About Me
A New Hobby
If someone were to ask me what I thought of alcohol prior to 2016, I would have said that it is something to mark special occasions but otherwise it's just something that people waste money on to escape reality. My choice methods of reality escapism were video games, heavy metal music, and breathing in the licentious fumes generated daily by the front page of the internet. Each of these things were very cost effective and were able to occupy copious amounts of my time. But I reached a point where the amount of uninterrupted free time I had drastically disintegrated.
I found myself reaching a point where I felt that I didn't have enough time to lose myself in video games like I used to. With the loss of MMOs as a staple portion of my day, the window of appropriate time available for listening to music also waned, leaving me with less and less of my two favorite things. While consuming endless content generated by the internet was still occupying what sporadic and unpredictable free time I did have, I still needed something else to sink my teeth into.
While video game playing and listening to music couldn't be sustained in long enough periods of time, I turned to a subsection of the music and game experience. Content research. I found that researching games and music from all over the world, from every sub-genre, quality level, and talent level could do a good enough job occupying what amount of free time I had. As some would say, the thrill of the hunt gave more satisfaction than the kill itself.
"But Krin, whats this have to do with alcohol?"
Well my friend, I learned too quickly that having piles of unconsumed video games and music content in my ever growing backlog was not sustainable. I had to turn to another activity where I could still get the thrill from researching something great, but also consume what I researched in a relatively short window of time. In my case, that also meant that the content consumption sometimes had to overlap with non-leisure activities that were taking up my free time. Enter aged spirits which, in a way, was like distilled time in a bottle that made me feel like I was able to reclaim time that I had lost.
Aged spirits were something that were always interesting to me. The national variations, the production methods, the cultural significance. But I could not divorce the preconceived notions of alcohol that I had. Alcohol was something that was a waste of money that 'party' people bought to get trashed. That is a cultural aspect of alcohol that I wanted nothing to do with. But after watching a few youtube videos by Ralfy - it changed my entire perspective of what alcohol was and how it could be treated. The focus was on quality of experience rather than getting wasted (quantity). His reviews were focused on historical, industrial, and craftorial context. Production methods, market trends, wood type, terroir, and an in depth focus on what was in the glass rather than where it was going. Once I was able to separate the ideas of quality and quantity and focus on quality - I was ready to start a new level of exploration.
The research kicked off, the reviews were read, the rabbit holes were followed. Bourbon led to scotch which led to crying about price and moving to rum which led to brandy. Each category opening up a plethora of new products to buy, reviewer content to sift through, and countries to investigate. This was something I could research, make a purchase, and consume all at different times without nulling the experience. Each event (Research, Purchase, Consume) was a self contained event, easily spreadable over multiple days/months/years and did not require any linearity or continuity that would detract from any singular event. Research something today, buy it 3 months later (when I actually find it), and consume it 6 months later. It fit my free time allocation much better. Even when drinking a dram I could double up taking inquisitive sips with some other non-leisure activity like doing taxes or folding laundry. The birth of a new hobby was born.
My Review Style, a 5th Generation Reviewer
I consider myself a 5th generation reviewer. In the old days reviews were written in magazines and books, discussed on TV and radio, or given in person. Then with the invention of the internet you get a second generation of reviewers chronicling things electronically in forum posts, a few dedicated websites sites, and a few youtube channels. Then you get the third level of really informed consumer-reviewers who take reviews to a whole new level with a young internet full of product reviews at their fingertips. A fourth level of reviewer takes over and starts building communities from the reviews and popular consumer sentiment starts to solidify ideas of the 'best of the best' products. However, when you get to a 5th generation reviewer, something else starts to happen.
The reviews start to get skewed. In present day, someone can read 20 different reviews of the same product from several different sources and make a pretty good guess as to whether or not its worth buying. When the high scores line up from multiple people of different tastes and biases - you get higher confidence in your purchase. It also means rank hunting for the best of the best starts occurring and people bypass the lower-to-medium ranked stuff that earlier reviewers had to get through to find the real 'gems'. When all someone knows is drinking the highest quality spirits, the 'good' scores become 'meh', the 'great' scores become 'good', and the 'outstanding' becomes 'great'. This is the world I find myself in with an entire internet trove of information at my fingertips.
As a result, my reviews will be skewed. A product that multiple reviewers average a rank of 85 for might become a minimum threshold for purchase for me and could rank in the high 70s or the low 80s in my scale. I have limited time and money so my focus will be at the higher end of the scale with careful note taken for products with exceptional value for money ratios. As such, the cost of a given product will be added as a factor into my reviews as price is very important to me. I do not do many sample reviews, as of now, so the majority of my purchases are full bottles. As a result I will not be reviewing many unicorn bottles or expensive independent bottler products unless they are well priced and available. But before you speed off to read my skewed reviews, there is one last thing you must know about me...
My palate is below average. I find that often only extremes appeal to me and have a very hard time picking things out of well blended products. In foods I typically look for the very sour, the very sweet or the very salty. Without a significantly amplified factor in an experience, I don't get much anything at all. I prefer things that do one thing and one thing well. Additionally, I try to only put notes in my reviews that I am actually getting or that the note reminds me of and I try to use language that distinguishes between those two different aspects (I taste vs I think I taste). I also try to quantify the notes I get (small, medium, large amount etc) to clarify the experience I am having because I feel it adds more value to the reader. It is the reader that I want to inform so they can make a better purchase decision and share with them what knowledge I have about getting the best experience out of the product.
Disclosures & Disclaimers:
- I am not paid by any companies for the specific products or brands I review.
- I do not perform any services for organizations related to the production, supply or marketing for the products I review or their channel partners (including retail stores).
- This statement will be 'canaried' or amended if organizations begin to send me samples for review as that could be considered a quid pro quo service arrangement.
- I have no membership or employment in, or provide services to, any spirits industry group or legislative influencing body.
- I have no immediate family members or close relatives that fall under any of the above points.
- My opinions are my own and are not influenced by third party sources, other than perhaps other independent reviewers.
- If I do not receive a bottle through my own purchasing, I will disclose how the bottle/sample was obtained.
- I do my best to only put factual information on the site. If there is an error, please contact me to get it corrected.
- I am not responsible for any injuries or damages incurred during the usage of this site including throwing your phone at random bystanders because the UI won't let you search properly.
- Also some additional legal stuff:
WEBSITE DISCLAIMER
The information provided by https://wellrestedspirits.blogspot.com/ (“we,” “us” or “our”) on https://wellrestedspirits.blogspot.com/ (the “Site”) and our mobile application and our mobile application or our mobile application OR OUR MOBILE APPLICATION AND OUR MOBILE APPLICATION AND OUR MOBILE APPLICATION AND OUR MOBILE APPLICATION
The Site
TESTIMONIALS DISCLAIMER
The Site contains testimonials by users of products and/or services. These testimonials reflect the real-life experiences and opinions of such users. However, the experiences are personal to those particular users, and may not necessarily be representative of all users of the products and/or services. We do not claim, and you should not assume, that all users will have the same experiences. YOUR INDIVIDUAL RESULTS MAY VARY.
The testimonials on the Site are submitted in various forms such as text, audio and/or video, and are reviewed by us before being posted. They appear on the Site verbatim as given by the users, except for the correction of grammar or typing errors.
The views and opinions contained in the testimonials belong solely to the individual user and only reflect the views and opinions of the user.
This disclaimer was created using Termly’s Disclaimer Generator.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.