Whenever a whisky received scores from four or more maniacs we deem the average score 'solid' and add it to the matrix.
The background colour of the cells with the names of the whiskies has a meaning as well; yellow cells indicate whiskies that were recently added or modified (for example because they received an extra score) while the pink cells indicate entries we're not quite sure about.
In many cases we still need to retrieve some missing data, like the exact ABV or the year of bottling.

Last but not least: we initially published the monitor as an Excel file - but we've switched to PDF in recent years.
When we still published the 'raw data' there were some enterprising individuals that used the data out of context. This usually happened with the best of intentions, but even so we didn't always feel comfortable with the conclusions that were attributed to our scores. Even when published on our very own website with additional explanations about the way to interpret our scores, some people still draw the wrong conclusions. To decrease the chance of people misunderstanding our scores, we decided to switch to a simple PDF. We ARE working on our very own database, but since this is all just supposed to be a hobby (and we're no database experts), this is a long term project...
 

Oh, no, wait...  CHECK THIS OUT!

February 20, 2010
 
13,007
 
40,504

You can now push the Big Red Button if you feel ready for the monitor.
Keep in mind that the PDF file has grown quite massive over the years (over 3 MB now),
so downloading or opening the file might take a while without a broadband connection.
The monitor now includes more than 30,000 scores for thousands of different whiskies.
Remember that some of those whiskies were sampled by just one or two of the maniacs.

The monitor offers a complete overview of all the whiskies we've seriously sampled and scored so far.
As such, it's a great resource for checking which bottlings were released by each distillery or bottler.
Of course the monitor doesn't list the hundreds of thousands of whisky bottlings that were ever released.
Nevertheless, it may be the largest overview of 'tested' whiskies that is publicly available at the moment.

We take great care to make sure that all the data on the monitor is complete and correct; in 2006 we
undertook a thorough 'cleansing' of the old monitor and removed hundreds of bottlings where some of
the details were missing. As far as the scores themselves go.  Click here for more info on our system.
Generally speaking, we deem every whisky with an average score of 80 points or more recommendable.
There are only a handful of whiskies with an average score of 90 points or more - those are legendary.

The focus of the MM monitor is on single malts, but a number of blends and grain whiskies are listed as well.
The new monitor is in PDF format for easier printing & downloading. I used to hate PDF, but the improved integration
with modern browsers (especially if you use Mozilla FireFox and a few extensions) have finally turned me around.
I plan to add some 'technical tips' about the PDF format (both on the screen and on paper) in the foreseeable future.
And if you're thinking of printing the monitor: remember that the MM Matrix offers a more 'condensed' perspective.
The matrix doesn't list as many different whiskies (around 2,000 at the moment) as the monitor, but all entries have
at least four scores, so you can compare the opinions of various people on a certain whisky before you buy a bottle.

You can print the monitor on A4 or A5 format paper (the latter makes a nifty booklet) to take it with you on your next shopping spree.
If you're interested in statistical analysis... On WhiskyFun Serge Valentin plays around with the monitor data on his 'Statistics Shack' pages.
Last but not least: Keep in mind that the MM Monitor and MM Matrix are something DIFFERENT than the Malt Maniacs Awards - we use the
same scoring system but the 'rules' are different. Scores given in the blind tastings for the MM Awards can not be changed afterwards.
However, we include those scores in the matrix and monitor. It is possible that a maniac encounters a whisky that was submitted to the MM
Awards at another occasion and comes up with a higher or lower score. In those cases the score on the matrix or monitor may be adjusted.

Not all maniacs believe that the multimedia experience of a good whisky can be expressed
in a simple score. That did not stop the others from trying, though... It all started with
the Malt Maniacs Matrix in the late 1990's. At the time that was a relatively simple
table in HTML with the scores of a handful of malt maniacs, but soon after Serge
Valentin joined our team in 2002 he decided to lift things to a whole new level
with the MMMonitor. The natrix just lists the whiskies that were scored by at
least four maniacs - the monitor lists ALL whiskies we've tried collectively.
 
The original matrix was all 'handiwork' in HTML and for a while the matrix
(which focused on 'the big picture' and our average scores) and the PDF
monitor (a full overview of all whisky bottlings) existed side by side.

It finally dawned on me that I could probably have spent all the hours of
'double bookkeeping' on the MM Matrix much more productively. Nowadays
the matrix is extracted from the data on the monitor. Please note that the
matrix and monitor don't include scores for ALL the whiskies we ever tried.
Only whiskies that we sampled seriously enough for a solid score are listed.