Useful for whiskey education and sensory-note design. The touchstone is a personal calibration device, not an objective category standard.
Maloney's training method uses comparative tasting to build category knowledge for bourbon, rye, and other spirits.
The source recommends choosing a category touchstone, describing new spirits relative to known examples rather than as simple better-or-worse rankings, keeping a tasting journal, and revisiting earlier notes as the taster's palate changes.
PDF sheet 43
PDF sheet 42
Balance — Understanding booze
Checked against extracted text and rendered PDF sheets 42–43 during the complete sequential review on 2026-08-27.
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