Reviews

 Reviews

By Brand
All ↓Alpha
All ↑Taste
All ↑Value
Events

About

 About

Whisky
About PW
Stats

Tops

History

My 2¢

Reports

Links

Version History

• [079]4.7.2
  » Added a catch to handle errors when displaying reviews that don't exist (aren't linked)
• [078]4.7.1
  » Fixed a problem in the multi-review code where it wasn't limiting by dates. Sorry, got to hide future stuff from you :)
  » Updates to my sanity-check report, which located a few data issues and one minor bug in the history logic. Now fixed.
• [077]4.7.0: Rain Coat
  » Put availability flags on the review page.
  » Some code breakout and centralization, reducing file size
  » New Admin Report
• [076]4.6.1
  » Minor updates to the bottler code.
  » Fixed some duplicate report items, nothing obvious
  » New Report
• [075]4.6.0: Rain Dance
  » Added the REPORTS page, moved the hadlist to it and added the history / retaste report.
  » Added link indicators to reviews.
  » Minor updates to the region tracking code.
  » Minor CSS picture border fix.
• [074]4.5.3
  » Fixed a glitch in the updating system that prevented me from removing data from fields. Yay.
• [073]4.5.2
  » Fixed several spelling, phrasing and code issues. Nothing huge.
  » Added the "HAD LIST", which is mostly so I can easily print a list of whiskies in the DB.
• [072]4.5.1
  » Fixed dozens of dead links and missing images. Old stuff, mostly early history page updates but it needed to be done. Took so long that I was tempted to make this a new build.
• [071]4.5.0: Pole Dance
  » Setup the history code so that it displays the most recent review direcly on the index page. This way the latest review isn't buried where you have to go looking for it.
  » Fixed some admin pages to be a bit more useful. Considering tying some things together to make things easier that you'll never see and I'm sure you don't care about. :)
  » Minor change to the tasting header to identify the tasting number after the date, changed the hash to "T-" to avoid any potential confusion.
• [070]4.4.0: North Pole
  » Updated some of the review fields so they don't appear if there's no data to show.
  » Unfixed some script placement. Seems JS doesn't always fully work if you load it last.
  » Added proper linking to the event inline images in reviews so they properly connect, then made the sub-menu automatically generate.
  » Visual improvement to the boxes on the brand list page.
  » Moved the LED images back to the pay server so they'll load directly.
  » Minor legaleze update
• [069]4.3.0: North Star
  » Fixed table sorting... sort of. Table sorting is now captured by the URL and causes a page reload, which I don't like but it works. The DOM model I used before was a giant pain to implement but worked well. This is easy to implement and works fairly well but adds overhead, but it works and that's the big thing.
  » Discovered that adblock slows down image loading because the images are on another sever or because it doesn't like something or I don't know. Not my fault, but now my problem. Some adjustements made to hopefully reduce this issue.
• [068]4.2.2
  » Spiellng errorz on a fwe pgaes.
  » A few minor CSS classes were missing from the new file, I doubt anyone would have noticed.
  » Updated the front page to reflect the new MW schedule.
  » Speed changes: moved all the JS so it loads last.
  » Updated some DB to fix a date & sort issue. Very minor.
• [067]4.2.1
  » Fixed a few tables on the 2 cents page.
  » Adjusted the Tops page, adjusted score lists are now sorted by adjusted score then score.
  » Fixed a minor bug with the LED in IE.
• [066]4.2.0: Dog Star
  4.2 turned out to be an even bigger shift than 4.0, mostly because of all the database movement and elimination of javascript. This is what I wanted 4.0.0 to be, but I needed to get stable on the new server before trying to rewrite everything.
  Major Changes
  » Moved all whisky/history/review data from JScript to a database. Lotsa work, but I'm quite happy with it thus far.
  » Moved the adjusted score calculation to the database, and revamped it. This makes it possible to do sorting and mods dynamically.
  » Updated reviews during the code migration such that each review is a seperate event, allowing any number of reviews for a whisky. I've had to duplicate the score in the whisky data for the score that will stick (usually the last, but I don't want to lock that in). This restructures the review pages a bit, plus I duplicated the navbar at the bottom and reorganized slightly.
  » Moved review, history and whisky management code from JS to PHP.
  » Cleaned out all the chaff in the css and script files.
  » Reverted from XHTML to HTML 4.01. There were zero appreciable benefits to going to XHTML and a ton of headaches.
  Minor Changes
  » Eliminated the old key system (xxx_yyz) to a number system. This simplifies a lot of stuff, although it means I have to replace all the old links and look up numbers from now on. I used to have to look up all the codes anyway, so it's hardly a big change on that end.
  » Moved all the bottle images to the old server to save money. The old server was included with my cable bill, the new one has server side code options. So I'm using both.
  » Moved admin to secure directory and rebuilt it into a live PHP->DB system.
  » Fixed a longstanding interface issue on history, the leftmost icon suggested it was a link and wasn't.
  » Moved the LED widget to PHP
  » Moved the random/practical widgets to PHP and minimized the code to a single query. Also removed the random review text, too much extra data.
  » Added the ON DECK widget, some minor code to get the image to show up as I wanted.
  » Fixed some hover boxes so they don't float off screen
  » Tweaked the 4.1.1 issue w/ subnavs.
  » Updated all the ABOUT pages to reflect the most recent system.
  » Updated my glassware list and notes.
  » Fixed several submenus.
  Trivial Changes
  » Fixed minor issues in the system and db code, these have been system bugs that users didn't see, should improve speed.
  » Updated some CSS for countries.
  » Made the link colors less drastic and altered the underline appearance and effect.
  » Legaleze tweak.
• [065]4.1.1
  » Fixed some text replacement code that I swear used to work correctly. Whatever, it works now...
  » Fixed a CSS/z-index error with subnavs and the main nav bar. Reverted to HIDING stuff. Yeesh.
• [064]4.1.0: Dog Days
  » Added a nice price vs quality graph on the stats page.
  » Fixed a minor link problem on the stats page (html -> php)
• [063]4.0.1
  » Fixed some Internet Explorer incompatabilities (long rant could go here, but I'll leave it... breathe deeply...), notably JS regex (which is moving to PHP and should work better) and some CSS overlapping issues. None of this was wrong in structure or syntax, all of it worked in FF, but... that's coding for the web. I suppose. Grr.
  » Fixed, then altered+improved the Menu open/close system to compensate for some JS timing issues. Avoiding multiple close nav commands that were raising minor errors.
  » Fixed a few tiny graphics issues.
• [062]4.0.0: Happy Days
  Major Changes
  » Registered and implemented www.practicalwhisky.net, hopefully this will get me more links and visitors.
  » Moved the site to a new host. This was mostly to get scripting and DB access, plus they registered domains cheap. I'm going to consider keeping the pics on the old server, just to save on bandwidth transfers.
  » Started work on SQL back end. This will be a major bit of effort, so it is on hold for 4.1 (or 5.0, who knows) but there's progress.
  » Header and Main Menu: Logic in PHP instead of JS. Removed old scripts, tweaked and improved functions (current page sub menu) and boosted load time.
  » Recoded the submenu so that the drop menus appear even on the page ref'd by that menu (so reviews now has the review submenu)
  Minor Changes
  » Footer is now in PHP, there isn't any real code, but there might be at some point.
  » Submenu: Improved JS so it doesn't loop through nonexistent menus and shouldn't reclose menus after they are closed.
  » Search results now seperate name from description, so searching for "Macallan" will put the distillery hits first and the "this tasts sort of like a Macallan" in the lower block. I'm considering whether or not to exclude name hits from the description block, but I don't know that the extra code is worth much in terms of added usability.
  » Folder restructure → mostly to remove old files and organize.
  » Reviews will eventually be independent, with the last score holding. This will allow me to track old score changes and have more than 2 reviews per whisky. This will go in under the DB shift, but there have been changes put in place.
  » Restructured the CSS to drop the table layouts on the index page, hope it works for you IE guys.
  » Cleaned up and added some content to the about pages.
  » Updated links code to split it into columns for space.
  » Finally coded a standardized drink linkification system and implemented it in a few spots.
  Trivial Changes
  » Updated the legaleze page. Expanded the index information. Fixed some spelling and phrasing issues.
  » Spacing improvements on LED on index
  » Updated a number of graphics to look better. Removed some legacy graphics and reduced some in file size.
  » Added the footer to a few pages.
• [061] 3.8.1
  » Updated the linking code to include periods and moved it to a central location (page_elements).
• [060] 3.8.0 Happy Feet
  » Expanded the stat page, updated the menu bar and added a few admin code expanders to the system. Nobody will ever notice.
  » Minor IE tweaks. I haven't done this in a while so I'm surprised at how well it all seemed to work. What stuff was off-key was minor.
  » Removed Regional data from all blends. Only Single Grain and Straights should have any regional info.
  » Added a distillery/brand list page to the Review drop down. Should make finding things easier w/o loading the full list.
• [059] 3.7.1
  » Fixed some alt link tags and cleaned up a bit of the navigation code.
• [058] 3.7.0: Pig's Feet
  » Built a stats page and added it to the menu bar. This led to some improvements in other code and purty graphics.
  » This is leading me to think about breaking the about page up into whisky vs. site data. Maybe. Maybe.
• [057] 3.6.0: Pig skin
  » Lots of little changes, finish work/cleanup on some of the 3.5.X updates.
  » Big visual change to the way AKA's appear on tables. They should be obviously different: smaller font and different background, and will no longer be counted in the # field.
  » Altered the data structure of the review system. Moved everything to the new layout and did some cleaning.
• [056] 3.5.4
  » Changed OB/IB so blends don't bother with it.
• [055] 3.5.3
  » Bug in the history code. Fixed it.
• [054] 3.5.2
  » Code fixes in the new admin/build pages. Added a few more functions and altered the layout of the admin page.
• [053] 3.5.1
  » Code fixes in the view layout, altered the regional locking.
  » Separated "Bourbon" from "Straight Bourbon" and altered the image sets. Found an imposter lurking amidst the Bourbon! (Early Times)
• [052] 3.5.0: Lambskin
  » Added bottler, as in OB (official) versus Chieftains or G&M or Duncan Taylor. Added this to the table system. It isn't really worth sorting, but the table handles it.
  » Expanded the edit tool to allow for quite a bit of automation. Maybe I'll build a javascript database tool out of all of this.
• [051] 3.4.0: Lamb's Wool
  » Built an edit tool, which doesn't actually save directly (this is JS after all) but still gives me spell check, required field check and some basic automation. The tool works for both history and reviews, so it should (should!) give me some semblance of quality control.
• [050] 3.3.0: Steel Wool
  » Heaven Hill's inability to follow the one product per label idea that every other whisky adheres to has finally affected my code. I had three different versions of Heaven Hill 80 proof on my buy list (Evan Williams Green, Colonel's Pride and Aristocrat) and I refuse to buy 3 bottles of the same stuff to review each. Bad form, HH. SO, I've added an AKA option to list the known variants. I may add a 2 cents page on this if I can find some real info on this nonsense. The code actually took some work, and any addition = a new release so welcome to 3.3!
  » Fixed minor end anchor on table.
• [049] 3.2.1
  » Fixed NZ text formatting. For the only NZ whisky I have :)
  » Updated to full date formatting on big reviews
  » Added tastings to the index LED counter
• [048]3.2.0: Wrought Steel
  » The big code cleanup continues
  » Updated history and review code to update some data automatically to save me time posting new data. Here's an easter egg: if you know javascript you can find and read reviews a day or two early. Zing!
  » Renumbered and reordered the original set of reviews. The old (Pre Sept 2006) data was in an alternate order and the redo of specific tasting dates inspired me to put the tastings in real order. This led to some cleanup and modification, which led to some minor code fixing. Yay.
• [047] 3.1.2
  » Tweak to the availability value, updated several items.
  » Fixed CSS bug in top menu.
• [046] 3.1.1
  » Changed the history page to a pure text system to allow for search results to find it. This will reduce the overall history data file and speed up (hopefully) history functions.
• [045] 3.1.0: Wrought Iron
  » Added the Data col back into the code. It will probably only show up on certain pages. The "availability" option will show up there as that data is added.
  » Tweaked some of the "unreviewed" code, which is even less obvious since it only shows up on my local system when I add new bottles that I've yet to review or yet to transcribe handwritten stuff. I only include this here to remind myself to look for impact elsewhere and to consider adding a "next to be reviewed" option to revive some of the old On Deck stuff.
  » Minor css/formatting fixes.
• [044] 3.0.2
  » Fixed the original review submenu to work with the redesigned table system.
  » Full script cleanup, meaning I looked to see what wasn't ever being used and culled it out for space purposes.
  » Layout tweak/fix in tables. I'm guessing nobody will notice either way, but the border collapse wasn't being set right in one col.
  » A few more link fixes. Minor hardcoded links on the two cents and about pages
  » I'm considering adding "availability" to diff between a commonly available bottle, a hard to find bottle and an out-of-produciton bottle. Mmmm.
  » Hey, floppy disk list icons! They make me happy.
• [043] 3.0.1
  » The ubiquitous bug patch. Some minor link confusion in the new page structure. I think I've fixed everything.
  » Stats page has been eliminated. It was only vaguely interesting and the link didn't work anymore.
• [042] 3.0.0: Iron
  » The table system has been completely rewritten to use a single build system. This includes sort (ascending and descending) and structure so that all tables should look and act the same. This is all dynamic and client-side, so the page doesn't have to reload to sort the table, which makes it faster and (IMHO) better. I'm going to version 3 on this because it was a major bit of programming in an area that I wasn't completely up on.
  » Converted region declarations so I can use nulls for whiskies with no regional value instead of the current region=country system. Space and simplicity win.
  » As part of the new table system all reviews have been moved off the big list page. There are reasons for this that are too roundabout and esoteric to go in to. If you don't pay attention and nothing breaks you'll never notice anyway.
  » The new table system broke the submenu code, which was only being used on the REVIEWS link, so I'm not too upset. I'll get rebuilt in some future 3.x release.
  » Iron has an atomic number of 26, this is the 26th major release of the code. I think. Or 25. Oh well, it's keeping the name.
• [041] 2.8.0: Manganese
  » Tons of changes in the back end that (hopefully) no one will notice in an attempt to move forward with the next major version.
  » Updated the search tool to not ignore certain fields.
• [040] 2.7.0: Chromium
  »History items now link to subpages via a new history array item so readers don't have to follow the links in the text.
• [039] 2.6.4
  »Added an age header to the standard table of reviews, reversed and pushing NAS to the bottom.
  »Still working on 3.0.0 The basic DOM and JS table creation/sorting has been figured out, but not debugged.
  »I've also been looking at blog sites, but none seem to have the features I'd absolutely require for this site. Ah well. At least I'm showing up on more directory sites!
• [038] 2.6.3
  »I'm looking hard at moving the system to DOM generated/sorted tables and streamlined datasets. Nothing is live yet.
  »Updated the header to eliminate the "index" link as a menu item. The logo is now a clickable link.
  »Dropped medals for taste at 70->80. Too many medals.
• [037] 2.6.2
  »Redid all the flag and type icons, mostly to make them a bit fancier. I'm not 100% satisified with the types, but the flags came out pretty nice.
  »Minor code improvements in the review section, considering adding images for distilleries (such as Diageo's logo or the Compass Box symbol).
  »The big news for this version is that I'm working on the NEXT version, which will probably become 3.0.0, with DOM generated tables with dynamic (in page) sorting. If I can pull that off I'll reset all the tables on the system to be dynamically sorted to be faster, cleaner... uh.. spazzier. I dunno.
• [036] 2.6.1
  »Did some tweaking to fix description problems in the trophies and decided to change Silver Premium to 70/70. This gets a few nice bottles onto the list who otherwise missed the cut.
  »Tweaked the adjusted score a bit, reducing practicality point shift.
  »Fixed JWBlue on sort by value, there was no check for a 0 score.
• [035] 2.6.0: Prelude
  »Changed the review page sorts so that taste and value sort descending, altered the menu to reflect. Cleaned up the code.
  »Fixed IE layout problem w/ submenus. Of course it broke in IE, why am I shocked?
  »Moved the admin stuff to a semi-hidden page.
  »Fixed a minor bug from the submenu code that would throw a JS error when you loaded a page.
  »Removed the price point chart from the tops page, it was starting to get really repetitive and I hope to turn this into a dynamic system on the (still in progress) recommendation system.
• [034] 2.5.3
  »Added the option for drop menus on the page elements menu code. It could be fancier/prettier, but I'm satisfied for now.
• [033] 2.5.2
  »Fixed a bug on, then completely scrapped the [On Deck] page. It was full of older code that I didn't want to update, it added an extra set of steps to every update and it serves no real useful purpose. People will just have to wonder.
• [032] 2.5.1
  »Minor update to add (or re-add) a generic message icon for history updates.
  »Cleanup of the groups file.
  »Started a recommendation page based on the search tool. This may replace the price point section of the TOPS page, or it may become its own thing.
• [031] 2.5.0: Longsword
  »Tie handling in the TOP list. I thought it was going to be a minor bit of code... I was wrong. This isn't just "is 12 tied with 13" testing either, the list checks to see if the last item is tied with items that otherwise wouldn't make the list and then expands to add them, which is a bit tricky. Nobody will ever notice though... it sucks to be so picky.
  »More Code Cleanup, trimmed a couple of repetitive loops in show_top.
• [000] 2.4.1
  »Code Cleanup: Removed several useless or repetitive code blocks
  »Tightened the code for NEXT and fixed the VCR code to fail nice and operate properly.
  »Fixed/Cleaned up some event list and link data.
  »Fixed old parentco pages to properly show all brands/expressions two levels down (Diageo→Distillery→Brand), sorted.
• [030] 2.4.0: Scimitar
  »Removed "parentco" as a grouping, moved everything to distilleries, which connects to ↓
  »Added VCR navigation to distilleries.
• [029] 2.3.2
  »Added images+links to all event reviews so they link to the final event page.
  »Optimized all PNG files
  »Moved linklist code out of the code page and onto the link page, since that's the only place that uses it.
• [028] 2.3.1
  »Expected bug fixes to 2.3.0 data seperation: Updated the random review widget with the new link code and fixed a minor handling issue in history.
  »Removed old manual medal data, then fixed it so that IE doesn't get annoyed at the commas at the end of hashes. Gah.
  »Added information to the top of each review→type page to give definition of the whisky type.
• [027] 2.3.0: Cleaver
  »Review data is finally seperate from review code! Woo! Divorced all of the reviews from the handling code and simplified the old linking system. Updates to every page that accesses review or history data, which is just about all of them. Regular Expression Hell has been traversed... except I can't do parenthesis yet, although that's just a minor hiccup.
  »Rewrote the history layout.
• [026] 2.2.4
  »Built admin page (links from data) that includes the old buildoutput page and a new archive page for taste events to reduce javascript load on legacy data
• [025] 2.2.3
  » Removed [age] when it equals 0 and [abv] when it equals 40 from the review array and set handlers to assume in the report functions. This streamlines the data lists and reduces the file size.
• [024] 2.2.2
  »Price averaging chart is essentially done and the data file has been updated to match.
  »Added icons to the history items and checked/changed the older categories.
  »Reorganized graphics folder.
• [023] 2.2.1
  »Added whisky count L.E.D. program to the front page as a widget.
  »Added a link to the current tasting event to the front page as a widget.
  »Cleaned up some data, removed some old code.
• [022] 2.2.0: Pyramid
  »Sorting Code for all data screens (plus found a minor bug in the sorting code that already existed. Bother).
  »Added Tennesse style back to the list as I've located a shorty of Dickel that will go on the list eventually. Very eventually.
  »Added date as a data group, so yearly lists are up (and removed from the events subpage).
• [021] 2.1.0: Sphynx
  »Updated fullname generator to include NAS if nothing else is given rather than assuming based on type and am (or should be) using it universally.
  »Added the start of the event code (Mini Madness, etc).
  »Updated data column checklist to eval second tasting date, moved to stoplight color scheme.
  »Code cleanup and streamline.
• [020] 2.0.0: Obelisk
  »Just about everything is new, new new. Rebuilt the entire page structure: layout, style, and code.
  »Rewrote header and footer to automate menus and structure the subnavs.
  »Updated every graphic to look and structure better.
  »Compressed the data page.
  »Revamped submenu code and added it to the Tops page.
• [019] 1.7.1
  »Fixed several minor issues w/ searching. Added blank review capabilities in update file.
  »Added/fixed info on About and added linkes to the index page greeting.
• [018] 1.7.0: Phosphorus
  »Added the date field, sort and handle function.
  »Put dates on all reviews, although legacy data is sometimes best guess.
  »Changed the on-deck function to show no more than 10 → eliminate dupes in update file.
  »Expanded King of the Hill list to Region+Type instead of just Type. Updated the footer data.
• [017] 1.6.1
  »Updated the text build.
  »Fixed the "last" tool on VCR buttons.
  »Added a function to view hidden sections and fixed old broken links.
  »Expanded stats a bit.
• [016] 1.6.0: Silicon
  »Added VCR navigation buttons to all data->whisky pages, requiring a whisky->whiskyid function using the revnum.
  »Changed data list to remove camera pictures and added a quick binary list of data for each review.
  »Big script cleanup.
• [015] 1.5.1
  »Changed history function to use days versus number of updates.
  »Index goes to 30 days, history page to 10 years.
  »Added 2cent update type to history function.
• [014] 1.5.0: Aluminium
  »Score Adjust calculator -> converted to a sliding scale using the highest score (currently 110) so other scores are a percentage of the highest.
• [013] 1.4.0: Magnesium
  »Added award categories and ABV data.
  »Redesigned TOP page to include extra data.
• [012] 1.3.0: Sodium
  »Sortable columns on data page, sorted grouping pages
• [011] 1.2.0: Neon
  »Added 2cents page, moved old rants over.
• [010] 1.1.0: Florine
  »Country codes, moved single malt versus blend to a seperate category from country. May want to allow multiple categories at some point.
• [009] 1.0.0: Oxygen
  »Search tool!
• [008] 0.7.0: Nitrogen
  »Bug fixes, updated scripts to segregate review layout from everything else
• [007] 0.6.0: Carbon
  »On Deck Page and history scripts
• [006] 0.5.0: Boron
  »Links page, auto generating links
• [005] 0.4.0: Beryllium
  »Completed DATA page, group options, beginning some sort ability
• [004] 0.3.0: Lithium
  »Added all pics, testing of everything so far is good.
• [003] 0.2.0: Hydrogen
  »All reviews up from archive, need to find pics. Widgets are working.
• [002] 0.1.0: Helium
  »Old page removed and stripped, all data is moved over to new script system
• [001]0.0.1: Mirage
  »Pulled old page data together from seperate text files, dumped useless data, cut and resized pics.

Forward Path

• TO DO LIST
  »Look into having latest review on MAIN page in history block
  »Plan to streamline updates and add some cookie prefs. Some of this will be admin (add links for me to mod stuff from the page if I see an error) some will hopefully limit data requests.
  »Put AKAs back into the list.
  »Rework the history lists so they're a little more visually interesting and the links are more obvious.
  »Sweep the data for missed link opportunities.
  »Move single use code out of shared libraries

All trademarks and copyrighted material (bottle label content, product and brand names, etc) are the properties of their owners and are used here under the provisions of Fair Use for purposes of criticism and review. Reviews are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. They may be used, modified or distributed freely so long as "www.practicalwisky.net" is included. For more information, click → here ← Share and Enjoy