1. Though I intend for this site to be a journal of my experiences with the subject matter, I recognize that my reviews may be used as a buying guide. Before you run off and buy a whisky I've rated 90+, please make sure that your palate parallels mine. We have different mouths and noses and nerve endings, thus what’s lovely to me may be ugly to you, so please be sure to review the notes and commentary rather than just looking at the rating. Whisky has gotten very expensive, so please be an informed, judicious consumer.
2. As I state on the The Big Whisky List page, “it's extremely ridiculous for a person to assign a grade to something as ethereal and complex as whisky. But I'm extremely ridiculous.” (For a short guide to how my ratings work, click here.) There will be instances wherein the sample size will be too small or the tasting environment might influence my experience too much. For these reviews, I will use a less specific letter grade range.
3. 98+% of the whiskies reviewed on this site were paid for by me or obtained through swaps with or gifts from fellow anoraks. I will always state how I obtained the sample or bottle being reviewed, but if I forget to then please remind me. I have also paid for all events and tours I have attended, if I am ever comped for one of these I will disclose that information at the beginning of the related post.
4. Though I will accept review samples, I have not actively sought them out. To companies that wish to send me a sample, please contact me via email (divingforpearlsblog at gmail.com). And as a note to those companies, I am not a reviewer who thinks everything is amazing. I will always be honest, even if my review results in an end to further freebies.
5. Feel free to comment on the posts! But when you do, don't be a scrotalsore.
6. Though the intent is to keep this site commercial-free as long as possible, ads may show up on this site depending on the whim of the blogger, and do not necessarily violate his communist leanings.
7. This declaration will be amended as new principles avail themselves.