The mothership of "amateur" whisky sites.  We put "amateur" in quotes because The Malt Maniacs are far from amateurish.  Comprised of 24 single malt aficionados scattered across the globe, their website contains the biggest database of whisk(e)y ratings in existence.  The site isn't the easiest to navigate through -- it's frustrating until you become very familiar with it -- but that's simply because they've accumulated so much stuff.  There's just tons and tons of very good info.  You can find their thousands of ratings in the Malt Maniacs "Monitor," which is a huge PDF file and a great resource.  Keep an eye out for the yearly Malt Maniacs Awards, which tend to dictate the next whiskies to sell out immediately.  (And, as of July 2009, we have a certified Malt Maniac as one of our members.)

Malt Advocate is the best whiskey magazine out there, always full of fresh content and insightful, relevant, well-written articles.  And, bonus, it's a U.S. publication -- which is great, because they're usually discussing something you can buy stateside.  You can find a good amount of tasting notes on this site by editor-in-chief John Hansell.  John also publishes a daily blog called "What Does John Know?"  Which, as you might guess, is whatever's on his mind that day, and often some new news or recent tasting notes. The blog is a major crossroads for whisky fanatics and industry folks alike, and the comments section sometimes becomes a hotbed of whisky-related debate. But perhaps the best thing about John Hansell is that he isn't afraid to criticize the industry where appropriate (and applaud where earned) -- which gets serious points in our book.  He'll do so both on his blog, and in his magazine, which is a difficult thing to do when you're trying to attract advertisers!  We need people like John Hansell out there, fighting the good fight for all us whiskey lovers.

It's a funny story -- at exactly the same time that the idea for our Society was germinating, another whiskey nut named Andy over in Pasadena had a similar idea, and he put up a website to recruit members.  We soon discovered that website, exchanged info, and kept in touch as we informed each other of our meetings and experiences.  After almost a year, the original 10 Society members decided to open the group to new members, and Andy became the first "Alternate."  Today, there is some crossover between the two clubs.  But we're snootier.

 

 

Sku is an LA food blogger known for his never-ending quest for the best grub in Los Angeles and his "Whiskey Wednesday" reviews... though the whiskey part of things often spills over to other days of the week as well! Given these interests, it was only a matter of time until our paths crossed. Sku became a Society member in February 2010.