@cascode please set it up. I will pay to attend the Cascode awards.

@Slainte-Mhath It’s difficult to reconcile a wide-cast net that seeks to involve as many people as possible while pushing an agenda of “integrity presentation” with objective blind tasting. To be done perfectly then after the initial nomination phase it would require sending several dozen blind-tasting samples to hundreds if not thousands of people, which is almost impossible. Because the OSWAs are fundamentally a straw-poll of selected nominees, and not a “competition” per se, I don’t know how else one could go about introducing objectivity. The only practical approach would be for individuals to register and pay for the samples to be sent out. Huge logistics, but it would be a fascinating exercise! I’d pay to do something like that as long as the price was commensurate with other virtual tasting events I’ve attended.

@cascode What would you suggest to improve the OSWAs voting process? I get your point, in fact I was struggling with some of the choices as none were on my list for this or that category. There is definitely room for improvement, but I think that Ralfy and Roy will listen to constructive criticism.

@Slainte-Mhath I'm undecided about the OSWAs. The agenda is laudable but I have an issue with the process which is everything but impartial. Awards like the World Whisky Awards are, I believe, based on blind tasting by independent judges. That may not be true of all industry awards, and it does not guarantee impartiality, but at least it's an attempt. The OSWAs are explicitly driven by influencers, and I can't help but wonder how much the public vote represents informed, objective opinions based on experience and how much it simply reflects the preference of peoples' favourite Youtube channels.

@dhsilv2 I guess it is the nature of a public vote that you will not agree with all the picks. Glen Scotia Victoriana certainly surprised me, but I find the whole OSWAs voting process more honest than all these industry double-gold awards where every bottle gets at least a silver, no matter how inferior or sanitized the content is.

Love this distillery...the 10 is awesome

Rather like what this one is. Not a huge fan of that OSWA process...it's kinda a mess. But they got this right in the entry level (overall is kinda a joke). That said it's already showing a huge amount of vaiance. i've had two and they were 3 shades of darkness different.

Check out the OSWAs by ralfy.com and Roy@Aqvavitae which I consider the only whisky awards of real significance. This is not the industry celebrating itself, it's YOUR vote that counts. No marketing BS, just the honest opinion of thousands of whisky enthusiasts worldwide.

First reviewed in 04/2016 (the old 'Stone label'): Being a rather young distillery (ESTḌ 1995), Isle of Arran is already producing some cracking good whisky. The use of high-quality casks, 46% ABV, no chill-filtration and natural color gives you an optimal version of a Single Malt. Unlike other Island whiskies, Arran 10 features an unusual tropical character. On the nose, there are exotic fruits, such as papaya, melon and kiwi. Tasting mildly spicy and almost syrupy, faint hints of oak combine with cinnamon, sweet vanilla and complex fruity notes. It's a characterful dram with a gentle and bittersweet finish. RATING: 3.9/5.0 stars ≙ 86 pts → FIRST-CLASS [-]