Don’t judge a book by its cover. This famous adage is so often verified, in the normal life as well as in whisky. This metaphorical phrase means one should not judge the worth or value of something by its outward appearance alone. For a bottle of whisky, because well, that’s the only thing that matters in this humble blog, the outward appearance can be many things. The colour of the liquid, the packaging, the label, the shape of the bottle, its embossing, or the label’s embossing. And in a way, even the name and the price. All these elements can influence your opinion about a whisky before having even nosed it and had any drop pass your lips. Whisky makers, be it distilleries, bottlers, blenders, all know that, and for many of them, the marketing departments run full steam in order to find the perfect combination. They hope that the untrained whisky drinker might judge positively a bottle he or she is yet to try, and then loosens the purse strings in order to acquire this bottle. If the bottle is beautiful, or its label, it might be good whisky, right? And that deep dark colour must mean it’s old or heavily sherried, right? Or a nice looking bottle, with a wooden box or any other expensive looking packaging might lead you to expect something as premium inside the bottle as it looks on the outside. Why am I talking about this? Well, read my review of this Glenfarclas 1971 All Malt Unblended and you’ll know.
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