Article by Serge: "The hard truth behind this blogger..."

[Luke Gough]

"The hard truth behind this blogger and whisky samples"

Serge covers the whys and wherefores of his blog here:

http://whiskyfun.com/#040212

Comments please...

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I have always thought that the Malt Maniacs were honest in respect to their opinions and I would never fault them for that.

But as with Jim Murray who I also admire it is just one opinion that maybe people tend to put too much credence upon.

No one can be totally unbiased (in my opinion) but that is fine too. Also these guys do it because they love it so again nothing to fault there and fair play to them.

We are all one big community and each person who does some thing for fun and shares it to all should be commended.

I think Serge has wrote a very honest account of his writing and tasting and I'm sure I could not do better .... I've always known he is a man of means and it never surprised me the type of whisky's he drank ... certainly above my means but that is his prerogative. I'd do it too if I could

... but at the end of the day I'm going to trust my opinion in regards to my taste over any body else

I think the more you get into whiskey the more you can find your own way so people should trust their own judgement more and not try and like something that say Jim Murray say's is wonderful.

[DavidH]

I think focusing on samples is missing the far larger perk: access. It's far more seductive being treated like an "insider". Come to our launch, have a private tasting with our master distiller, here's advance, hush-hush info on our next release... that sort of thing.

Not that it's really an issue in Ireland. The makers and sellers here are strangely reluctant to part with info in return for free, positive publicity. Without asking, I get plenty of PR for tequila, bourbon and so on from the US but I can't reliably get the equivalent for Irish whiskey.