Resources & Links
- Harold
- Oct 15, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Nov 1, 2023
I envy those passionate scotch whisky consumers, who got into whisky/single malts prior to the days of the internet. Thankfully, by the time I got into it, there was already a well established history and wealth of information available at my finger tips, in order for me to play catch up. Not to mention the somewhat underrated world of social media which has led to arguably the greatest whisky boom of all time...but I digress.
Part of the reason I love whisky so much is how it brings people together to share their similar experiences and passion for the subject. And so one of the wonderful things I've seen on other blogs, and wanted to add to my own when I had the chance, was to pass along some website recommendations for anyone interesting in nerding/sleuthing out as much as myself.
The References
I can't express my admiration and appreciation enough for the wonderful people behind this website. The name says it all. It's the largest publicly used data base of whisky (mostly scotch, but some bourbon & world whiskies as well), that serves essentially as a birth certificate/review source for each bottle. Most of the bottle photos on this site (as well as most blogs) will come from user uploaded photos on Whiskybase, which is just one of the many features that keeps me logging on continuously throughout the day.
The scotch whisky world lost a legendary source of constantly updated material in the fall of 2019. Besides all the current news, interviews, and bottle reviews...Becky Paskin, Dave Broom, and Richard Woodward did the lord's work by compiling as many historical facts and data for all the distilleries/brands/bottlers currently in production, as well as the closed/demolished/defunct ones of old. The site is thankfully still up (for now), with all the information available for young scotch whisky nerds, like myself.
A daily news source for actual whisky consumers which, for the most part, avoids spitting out standard press releases, "market numbers" and "top 10" clickbait level stuff.
The Writers
Serge Valentin started the world's longest running spirits blog over 20 years ago, and with the help of Angus MacRaild in the latter years, has remained the bona fide "gold standard" of scotch whisky review sites. It's unlikely he'll ever refer to himself as an influencer, however there are few reviewers that have proven to have a "move-the-needle" effect on the market as Serge has earned over the years.
Not far behind Serge is Belgium based, Ruben Luyten who started his whisky blog back in 2008. While the site is perhaps best known for being one of the earliest, and tends to focus upcoming/recent releases...similar to Serge, he's also grown his expertise in cognac and rum to a more than respectful level of competency and highlights special European releases on a consistent basis.
The venerable Thijs Klaverstijn is another well established whisky writer who provides daily content of mostly upcoming and recent releases. Based out of the Netherlands, his passion for whisky and journalism came together in 2013 to start the blog. His reviews are a little more in depth, providing some valuable information and perspective with each post.
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone more enthusiastic when talking about whisky than Mark Dermul. Also known from his YouTube channel "Mark's Whisky Ramblings," if you're on his blog, you'll have to turn on your Google translate in order to read this passionate spirit writer's reviews. While the reviews are fervently written, his scores are often a bit stingy, though fair. No "easy 90's" here.
Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer has been writing primarily whisky (along with some rum and cognac) reviews for at least 10 years now. Kind of hard to pin it down before 2012. If the name doesn't give it away, yes...we have another Dutch writer...the effect of having a well established single malt culture longer than most. Sjoerd has a style of writing which seems more conversational than review-based. An easy reader.
An American! Michael Kravitz started his whisky blog circa 2011 after a few years of writing in a now retired artform of "journalistic blogging." I'm guessing the rise of social media might have had a little something to do with that perhaps? Michael is nothing if not extensive with his reviews, offering as complete a dissection of each spirit as possible.
A newer edition to the whisky blog landscape, the UK based, actual brothers Alan & Daniel Scott started their site in 2021. Centered mostly around modern releases and giving an honest review of value for money, the brother's extensive write-ups are a great source of material for the modern whisky consumer.
There are possibly hundreds of other whisky blogs I could've mentioned, however most end up either posting rather infrequently or have moved on to greener pastures, so I chose the one's I actually try to frequent on a daily basis.
Resources & Links
