In January 2005 I transformed my old 'Liquid Log' into the Liquid Blog
- containing all my log entries from 2005 and 2006. The format is pretty similar to that of the old liquid log; the main difference is that 201 - 01/01/2005
- The Best Intentions; time for another doomed attempt to quit smoking.
202 - 02/01/2005 - Silent Stills, Part I - What have I learned about the silent stills of Scotland?
203 - 03/01/2005 - Silent Stills, Part II - Further research into the (relatively recent) past.
204 - 05/01/2005 - Silent Stills, Conclusion; or how I found out that three just isn't enough.
205 - 06/01/2005
- Alexander The Great; a quick & dirty report on a long & winding session.
206 - 09/01/2005 - Reconstruction Complete; most of the damage of the mini crash is fixed.
207 - 10/01/2005 - Another Fraud? We received an alarming report
about a potential new fake bottling.
208 - 11/01/2005
- The Plot Thickens. As it turned out, Ulf Buxred already knew about the fake Hazelburn.
209 - 12/01/2005 - The Response - a (short) response from the German seller of the fake Hazelburn.
210 - 14/01/2005
- Arran; I was pleasantly surprised by the latest Arran experiment: Marsala.
211 - 15/01/2005 - Pigs in Space. Hurray! Dave Broom joined the maniacs. We're now 24 strong.
212 - 17/01/2005 - Cadenheads & Tales; a quick report on my latest Cadenhead's discoveries.
213 - 27/01/2005 - Flu-Id; after recovering from the flu I finished the new FAKE ALERT page.
214 - 30/01/2005 - Tag Your Shovel Day; after many distractions it's time to taste some single malts.
215 - 01/02/2005
- A Wonderful Opportunity; I'll need to 'work' my way to Scotland
216 - 04/02/2005 - Kilchoman; finally there's some good news from Islay's youngest distillery
217 - 05/02/2005 - The Big Stretch; I decided I could 'stretch' the top of my Hit List a bit.
218 - 08/02/2005 - The Ads Race; Serge's covert marketing operation demanded a response.
219 - 11/02/2005 - Casanova; it's not a 'fake' (it's not even whisky) but I wanted to share it.
220 - 12/02/2005
- Group thinking; some visitors asked why Peter briefly dropped from the matrix.
221 - 13/02/2005
- Collecting; the 'ads race' turned friendly and Serge's latest try set me thinking.
222 - 18/02/2005 - Ardbeg H2H; after a string of bad nose days the conditions suddenly improved.
223 - 22/02/2005 - Islay Medicine; I dealt a pre-emptive strike against the cold with 4 Islay malts.
224 - 25/02/2005
- Italian Notes; I finally managed to make a transcript of my Italian tasting notes.
225 - 01/03/2005 - Under Contruction; I decided it was time for a minor overhaul of MM again.
226 - 03/03/2005 - White City; the winter made an unexpected comeback - Ardbeg time!
227 - 21/03/2005 - It's Alive! After three weeks of hard work I've restructured
Malt Maniacs.
228 - 23/03/2005 - Fishy Politics; a tasting & a few retarded remarks from George Bush Junior.
229 - 31/03/2005
- Press; it seems our fake hunt is drawing attention. We got mentioned in WM.
230 - 07/04/2005 - More politics; another tasting and more retarded remarks by George Bush Jr.
231 - 14/04/2005 - 'Refill' Springbank; yep, we found another fake. An open & shut case it seems.
232 - 17/04/2005 - Glen Grand; time to find out if there's a reason for my adoration of Glen Grant.
233 - 27/04/2005
- Scottish Shuffle; Pernod's bid on Allied inspired a session with six Highland Parks.
234 - 30/04/2005 - Walpurgis 2005; Six rums in Fabio Rossi's 'Rum Nation range. Great stuff!
235 - 04/05/2005 - Brorathon Part 1; Two young Broras and an 'old' (pre-Brora) Clynelish.
236 - 07/05/2005 - Brorathon Part 2; Four 19yo expressions - two from 1981 and two from 1982.
237 - 09/05/2005
- Brorathon Part 3; Four different versions of Brora, all bottlings in their early twenties.
238 - 12/05/2005 - Brorathon Part 4; Three 30yo bottlings from Brora, all scoring comfortably in the 90's.
239 - 23/05/2005 - Fantasy Island; I'm off to Scotland for Feis Ile 2005. Expect a full report shortly...
240 - 25/05/2005 - 1st Prelude
- Davin & I arrive in Glasgow and do some dramming.
240 - 26/05/2005 - 2nd Prelude - Davin & I visit Glengoyne before joining up with Serge and Olivier.
240 - 27/05/2005 - 3d Prelude - The fearsome foursome visits Oban (great) and Springbank (erm...).
240 - 28/05/2005 - Feis Ile Day 1 - A sampling 'on the high seas' and a fantastic visit of Lagavulin.
240 - 29/05/2005 - Feis Ile Day 2
- Open day at Bruichladdich, followed by dinner at Martine's house.
240 - 30/05/2005 - Feis Ile Day 3 - Samplings on various beaches, great dinner at Port Charlotte Hotel.
240 - 31/05/2005 - Feis Ile Day 4 - Tour of Laphroaig, hike to watersource, blind tasting at Ardbeg, ...
240 - 01/06/2005 - Feis Ile Day 5 - Tour of Kilchoman, Balvenie session, visit the ruins at Kilchoman, ...
240 - 02/06/2005 - Feis Ile Day 6
- Putting the 10,000th score on the monitor, visiting PLOWED HQ, ...
240 - 03/06/2005 - Feis Ile Day 7 - Opening of Kilchoman, open day at Bunnahabhan. And sampling...
240 - 04/06/2005 - The Aftermath - We say goodbye to Islay for another year. But we'll be back!
241 - 01/07/2005 - MM15; Hurray, the first E-pistles of Malt Maniacs #15 are finally finished.
242 - 12/07/2005
- Swedish Session; Foreign correspondent Robert Karlsson visited Amsterdam.
243 - 14/07/2005 - Brain Candy; The Yes Men - the first in a new series of unmalted musings.
244 - 15/07/2005 - Look Ahead Part I; Balblair, Dalmore, Dallas Dhu, Dalwhinnie, Glenury Royal, etc.
245 - 21/07/2005 - Look Ahead Part II; Auchroisk, Glencadam, Deanston, Glenlossie, Tomatin, etc.
246 - 23/07/2005
- 10,000; MM now has well over 10,000 unique visitors a month. I'm egotripping!
247 - 25/07/2005 - Shelf Cleaning; Time to finish some bottles that had been breathing too much.
248 - 27/07/2005 - Ear Candy: The 365 Days Project - some of the weirdest music you'll ever hear.
249 - 29/07/2005 - Balvenie 1973; More details on a tasting with eight Balvenie 1973 cask samples.
250 - 01/08/2005
- A Look Ahead Part III; the 'plan of attack' to finish my malt mission a.s.a.p.
251 - 07/08/2005 - Belgian Bottles; a session with a few samples sent by maniacs Luc and Thomas.
252 - 09/08/2005 - Google Earth; I've discovered a nifty piece of software. Highly recommendable.
253 - 14/08/2005 - 'B' Profiles; After neglecting the distillery profiles for a while I finished the 'B' part.
254 - 15/08/2005
- Haarlem Session; Michel van Meersbergen invited me over for some rare drams.
255 - 21/08/2005 - Eye Candy; Escher - an exhibition about MC Escher inspired a small session.
256 - 01/09/2005 - Glenfar Class; a study in excellence - Luc sent me some great Glenfarclasses.
257 - 05/09/2005 - Three Grains; Cameronbridge, North British and Port Dundas by Duncan Taylor.
258 - 09/09/2005
- Eye Candy; SMWS & 26 - a collection of wonderful and unconventional labels.
259 - 21/09/2005 - Alsace 2005; I joined Serge, Olivier, Luc and Davin for the 'awards filling party'.
250 - 01/08/2005 - A Look Ahead Part III; the 'plan of attack' to finish my malt mission a.s.a.p.
251 - 07/08/2005
- Belgian Bottles; a session with a few samples sent by maniacs Luc and Thomas.
252 - 09/08/2005 - Google Earth; I've discovered a nifty piece of software. Highly recommendable.
253 - 14/08/2005 - 'B' Profiles; After neglecting the distillery profiles for a while I finished the 'B' part.
254 - 15/08/2005 - Haarlem Session; Michel van Meersbergen invited me over for some rare drams.
255 - 21/08/2005
- Eye Candy; Escher - an exhibition about MC Escher inspired a small session.
256 - 01/09/2005 - Glenfar Class; a study in excellence - Luc sent me some great Glenfarclasses.
257 - 05/09/2005 - Three Grains; Cameronbridge, North British and Port Dundas by Duncan Taylor.
258 - 09/09/2005 - Eye Candy; SMWS & 26 - a collection of wonderful and unconventional labels.
259 - 21/09/2005
- Alsace 2005; I joined Serge, Olivier, Luc and Davin for the 'awards filling party'.
260 - 01/10/2005
- Please Hold; my Liquid Log went into hibernation before the 2005 MM Awards.
261 - 01/11/2005 - Autumn in Amsterdam; the weather is finally turning. As good an excuse as any.
262 - 08/11/2005
- Three Islands; an investigation of the products from Arran, Orkney and Skye.
263 - 11/11/2005 - Mirror Walpurgis; twice a year I turn my foggy eyes towards some 'deviant drams'.
264 - 13/11/2005 - Private Feis Ile; The awards left me tied to home so I planned a private session.
265 - 15/11/2005 - MM Awards 2005 Winners; the leaders of the pack in this year's awards line-up.
266 - 27/11/2005
- Glengoyne; After making a strong impression last year, 2005 was a real victory lap.
267 - 30/11/2005 - Silly Stats; As it turns out I've misinterpreted some of our more recent statistics.
268 - 01/12/2005 - Awards Review 1; After analysing the biggest winners it's time to look at the rest.
269 - 05/12/2005
- Awards Review 2; Let me tell you about Sinterklaas while I sample some Caol Ila's.
270 - 10/12/2005 - Awards Review 3; Working my way down the list I've arrived in bronze medal territory.
271 - 12/12/2005 - Awards Wrap-Up; Let's spend a few words on the last noteworthy awards entries.
272 - 15/12/2005
- More Classic Malts; Diageo recently introduced the new & improved 'Classic Malts Selection.
273 - 18/12/2005
- Amsterdramming; maniacs Alexander van der Veer & Michel van Meersbergen dropped by.
274 - 23/12/2005 - 2005 Wrap-Up; an assembly of my final observations, comments and tasting notes for 2005.
275 - 01/01/2006
- The Big Sprint; I really need to focus on the 'obscure' stuff this year...
276 - 03/01/2006 - The Whisky Fair; Carsten Ehrlich sent me a couple of 'WhiskyFair' bottlings
277 - 07/01/2006 - Amsterdam Ardbeggeddon; I decided to have a little 'dependance' Ardbeg session.
278 - 15/01/2006 - Malt Whisky Yearbook 2006; a book review - supposed to be the start of a tradition.
279 - 22/01/2006
- Big Fiddich; a session with the latest batches from the largest distillery in Scotland.
280 - 25/01/2006 - A Bunch of Balvenies; after 'Big Fiddich' it's time to look at its sister distillery.
281 - 27/01/2006 - Virus; Malt Madness has been temporarily shut down due to a virus on my PC.
282 - 01/02/2006
- Worms; recovery & repair operations on my PC showed that I'm heavily infected.
283 - 03/02/2006 - Maggots; my PC is up and running again - time to share my feelings and tips.
284 - 05/02/2006 - Birthday Brorathon; I'm turning 40! What better excuse to enjoy a few Broras.
285 - 10/02/2006
- Charlie's Whisky; I've discovered an ultra cheap blend that bears Charlie's name.
286 - 15/02/2006 - Whisky PC; an interesting novelty found on the web - a PC inside a whisky bottle.
287 - 19/02/2006 - Festival Fever; a report about the Whisky Festival Noord Nederland in Groningen.
288 - 24/02/2006
- Bulking Up; a sneak attack in 'the ads race' & advice on increasing your malt mileage.
289 - 27/02/2006 - February Sessions; a quick wrap up concerning sessions on Texel and in Haarlem.
290 - 01/03/2006 - Keeping Stock; time to have a look at my recent progress w.r.t. the 'to do list'.
291 - 10/03/2006
- Bourbon & Sulphur; a Maker's Mark ad & some wise words from Olivier on sulphur.
292 - 12/03/2006 - Southern Comfort; a chauvinist Southern Comfort ad and the music to match it.
293 - 16/03/2006 - St. Clynelish Day; apparently, March 16 is Saint Clynelish Day. I didn't know that.
294 - 20/03/2006
- Still Swapping; after the sale of Glen Grant Pernod Ricard is now officially # two.
295 - 21/03/2006 - Springtime; it seems that spring is in the air - time to celebrate with a session
296 - 24/03/2006 - Blind Laddies (I); a blind tasting including the 'Rocks' and '#D Moine Mhor'.
297 - 25/03/2006
- Blind Laddies (II); a blind tasting including the NAS 'Infinity' and 20yo 'Flirtation'.
298 - 28/03/2006 - The Canadian Situation; is the Liquor Control Board of Ontario up to no good?
299 - 29/03/2006 - Back in Business; Suddenly I find myself in a luxurious and comfortable position.
Which slowly takes us to the end of this overview; my 300th log entry...
By the time I started work on log entry #300 in April 2006 something dawned on me.
While I think I've managed to gather a lot of useful information during a decade of heavy dramming, the format in which the information is presented is still rooted in the late 1990's - not the most interactive
set-up imaginable. That's why I decided to start work on an all new Malt Madness website in 2007 - not to mention an all new Malt Maniacs website as well...
Scroll down for an overview of all entries in my 300th log entry...
 Log entry #300 is the last (and most massive) entry
in the liquid log that I started a decade ago in 1997.
This entry contains short reviews and dram diaries for
the last nine months of 2006. For each month I've also
gathered the links to the topical log entries I published
in one of the six special reports that are listed below.
Just scroll down for all the data I've collected in 2006
or directly choose one of the six topics listed below.300A - Past, Present & Future (Observations & ideas)
300B - Hamstergeddon (Six malts on the matrix mission)
300C - Festivities (Various meetings, festivals & tastings)
300D - Vox Populi (Questions from 'our captive audience')
300E - A Beginner's Guide to Amsterdam
(Off-topic...)
300F - The Raveling (The tying up several 'loose ends')
01/04/2006 - First Things First (I had to sample just six more drams to reach the 1500 malts mark)
07/04/2006 - Distillery Profiles (It didn't take long for the maniacs to 'overtake me' on the challenge)
08/04/2006 - Live Limburg Video connection
(A snapshot of seven maniacs in hog heaven - Germany)
09/04/2006 - A Beginner's Guide to Amsterdam (Some overdue pointers for tourists on my home town)
15/04/2006 - PLOWED Invasion
(Some of the American PLOWED people dropped by here in Amsterdam)
17/04/2006 - Bang For Your Buck (Kennet argues that my BFYB List is wrong w.r.t. Strathisla 12yo.)
21/04/2006 - Short Report from Singapore (Kevin Chia offers us a very brief glimpse of life in Singapore)
23/04/2006 - Amsterdam Hot Spots
(A quick overview of some useful spots in Amsterdam's city centre)
25/04/2006 - Groundhog Day (As so often before I've allowed myself to get a little bit side-tracked)
27/04/2006 - Amsterdramming (A few assorted tasting notes on recently sampled drams 'in town')
29/04/2006 - Walpurgis 2006 (Yes, it's that time of the year again. Just a micro-session this time)
30/04/2006 - Status Review
(So, what's the progress on Hamstergeddon and my To Do List?)
01/05/2006 - Why Oh Why (To explain why I'm wrapping up this log we take a trip down memory lane)
04/05/2006 - Bottle Codes (Joe Barry from South Africa worries a bit about the small print on the label)
11/05/2005 - A Shifting Paradigm (Why doesn't the current site structure meet our needs anymore?)
19/05/2006 - Fresh Casks for Sale?
(Richard Secrest asks a common question: where can I buy a cask?)
21/05/2006 - Hamstergeddon Status Report 1.5 (My visit to Alsace was a massive hamster-boost)
25/05/2006 - Feis Ile 2006
(Needless to say, a number of maniacs attended the 2006 edition of Feis Ile)
28/05/2006 - Fame & Fortune (Wow... The malt maniacs have received quite a bit of 'press' lately)
04/06/2006 - Warming Up
(A little 'warming up' session for the upcoming debauchery with Davin)
11/06/2006 - Super Wigman Tasting (My doubts about a tasting calling itself 'super' were unfounded)
13/06/2006 - Hamster Fight! (Davin visited Amsterdam for a MASSIVE Hamstergeddon session)
15/06/2006 - Bottle Codes (II) (Joe Barry's question made me think. And then think some more...)
23/06/2006 - Lowland Whisky
(Allan Old finally dares to reveil his deep dark secret: he loves Lowlanders)
28/06/2006 - Bottle Codes (III) (Fred Prins argues that we'd better keep the secret formulas... eh, secret)
30/06/2006 - The Hamsterdam Sessions (My delayed tasting notes for the 'Hamsterdramming' in June)
01/07/2006 - We're Pregnant (We're expecting our new and improved virtual offspring in six months)
12/07/2006 - Malt Maniacs Awards 2006
(Yes, it's on: the fourth edition of the Malt Maniacs Awards)
15/07/2006 - Couch Potato Special (Too hot too write about the city in this heat; some television tips)
01/08/2006 - Government Conspiracies? (Once again I found myself in mysterious circumstances)
12/08/2006 - Ye Olde Matrix (Now that the big overhaul of the site is near, I'm starting to panic)
13/08/2006 - Malt Maniacs Awards 2006 Update
(Just a month after kicking things off we're 'loaded')
14/08/2006 - The 'Jump' to 1650 malts (With this old website ready to crash, I have to hurry it up)
15/08/2006 - A Frozen Website (After running continuously for almost a decade, it's time for an overhaul)
15/08/2006 - Hamstergeddon Satus Report 1.9 (How far did we come with 'Hamstergeddon'?)
15/08/2006 - Malt Maniacs Awards Filling Party in Alsace
(A quick preview of our annual gathering)
15/08/2006 - High Tech Heroes (Now that the site will be 'frozen' for a while, we'll need to get technical)
15/08/2006 - Dark City (The 'Guide to Amsterdam' will have to be wrapped up before it has proberly began)
15/08/2006 - Unraveled (Ah, yes... Unforseen circumstances forced me to wrap this page up early)
And... that's it for this 'Liquid Log I guess...
Or is it? It's entirely feesible that I'll pick up this log again once the new sites are completely up and running.Oh yeah, I almost forgot; maybe it would be convenient if I added a few links to the main archive pages.
After
a decade of heavy dramming
(1997 - 2006) I had to put all the old content on this seperate 'archive' website.
Navigating through these old pages should be a little bit harder than on the new websites, but with the help of the guided tour and
the numerous text links on these pages I think you should be able to find specific information eventually.
You can find links to the various new pages by scrolling to the top or bottom of this page.
Now, for this archive... First of all, there's a brief personal introduction about yours truly and the Beginner's Guide to single malt whisky that was part of the first version of the Malt Madness site in 1996. That would be the place to start for curious novices. If
you're more serious about malts, you may want to check out my Track Record with +/- 2000 whiskies I scored or my Liquid Log with the entries I wrote during 'a decade of heavy dramming'. The log contains more than 300 log entries, so I won't include all the links here. Just start at the beginning in
1997 or jump directly to the more recent stuff in the Blog from 2005 and 2006.
Of course, you could read all of my Liquid Log 'cover to cover', but that wouldn't be very efficient.
My mAlmanac offers a few topical lists for those of you who are looking for specific information; a Hit List with my personal favourite malts, a Shit List with whiskies that are not quite as dear to me, a Bang-For-Your-Buck List with whiskies that offer good value and last but not least my
Stock List with the bottles on my shelves and in my 'reserve stock'. That will most likely be the
page to grow obsolete the first on this entire archive site, but at least you'll get a glimpse at my collection around 2006.Which brings us to the Distillery Data section with profiles on all malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.
Profiles are available for about half of the distilleries, the most prolific among those being these;
Aberlour
- Ardbeg -
Auchentoshan - Balvenie - Benriach
- Bladnoch -
Bowmore - Bruichladdich -
Bunnahabhain
Caol Ila - Cragganmore - Dalmore - Dalwhinnie - Edradour
- Glendronach - Glenfarclas - Glenfiddich - Glengoyne.This list of 'main pages' is far from complete yet (I've barely covered the Malt Maniacs section) but there you have it...
|
