What? (What is 'Malt Maniacs'?)

Malt Maniacs is the name for both this website and an international collective of (circa) 24 independent malt whisky aficionados.
The 'collective' (an on-line community with some 'deluxe' features) developed on the World Wide Web around the Malt Madness website that founder Johannes van den Heuvel launched in 1995. Several visitors to the Malt Madness site started posting their comments for the enjoyment and education of other whisky lovers in 1997; the international 'Malt Maniacs' community gradually evolved from there.
When we had grown to 12 members in 2002 we launched our E-zine; in 2005 we had grown to (+/-) 24 'certified' maniacs.
 

Why? (Why we do what we do)

Why do we spend so much of our free time on whisky?
Because we're passionate about one of the few remaining 'authentic' products in the world. With the malt whisky world growing ever more corporate, that authenticity is under constant threat. It's ironic that passionate amateurs like the maniacs are sometimes more concerned with the authenticity of the product than the industry itself. An interesting example is the 'fakes' issue. Where industry organisations like the SWA (Scotch Whisky Association) and 'Keepers of the Quaich' were and are quite happy to ignore the problem of the many fake 'antique' bottlings flooding the market, the maniacs and a few other independent enthusiasts tried to do their part in solving the problem.

Unlike the people working in the industry or the whisky trade, most maniacs don't MAKE any money from whisky.
In fact, the website still COSTS us money - and the ever growing costs of traffic to our website(s) started to exceed the relatively limited means of founder Johannes van den Heuvel some time ago. When he came up with the sensible suggestion to allow a few selected advertisers on the website or use something like 'Google Ads' the maniacs voted to all pay a modest 'membership fee' instead.
You can read more about our 'guiding principles in the Malt Maniacs Manifesto.

And why don't we have an 'open forum' like the Vox Populi section anymore?
Well, we gradually learned that not everybody that posts messages on forums does so for the right reasons.
Some people are simply in love with the sound of their own virtual voice while others might have hidden 'commercial' motives.
That's why we closed the open forum in 2001 and keep a watchful and skeptical eye on the E-pistles that are submitted.
 

Who? (Who are the people behind this website?)

Well, that would be me - 'Editor in Chief' Johannes van den Heuvel - along with (+/-) 24 other 'malt maniacs',
Some of those maniacs are content with submitting the occasional E-pistle while others play a more active and editorial role.
First of all there's Serge Valentin who is in control of the

Since the old website was 'frozen' in the summer of 2006 there have been some changes in the team.
The 'dormant' maniacs Mark Adams (USA), Roman Parparov (Israel) and Alexander van der Veer (Holland) have been relieved of duty on account of them not submitting any E-pistles for over two years. The title 'certified malt maniac' means that you have to put some work into spreading the word - so you could say they lost their certification. German maniac Klaus Everding gracefully resigned with full honours because he didn't feel he could keep up with the maniacal pace. We're still thinking about some honorary title to bestow on Klaus - something along the lines of 'Emeritus Maniacus' or something. Taking the places of the fallen within our ranks are Pit Krause (Germany), Bert Bruyneel (Belgium), Mark Gillespie (USA) and Konstantin Grigoriadis (Greece). That mean's we're still a little eccentric - not to mention Eurocentric.
That's why we decided to (temporarily?) expand the team to 25 members when an African maniac came knocking on our door.
On March 1 Joe Barry from South Africa joined the Malt Maniacs, so our membership list now looks like this;

On this page you can find a few nuggets of sound advice to help you travel safely through the whisky
world as well as this website. We wouldn't want you to injure yourself while browsing the MM website.
Alternatively, just enter the word(s) you want more information about in one of the search boxes below.

Search the Malt Madness site for general information aimed at
relative novices in the world of single malts like a beginner's guide,
information about the 'traditional' Scottish whisky regions and the
main statistics on all malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.
 
Search the Malt Maniacs site for facts & fiction about the finer
details of the alchemic process that gives us single malt whisky.
While we dive to anoracal depths we freely dispense wit and
wisdom about the wonderful world of malt whisky.
 
Search the Whiskyfun site for the incredibly sophisticated tasting
notes (and observations) from Serge Valentin or the concert
reviews from Nick Morgan and Dave Broom. Serge also writes
about motorcycles, philosophy and other 'finer things in life'.

Do you have any questions? If they are 'general' questions about single malt whisky it would
probably be best to check out the Malt Madness section of the site - either the Help page or
the Beginner's Guide. There you can find all the basics about the water of life; whisk(e)y.
This page deals mostly with six hypothetical questions about the Malt Maniacs segment;
 
What? - An introduction to the 'Malt Maniacs' collective and the scope of our mission.
Why? - Why we do what we do; the 'mission statement' of the 24 maniacs if you will.
Who? - Credentials of the certified maniacs and the various 'foreign correspondents'.
Where? - A very simple sitemap and perhaps our very first steps towards 'Malt Maps'.
When? - News on MM Updates and a calendar of whisky events all around the world.
Whuh? - For those of you still feeling burdened with questions at the end of this page.

The 'Personal Profiles' of most of these maniacs can be found in the ADHD section for now.
Fresh profiles will be integrated with the new site as soon as possible.
 

Where? (Where to find certain pages, bottles, bars, etcetera)

This section (designed to help you find your way around the website) will take shape at some point in the future.
We may work on our plans for a 'whisky layer' for Google Earth or try to combine 'MaltMaps' with our database. Join the 'Mixed Messages' mailinglist (see address below) if you want to stay updated on the developments.

The 'where' question could also apply to 'where to find certain information.
Please bear with me while I try to finish the structure of this website. Once I'm done I can get to work on the sitemap. 
 

When? (When to expect new issues and whisky events)

Do you want to know when the next issue of Malt Maniacs will be published?
Just join the 'mixed messages' mailinglist and you'll be informed by e-mail when the next issue is published.
We generally try to get together one fresh issue by the first of each month, but sometimes we publish 'sneak previews' and 'special editions' for the members of the mailinglist as well.

When it comes to events like whisky festivals you can check out the World Wide Whisky Events page.
It is mainained by Konstantin Grigoriadis from Greece. Drop him a message if you think you know of an event that's worthy of inclusion in the list - you can find his address at the bottom of the WWWE page.
 

Whuh? (Whuh?)

Let's see, what else?
Ah, yes... The bug on the old site with overlapping text on some browsers has now been solved. However, the 'price' is some empty room at the bottom of many pages. Ah well, I guess you could use that extra space to scribble notes on...

Do you have any other questions?
If they're questions about single malt whisky, it would be best to check out the Beginner's Guide on Malt Madness.
Information, opinions and tips about whisky is the only sort of guidance that you can expect on these pages, I'm afraid. We can't offer much in the area of fundamental questions like 'why are we here?' and other heavy stuff - you'll have to figure out all that for yourself...

Sweet drams,

Johannes van den Heuvel
Editor Malt Madness / Malt Maniacs