forswearThinPotation

I would say, all you can do these days is figure out what writers, podcasters, personalities, and influencers you enjoy, respect, and trust the most, and then continue to follow them.

u/Onepopcornman - speaking as somebody who reads a ridiculous number of whisky reviews, let me echo and support what Aaron has said here, while adding a qualifier.

We of course want to know to what degree a given influencer is biased in their ratings and notes as a result of connections with the industry, either directly or indirectly (for example by getting free samples), and avoid influencers who seem to be notably biased.

But that is only half the battle. The other half is finding influencers who have personal tastes and preferences which align well with your own tastes and likings. An influencer could be 100% independent of industry influence and still not do you much good in following them, if their tastes and yours are badly misaligned. And that does happen.

The only way to know how well somebody else's tastes line up with yours is to follow them in detail over an extended set of reviews, as much as possible comparing their impressions of a given drink with your own reactions tasting the same drink.

That takes a lot time & effort - but in doing so you will probably begin to get a decent sense re: how much pro-industry bias or influence coming from the secondary market is seeping into their reviews, as a byproduct of becoming familiar with their body of work. Especially so when you compare and contrast multiple such reviewers.

Scotch is required to be aged in used barrels

Most scotch by volume is aged in ex-bourbon barrels & casks, because the latter are as you point out both plentiful and cheap.

But this is not a legal requirement, there is no language in SWR-2009 requiring that the oak be previously used.

While the use of virgin oak casks is relatively uncommon (it seems to be the prevailing wisdom in the industry that it is often too harsh and aggressive in character for scotch maturation) such expressions do exist, for example Deanston Virgin Oak single malt scotch is a frequently seen bottling priced at the lower end of that distillery's lineup, and other producers use it on an occasional basis ( https://www.whiskybase.com/search?q=Virgin+Oak ).

Cheers

It can be enjoyed either way.

There are many different bourbons and ryes made by Wild Turkey, of which Wild Turkey 80 proof bourbon and Wild Turkey 101 proof bourbon are the most commonly seen in stores, but they have some premium whiskies as well which are very widely appreciated and respected by the bourbon appreciation hobbyist community.

And even the entry level Wild Turkey 101 has a great reputation especially considering its ubiquity in stores and the very modest price of it, and is a fine sipping bourbon if you are used to drinking that level of proof.

The haters here are I'm sorry to say demonstrating their ignorance of the subject.