Tips & Rules

This is our 9th year doing this calendar, and each year, we make a few changes based on your feedback. In other words, please be sure to familiarize yourself with the rules, as they may have changed since your last participation. As always, please don't take them too seriously.

Here are a couple of reminders of the site that you may have missed in prior years:

  • Leagues: Private league tag for users in similar groups. If you'd like to be added to a league or request one to be created, email me.
  • Sharing a calendar?: If your spouse/partner wants to participate, have them sign up on the homepage and I'll approve them. If they participated last year, they should already have an account set up. Just email me if you're not sure.

And here is a sampling of new features you'll see on the website this year:

  • Whiskey Pickers: Have you ever wondered who the people are that choose the whiskeys each year? Wonder no more.
  • Expanded Search: Now you can search for specific whiskeys, user comments and whiskey write-ups.
  • Threaded Comments: Adding emoji reactions last year was a hit, but many of you wanted to be able to comment on other people's notes instead of just reacting. We've built that in for this year, so comment away. The snarkier the better.
  • Personal History: A new personal rating page has been added to your profile to view your entire rating history, tracking all of your previous tastings since you've participated.

Read on to learn more, but pay the most attention to the Scoring section.

Tasting Tips

  • Look at the whiskey. Gently roll the whiskey around in the glass once or twice (not too much). The color and how the whiskey runs down the sides of the glass are great clues to what you'll be enjoying.
  • Smelling is key. Don't skip the nose! As weird as it feels, opening your mouth and breathing in with both your nose and mouth gives a bigger blast.
  • Before adding water or ice, take a couple of small sips neat, then try adding a touch of water or ice to see how the flavor changes. The key is to add a dash or two until you no longer notice a harsh alcohol burn. Wait a few minutes for the water to do its molecular work. Five to ten minutes is the perfect amount of time to open up all the hidden aromas and flavors.
  • Have a whiskey you know alongside each day's bottle (usually Wild Turkey 101 for me if I think it's Bourbon) as a benchmark. It really helps you identify the differences while you’re tasting blind. I suggest going with a medium—to low-proof benchmark whiskey.
  • Drink half of the sample bottle and then fill out that day's form to find out what you're drinking and enjoy the rest with a few tasting notes. Some have saved about half of each day's bottle and go through the whole calendar again later the following year.
  • Don't forget the finish. If you haven't heard of the Kentucky Chew, it's worth a try. Take a small sip, then roll the whiskey around in your mouth and “chew” on it. This allows the whiskey to reach all the mouth's surfaces, which pick up different flavors.
  • If you get behind, well...don't. If you need to catch up, the site will limit you to 4 tastings per day. A couple of years ago, we had a guy drink eight in one day (including a $133 whiskey) and said he couldn't remember anything after the third one. Take your time and enjoy each whiff and sip.

The Lineup

  • Bourbon / Tennessee
  • Irish
  • Japanese
  • Rye / Canadian
  • Scotch
  • Other

Like most years, bourbon is the heavyweight here, but it makes up less than half the total lineup. Each of the whiskey types above is included in the calendar at least once. Don't overthink it. If you'd like to check out a summary of last year's selection, click here.

Scoring

On the rating form, you'll guess which type of whiskey you're drinking AND what the proof of each is. Each day, you can score up to 6 points. Here's how it'll work:

Whiskey Type: Each correct guess will be worth 3 points. If you get it wrong, you get 0 points.

Proof Guess: These are worth 1, 2, or 3 points depending on how close your guess is to the actual proof.

+/- 7 is worth 1 point
+/- 4 is worth 2 points
+/- 1 is worth 3 points

Example 1: The whiskey you're tasting is 90 proof Scotch. On your rating form, you correctly guess that it's a Scotch (worth 3 points), and guess that the proof is 87 (worth 2 points since the difference between your guess and the actual is 3). Your total for the day would be 5 points.

Example 2: Same whiskey as above. On your rating form, you guess that it's an Irish whiskey (worth 0 points), and guess that the proof is 91 (worth 3 points since the difference between your guess and the actual is 1). Your total for the day would be 3 points.

Prizes

The top 5 scores will receive $100, $50 and $25, $15 and $10 off next year's calendar. The top 3 scorers will also get to make a selection in next year's calendar.

NEW THIS YEAR - The People's Choice Award: We are introducing a prize for the most engaging participant. This prize requires little to no knowledge of whiskey, but leans on those whose comments/tasting notes receive the most emoji reactions and replies throughout the advent month. The prize for this is TBD, but glory is guaranteed.

To be eligible for the prizes, the cutoff for all ratings is December 25 before midnight.

Some Stats

The average bottle in this year's calendar is $84 (vs. $76 in 2024 and $68 in 2023), which is mostly due to the increase in quality in this year's calendar, though prices of American whiskey have risen less than inflation with declining demand.

As for the total price range, our cheapest bottle is $16 (vs. $24 in 2024 and $18 in 2023), and our most expensive is $214 (vs. $161 in 2024 and $118 in 2023)*.

The group tends to grade Scotches pretty hard and give bourbons a few bonus points (though we now have a fancy graph to prove it). I get it. I'm a sucker for the sweet stuff too. Over the years, our average score for bourbon is 6.46 while our average score for Scotch is 5.70. Let's play nice everyone. Bourbon wouldn't be here without Scotch.

* Higher price does not necessarily mean higher quality.

Rating Guidelines

You might struggle with how to score the first few because you don't have anything to compare it to. To help with this, Day 1 (December 1) will be last year’s winner (Mystic Broken Oak, 100 proof). You can still rate it as you normally would, but that should give you a way to calibrate your ratings before the current year lineup starts on December 2. There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Add your comments and rate with your gut.

You can rate each whiskey to the TENTH of a point (ex. 7.2 vs. 7). This should give us better average score data and give you a little more peace when you're not quite sure what to choose.

  1. Awful. So bad I poured it out.
  2. Bad. Multiple flaws.
  3. Poor. I wouldn't consume by choice.
  4. Sub-par, but drinkable.
  5. Good. Would drink neat, but wouldn't feel bad mixing it in a cocktail either.
  6. Very Good. A cut above. Would buy this one.
  7. Great. Well above average.
  8. Incredible. One of your favorites.
  9. Excellent. Really quite exceptional.
  10. Amazing! One for the record books.

Who are these people?

This whole thing came about from a cigar club I started in 2004 called The High Rollers. I know it's not the most creative name, but it was ironic at the time and arguably still is. Anyway, each member from that group has submitted 2 whiskeys to be included in the calendar. We also have a few calendar alumni who finished near the top of last year’s calendar. You may notice some cheesy nicknames on the whiskey reveal page and the leaderboard, but just know they're actual people that I know and are a pretty good representation of the rest of the whiskey participants. Like all of us, some are very knowledgeable about the whiskey world, and others...are not.

Final Thoughts

Please keep up as best you can. It's been a turbulent few years and nothing helps more than a nightcap.