About

This blog aims to help people make sense of the world of whisky. As I started taking an interesting the “water of life” – and Scotch whisky in particular – I realized just how daunting it can be for a newcomer to figure out what’s going on.

What I’m usually looking for before I fork over the money for a new bottle is some basic information about the distillery and the bottling to inform my decision. What’s the whisky taste like? What kind of track record does the distillery have? Is it independent or part of a conglomerate? Has the whisky changed its approach in recent years? Does it hew to a time honored tradition or does it take a novel approach? How have whisky critics and bloggers responded to it?

Those concerns guide the reviews on this site, which might better be called “profiles” (hence “WhiskyFile”). I’m a journalist by vocation (I cover politics, not whisky), so I’ve naturally emphasized information here, but I also periodically weigh in myself. Each review contains a bit of background information on the distillery, how the bottling fits within the distillery’s range, tasting notes, critical reception, and my own personal evaluation. I might have called it “Whiskypedia,” except there’s already a fine book by Charles McLean with that name.

In addition to reviews, here you’ll find periodic news updates, links to whisky information resources, and some other whisky minutia. Enjoy!