A Decade of Sku: Acknowledgments

Lots of people have made the last decade of this blog possible by sharing spirits, information, friendship and conversation, giving me ideas, reading drafts or just plain inspiring me. I thought I would take a moment to thank all of the following:

Adam Herz, Andrew Goodloe, Andy Smith, Anna Olson, Arnab, Blake Riber, Brendan Prouty, Brian Haara, C. Thi Nguyen, Chris Bunting, Chris Hall, Chris Stevenson, Chris Uhde, Chuck Cowdery, Clay Risen, Dan Walbrun, Dan Zimmerman, Daniel Laurence, David Driscoll, David Othenin-Girard, David Perkins, David Wankel, Davin DeKergommeaux, Dean Chiang, Doug Philips, Eric Felten, Florin, Frank & Debra, Fred Minnick, Funky Tape, Greg Gilbert, Heather Greene, Howard Levinson, Janet Patton, Jason Beatty, Jason Pyle, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Jim Leff, Johanne McInnis, John Hansell, John & Linda Lipman, Jordan Devereaux, Josh Chinn, Josh Peters, Josh Wright, Joshua Feldman, Karen & Carl, Keith Boyea, Ken Tanaka, Kevin Erskine, Leah, Lew Bryson, Linh Do, Mark Gillespie, Marko Karakasevic, Martin Daraz, Max Wallhausser, Michael Kravitz, Michael Ries, Michael Veach, Naomi, Nicolas Palazzi, Nina Wanat, Oliver Klimek, Paul Schurman, Ralfy, Randy Blank, Reid Bechtle, Reid Mitenbuler, Richard Anderson, Rob Gard, Ronde Ingvar, Russell Hogg, Ryan Oberleitner, Sam Komlenic, Sam Simmons, Serge Valentin, Steffen Brauner, Steve Leukanech, Steve Neese, Tim Puett, Tim Read, Tony Chen, Wade Woodard, and Winston Churchill Edwards

I'm sure I forgot some folks and for that, I am truly sorry.

Not Yet the End

Thanks to all who commented on last week's post on the existentialist crisis of Booker's Rye (both on the blog and in the spirited Reddit discussion). There were lots of helpful and encouraging comments which I appreciate, and thanks also to My Annoying Opinions for making some helpful suggestions about what else I could blog about. It's given me a lot to think about. I'm not going anywhere right away, but I may do some different stuff and play around a little so bear with me.

Speaking of bloggers deciding what to do, I wanted to give a shout out to Josh Chinn of Red White & Bourbon who recently announced that due to the general business of life, work, kids, etc., he will not be continuing to blog. Josh's blog was one of my favorites. He brought a unique and uncompromising voice to the whiskey world, covering the scene in Colorado and nation-wide. I'll miss his work, but I respect his choice, and I'm glad he let us know (so many blogs just fade away). All the more reason for me to keep at it.

Mothers Deserve a Drink Part II

A few weeks ago I introduced my Mothers Deserve a Drink campaign, asking whiskey bloggers and companies, who always seem to make Father's Day whiskey recommendations, to make some for Mother's Day. Well, it didn't get a huge response. In fact, one company, 375 Park Avenue Spirits, even sent out a Father's Day email last week with no mention of Mother's Day at all. Who told these knuckleheads that ignoring a huge chunk of the population was good business?

But one blog took up the challenge and then some. The blogger at One-Line Whiskey, who happens to be a mother, printed a four part series (starting here) with dozens of great recommendations of all types of whiskey - Scotch, bourbon, Irish, crafts, you name it. The descriptions are pithy and fun so it's a good read too. For instance, she thinks Jefferson's Reserve smells like "candied ashtray" but the flavors make up for it. Balcones Baby Blue "tastes like summers on the front porch watching the kids play in the sprinklers."

So thanks to One-Line for taking on the challenge and Happy Mother's Day!

Blog of the Month: The Coopered Tot

Josh Feldman, the blogger who writes The Coopered Tot, is a true whiskey enthusiast, with the emphasis on enthusiast.  The guy is enthusiastic about nearly everything.  He loves whiskey, the people who make it, bottle it and sell it.  In the whiskey blogosphere, he's the guy who's president of the PTA and chairman of the neighborhood welcome wagon, bringing the whiskey equivalent of a basket of cookies to new readers and bloggers. He's gracious and always willing to look at other points of view. 

It's not just enthusiasm though, Josh writes some great stuff, including a recent post looking at representations of race, gender and  sexuality in old whiskey ads.  He's done some fun treasure hunting, digging into obscure old whiskeys, and looking into the downfall of a once great label. He's thorough and creative.  He zeroes in on his subjects like a dog with a particularly meaty bone that he won't let go of until he's done.

I've joked that The Coopered Tot is the Moby Dick of whiskey blogs, because the posts are really long and tend to go off on long tangents, and sometimes I worry that Josh gets too cozy with the industry he's writing about (a weakness that he himself has acknowledged), but his blog is always an interesting read, providing you can put aside the time to read it.

Blog of the Month: Chemistry of the Cocktail

This month's Blog of the Month is Chemistry of the Cocktail. Back in 2010, Oregon based chemistry graduate student Jordan Devereaux started to blog about cocktails, but over the years, the blog has evolved into a whiskey blog as the vast majority of his entries are now about whiskey (funny how that can happen - even to food blogs).  As a chemist, Devereaux is very good at laying down some whiskey science in a way that a lay person like me can (mostly) understand as in this post about the importance of long fermentation times. He also has some good commentary, like this piece on Bruichladdich under the Remy regime, lots of reviews (mostly of Scotch) and a monthly post on innovative cocktails.  Plus, he uses the most awesomely cool blog layout!

Check it out!

Blog of the Month: Sipp'n Corn

Sipp'n Corn is a blog that caters to my twin loves of law and history; the tag line is "Blogging about bourbon as told through the rich history of American lawsuits..."   Kentucky lawyer Brian Haara has done some great research and presented some fascinating reports on old legal cases about bourbon.  You can learn a lot of history through court cases, and Haara uses published decisions to tell an interesting history of the Labrot & Graham Distillery (now Woodford Reserve) and demonstrate how, a century ago, sourcing whiskey and not disclosing the distiller was considered by one court to be "a fraud on the public."

If you have an interest in whiskey history, Sipp'n Corn is a must-read.

Lists - We've Got Lists

If you haven't checked out my big lists lately, you might want to as I am constantly updating them.

The Complete List of American Whiskey Distilleries & Brands now lists 325 distilleries making whiskey in the US.  That's up from 190 a year ago which shows pretty amazing growth.  In addition, the list includes 115 independent bottlers (also known as non-distiller producers or NDPs).

Meanwhile, The Complete List of Whiskey Blogs lists 495 blogs as well as assorted other whiskey sites.  I like to click randomly through it and read a few posts from who knows where.

As always, please let me know if I've left anything out!  I get lots of great tips from readers, though please do check the list thoroughly first.  You won't believe how many emails I get asking me to include companies on the distilleries/brands list that are already there (usually in the bottlers section) or that only make vodka.

Check 'em out!

Blog of the Month: Red White & Bourbon

One of the good niches for a whiskey blog is covering the local whiskey scene.  Red White & Bourbon is a Colorado based blog that has lots of general whiskey coverage but specializes in Colorado whiskey reviews and news.  Blogger Josh Chinn highlights the Colorado craft scene, which is substantial, and even his reviews of standard whiskeys tend to focus on their availability at local bars and stores.

I particularly liked his post on the newly released Tin Cup Whiskey, a sourced product from Stranahan's.  Despite the misleading press, he nicely breaks down that this is likely MGP whiskey, probably a blend of two of their mashbills. He also does some good explanatory posts, like this guide to the Jefferson's line. 

If you're a Coloradan or at all interested in the Colorado whiskey scene, Red White & Bourbon is a great place to start.

Blog of the Month: Cheap Bourbon Whiskey & Pearlsnap Shirts

November's Blog of the Month is Cheap Bourbon Whiskey & Pearlsnap Shirts.  I can't really do it justice; just check it out (you've got to love a blog where most of the photos are empty bottles - and be sure to go to the second page to see the shirts).

Blog of the Month: Danish Whisky Blog

Steffen Bräuner started his Danish Whisky Blog back in 2010 and has been doing a phenomenal job of consistently providing fresh, interesting commentary.  Unlike most European whiskey bloggers, Steffen has a taste for and knowledge of American whiskey as well as Scotch.

In a world of sometimes insanely long lists of whiskies to try before you die, Steffen's Seven Whiskies to Taste Before you Die nailed it. Another great list was his 10 facts about Japanese Distilleries.  Combine these with a discerning and experienced palate and a low tolerance for BS, and you've got a creative blog that just keeps getting better.  If you don't know it already, check it out!

Our First Whiskey Reviews

I thought it might be fun to go back into the archives of some well known whiskey bloggers and see what the first whiskey they ever reviewed was.  Many bloggers had been tasting whiskey for years before they actually posted a review, but it's interesting to see where people started when they went to print.  (Of course, this is just a small sampling of the many whiskey blogs out there.)

• Because he started in the days of the ARPANET, Serge Valentin's first reviews on Whiskyfun are no longer on-line.  The most recent available post is for a massive blind tasting from February 15, 2004.  Even then, he was sipping only the best; the tasting featured nine whiskeys, including the second release of Brora 30 and a 25 year old Signatory Port Ellen.
• The first episode of Mark Gillespie's WhiskyCast aired on November 12, 2005.  In that first episode, Mark said he would not review whiskeys (though he later did), and he reported about two new releases:  Penderyn and Bernheim Wheat Whiskey.  The episode was eight minutes long.
• The first meeting of the LA Whiskey Society took place in October 2006 and the stand out bottle was a 16 year old 1985 Glen Elgin from the Bottlers.
• Sam Simmons, now the Balvenie guy, was once upon a time a blogger known as Dr. Whisky.  He made a few brief recommendations in late 2006, but the first of his series of "Malt Missions" was a review of Johnnie Walker Black on January 1, 2007.  He called it a "world-class knock-out dram."
• John Hansell started his blog, then called What Does John Know on June 28, 2007.  Then, as now, the blog was mostly news with occasional reviews.  His first blog review was a series of 12 single cask Highland Parks reviewed on September 17, 2007. 
• Ralfy uploaded his first video (though it was titled "Whisky Review 2") on February 15, 2009 in which he reviewed the Canadian single malt Glen Breton 10, calling it "the best non-Scotch single malt I've ever tasted." The video was three minutes and 18 seconds long. Ralfy clearly has a lot more to say these days.   
• Oliver Klimek opened Dramming.com with a trio of short reviews on July 18, 2009:  Ardbeg 10,  Port Charlotte PC 7, and Caol Ila 12.  He liked the PC7 the best, followed by Ardbeg and then Caol Ila. 
• Josh Hatton's JewMalt Whisky used to be the Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society and his first review was a February 18, 2010 review of Ardbeg Uigeadail which smelled like his "sister’s suede jacket after a Bon Jovi concert."
• Jason Pyle at Sour Mash Manifesto didn't do a formal review until his third post, on May 6, 2010, when he blogged and vlogged (remember when he was a vlogger?) about Evan Williams Single Barrel (vintage 2000) which he was quite fond of.
• And me? I started this blog as a food blog (hence name) on May 10, 2007.  My first whiskey review was a survey of Buffalo Trace bourbons Eagle Rare 10, Buffalo Trace (which wasn't even available in California back then) and George T. Stagg on May 15, 2007.  The regular Buffalo Trace was "probably my favorite of the three."  I clearly knew a lot more about doughnuts than bourbon back then.    

Blog of the Month: Last Call

This month's blog of the month is not a whiskey blog per se, but a legal blog about alcohol.  Bone McAllester Norton is a large Tennessee law firm that has a specialty in alcoholic beverage law.  The firm's blog, Last Call, is written by William T. Cheek III who leads the firm's alcoholic beverage legal team.

I first came across the blog while researching the State of Tennessee's efforts to define the term Tennessee Whiskey, but I soon added it to my regular reading list.  While the blog mostly deals with state law issues, it's a fascinating look at the complicated legal framework, both state and federal, regulating the production and sale of spirits.

And fear not non-lawyers, the blog doesn't read like a brief.  The writing is succinct and devoid of legalese, and Cheek has a penchant for quoting song lyrics in his posts.  If you're both a legal geek and a whiskey geek, this is definitely a blog you should be following.

Blog of the Month: Bourbon Truth

Our blog of the month for August is the Bourbon Truth Tumblr.  Let's start out by acknowledging that this blog is on the weird side.  It's written in a half-crazed, spelling and grammar-be-damned style featuring massive run-on sentences that makes you wonder if this is what Ted Kaczynski does during the one hour of computer access he gets every other day.  But if you can make it past that, your reward is a blog by an anonymous author who has three things that make for a great blog: a lot of knowledge of the whiskey industry, strong opinions and a wicked sense of humor.  Is it over the top?  Hell, it's over the top of the top, but it's highly entertaining.

Check out this post about a dog tasting test and see if you're not laughing out loud by the end of it.

Blog of the Month: My Annoying Opinions

My Complete List of Whiskey Blogs now numbers over 400...yes there are more than 400 people who are writing (or have written in case of the dormant blogs) about whiskey on-line.  And I seem to find more on almost a daily basis.

As I've mentioned before, these blogs run from the brilliant to the bizarre.  Since I've got this list, I figured I'd dedicate one post a month to highlighting a whiskey blog that I find interesting or amusing or bizarre or all three.

I'll kick off this month with a new but high quality blog:  My Annoying Opinions.  MAO is written by an anonymous, Minnesota teacher who goes only by "Snookums" on the blog, but he's been known to post frequently on Scotch forums under a different moniker.

The blog mostly consists of Scotch reviews with occasional posts about food or other things.  The writing is pithy and occasionally sarcastic...and not really that annoying, and the ratings are refreshingly uninflated.  It's a refreshing read from someone who knows his (or her) stuff.  Check it out!

Goings on Around Town

• If you're looking to have a smoky weekend, check out the LA Scotch Club's Peatin' Meetin' at UCLA, probably the best whiskey tasting event in LA.  It's this Saturday from 5:30 -10:00 pm and features music, barbecue and more peated whiskey than you'll note what to do with. Cost is $100 per person.
• Adam at the LA Whiskey Society (the other LA whiskey group) has published a new chapter in his series Adventures in Whiskey.  This one, The Peculiar Pikesville from Prohibition, is definitely worth a read. 

Have a great weekend!

The Complete List of Whiskey Blogs Keeps Growing

I've continued to update my Complete List of Whiskey Blogs (being a blogger means never being bored) and the list is now includes over 300 whiskey blogs!  In addition, I now have a section at the end which features informational websites which are not quite blogs, such as databases, pod casts and other media (note that those are not included in the blog count).

In my first go round at the list, I started with blogs I know and mostly engaged in link following, but my updates are now done through voluminous Google searches, so there are now a lot of blogs on the list that are probably unknown to most of my readers.

There are some really interesting and bizarre whiskey blogs out there.  Interested in some Catholic theology with your whiskey?  Whiskey Catholic is the blog for you.  But if that's not your thing, maybe you're an avid cycler or a fan of fine time pieces.  Yup, there's a whiskey blog for that.

 My current nominee for best named whiskey blog is the very short-lived, but excellently titled Daddy Drinks 'cuz Baby Cries.


Every once in a while, I'll post some updates of particularly notable or fun new blogs I find.

Best Whiskey Review Ever

Last week in my post about Zachory Boone's silly label, I dropped a link to a video review by a guy on YouTube.  The review got a huge response, so I thought it was worth posting on its own.  Find ten minutes and watch this thing.  It's comedy gold.





I started to list some of my favorite quotes, but it pretty much became a transcription of the entire video, so just watch it.  If you have any favorite quotes, leave them in the comments.

And don't miss Tactical's reviews of other quality products like this shocking revelation that Charles Shaw Merlot isn't very good.

Some Interesting Whiskey Blogs

In compiling my complete list of whiskey blogs, I stumbled on more than a few that I hadn't seen before and was reminded of others that I really enjoy.  I'm always looking for whiskey blogs that provide an alternative perspective, and here are a few I've been reading lately that I find particularly interesting. 

• Clay Risen is a staff editor at the New York Times who writes the Mash Notes blog.  He also writes whiskey articles for the Times, and unlike most whiskey articles in the mainstream press, Risen makes sure his articles are accurate and not always about Pappy Van Winkle.  He's not the most prolific blogger, but he's an engaging and honest writer which makes his blog a real pleasure.  He's also working on a book about American whiskey.
• Linh Do is the Los Angeles based blogger who writes Bliss in a Barrel.  Her posts tend to revolve around some of the local whiskey clubs and on-line networks she's involved in, but she also works in the industry, and has some fascinating posts about working as a liquor company representative.  I'm hoping she'll continue to blog in that direction.
• If you're looking for something a bit different, check out Rob Gard's The Whisky Guy. Rob is another LA based blogger who previously worked at Bruichladdich.  Rob's blog is not as much about whiskey as it uses whiskey as a background to examine human nature.  Rob is also working on a book about his experiences working at a distillery.

There's lots of good whiskey stuff to read out there (in fact, there are 259 whiskey blogs at present count), and these are just a few of them, but they're good ones so check them out.

The Complete List of Whiskey Blogs

Like most lazy writers, I love a list.  There's something satisfying about listing things, especially when there are a lot of them.  I've been thinking, for a while, whether it would be possible (not to mention advisable), to list every whiskey blog.  It feels like there are hundreds of them; some pop up for a month or two and others (like mine) rattle on, seemingly in perpetuity.  Well, I decided to try it, so I present to you:  The Complete List of Whiskey Blogs.

Well, it's not actually complete, not even close probably, but it's a start.  To start with, I limited myself to English language blogs.  Unfortunately, I'm not competent in any other languages, and it would be pretty tough for me to figure out if a blog in Armenian or Hindi was about whiskey, so I figured I'd stick to what I know.

I tried to be pretty liberal with my definition of "blog," but I did exclude sites that were more databases or forums.  A blog has to have regular updates with content.  In categorizing blogs as "whiskey blogs," I used a loose definition of any blog that was mostly about whiskey.  I excluded general spirits blogs and cocktail blogs (unless they were really mostly about whiskey).

I divided the list into four sections:  (1) general whiskey blogs; (2) blogs by distillers and whiskey producers; (3) blogs by retailers or bars; and (4) dormant blogs.  I defined dormant blogs as blogs that hadn't posted for quite a while (at least eight or nine months) and seemed inactive.  They can, of course, always come back.

Overall, I found 174 active whiskey blogs and another 51 dormant whiskey blogs.  I'm sure I missed many, especially in the retailer/distillery areas, as many of them seem to have blogs that they post to only occasionally.

I'm sure the number of blogs is an interesting measure of something, but I'm not quite sure what.

I'm going to try to keep the list current, and I'd appreciate any feedback with blogs I missed (and apologies to anyone I left off).

Culinary Atrocities

German Whiskey blogger Oliver Klimek writes the excellent Dramming blog, which is one of the best whisky blogs around, but with his latest blogging endeavor, he also has one of my favorite food blogs. Culinary Atrocities catalogs the most atrocious food stuffs from our dark culinary past with a concentration on, nay obsession with, Jell-o salads. Klimek even tried to make his own version which appears suitably atrocious. The atrocities don't end with Jell-o though, there's spam, souffle and other dishes to make you cringe.

This is good stuff, but I have to wonder if there is some anti-American bias in Oliver's posts. Sure, America has a shady and embarrassing culinary past, but as someone whose grandparents were from Germany, I was definitely subjected to some culinary atrocities that were strictly continental. The U.S. may be an easy target, but I hereby challenge Oliver to not ignore his own atrocious culinary heritage.

UPDATE: Oliver took me up on my challenge and has dedicated a whole post to German culinary atrocities. Check it out!