A whiskey score cannot be interpreted reliably without the critic's scale and the identity and context of the bottling being judged.
A score is optional, and shared scales alone do not make tasters calibrated. Useful prose may communicate more than an apparently precise number.
Record the rating key, critic, exact expression or batch and available tasting context before comparing numbers. Different scales may assign different meanings to the same number.
Idea
A whiskey score cannot be interpreted reliably without the critic's scale and the identity and context of the bottling being judged.
Why it matters
Record the rating key, critic, exact expression or batch and available tasting context before comparing numbers. Different scales may assign different meanings to the same number.
Source and reasoning
Dove, chapter 14, pp. 229–238. This is an original synthesis of the contributor's argument, not an experimental finding.
Whiskey and Philosophy — Judgment, tasting language and critic scores
Connection to the existing library
This note develops a specific implication of that existing idea.
Counterpoint
A score is optional, and shared scales alone do not make tasters calibrated. Useful prose may communicate more than an apparently precise number.