On Criticism in Beer Writing

Last week I published a critical review of a whisky from Irish distillery Waterford Whisky. Admittedly I don’t have much skin in the game when it comes to whisky, but enough so that they saw fit to send me a bottle. One that made me think, and thus stimulated what was, for me, a useful exercise in critical writing. Other than a couple of DMs, the review didn’t prompt much of a reaction. That’s likely because in whisky writing—as much as you’d expect in restaurant or wine writing—a certain level of fair criticism is expected. In fact I’d go as far as to say it’s encouraged. When people read the work of, for example, Grace Dent, Jay Rayner or Jonathan Nunn, they anticipate and appreciate fair critique. In part this is because seeing a restaurant get panned by a top writer can be very enjoyable. But it’s also because there’s a certain level of trust between the reader and the writer, and well placed criticism adds weight when a writer of such standing does decide to give praise to somethi

by Matthew Curtis · source ↗