters is the habit, not the length.

Feel free to snap a photo of the label with your phone while you're at it. That saves you from typing out the name, age, and cask strength by hand, while your note still stays complete. Pair both things, photo and note, on the same evening, otherwise they can easily get mixed up later.

Every now and then, flip back through old notes instead of only writing new ones. This shows you how your taste has evolved over time, turning a simple list into a small personal story.