Robert Parker Will Not Review Whiskey (Exclusive)

Bourbon

May 20, 2013

Renowned wine critic Robert Parker will not be regularly reviewing whiskey reviews, according to his publicist.

Earlier this month, Parker reviewed several bourbons for his online publication, causing quite the uproar in the whiskey writer community. But Parker spokesperson Marina Soto wrote me in an email: “it was simply something fun and different to offer eRobertParker.com readers.”

Parker was not available to answer questions, but Soto said Parker will not be reviewing whiskey on a regular basis.

Shortly after Parker’s reviews, in which he compared extremely young whiskeys to older hard-to-find Pappy Van Winkle and misspelled Rowan’s Creek as “Rollin’s Creek,” Parker fueled a rigorous debate amongst spirits journalists with a general consensus that Parker should stick to wine. Somebody created a fake Twitter account for Parker.

Tweets from the fake Robert Parker Twitter account.
Tweets from the fake Robert Parker Twitter account.

RobourbonParker has since reviewed McDonald’s McRib, calling it the “Colonel EHTaylor of the sandwich world,” and added to wine importer Kermit Lynch’s Tweet about the “Parkerization” of wine, a term used to describe wines have been created for his palate. The fake Twitter account said Parkerization is the new Tebowing. Of course, my favorite Tweet of this RoBourbonParker was his Tweet to me: “‪@FredMinnick I admire your style, sir. Your ascot-ed look brings to mind ‪@Tuthilltown BabyBourbon, a squat package that is quite attractive.”

Jokes aside, Parker will likely never write another review on bourbon. If he does, it will probably be mixed in and lost with his wine reviews.

 

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