Scotch whisky

> Hot List - Wanna know which single malt whiskies are 'hot' right now?
The Malt Madness site has been growing exponentially over the past decade. As a result, finding my tasting notes for a particular noteworthy Scotch whisky can be tricky. I used to keep a complete "Best-to-Worst List" of all the single malt whiskies that I've seriously sampled and scored since 1995. You can imagine how this list became hard to manage after my malt mileage passed the 1000 malts mark, so I converted it into my Hit List after the year 2000. And when the Hit List had grown so huge that I had to focus on the very top of that list, I realised that I needed yet another list to deal with the most recently discovered whiskeys; the hot list.

> Hit List - Wanna know which single malt whiskies I like best?
Next to my alphabetical Track Record I used to maintain a full best-to-worst list of all the Scotch whiskies that I've seriously sampled. But listing some very rare independent bottlings that were on the shelves over a decade ago seemed a bit pointless - even to me. So, apart from my all time favourites in the 'gallery of glory' (90 points or more) my new Hit List only contains the 'best and brightest' that are currently available. I suggest that you check out the older entries in my (chronological) Liquid Log if you're looking for a more 'historical' perspective.

> Shit List - Wanna know which single malt whiskies I like worst?
Fortunately, most Scotch malt whiskies that I've tried scored at least 60 points. That means that I've enjoyed them - even if there may be 'better' whiskies available. There are, however, a handful of notable exceptions. Even though I did find some redeeming qualities in the Scotch malt whiskies that scored between 50 and 60 points, I still think that they are 'avoidable' Scotch whiskies. Why? Because there are too many excellent alternatives available. As for the very few malt whiskies that ended up below 50 points (which means I actively disliked them): they are the proverbial 'exceptions to the rule'. But I know whisky lovers can be opinionated people, so I dare you to try some of those bottom shelf whiskies and prove me wrong ;-)

> Bang-For-Your-Buck List - Wanna know which malts offer top value?
Unfortunately, the Scotch whiskies at the top of my Hit List are not always the most affordable whiskies.
In fact, they usually are not. Especially after the turn of the millennium, more and more single malts (and
even ordinary blends) were positioned as premium products - with the prices to match. These days there
are thousands of premium expressions, ranging from forgettable to highly enjoyable. There still are some
good but relatively friendly priced single malt whiskies available in-between the extremes of the spectrum,
but finding them in time is the trick. This list contains the whiskies that offer the most 'bang' for your 'buck'.

> The Reading List - Which whisky books are recommendable?
A relative novice in the malt whisky world usually doesn't spend a lot of money on books about whisky.
This was true in the 1990's, when you could still obtain a bottle of good single malt whisky for roughly the same price as your average whisky book. And it's still true today, when you can get two or three great books for the price of an average bottle of malt whisky. That's why I felt that it was high time that I paid some attention to this topic with a selection of my favourite whisky books that I'd recommend. After all, a good whisky book can enhance your appreciation and enjoyment of almost every glass of malt whisky that you enjoy afterwards.
That makes even a mediocre whisky book a relatively sound investment...

> The Whisky Industry List - Which owner controls which whisky distillery?
Not many people give a lot of thought to the fact that there is an entire "industry" responsible for the delivery of bottles of whisky to customers all around the world - probably because many of those people are intoxicated at the time of consumption or shortly afterwards. For those that are interested in the "balance of power" in the whisky world, I've added a schematic overview of the ownership relationships in the whisky industry.

> My Whisky Collection - What kind of bottles were in my "reserve stock"?
First of all, the title of this page is a little misleading - I've never owned a "whisky collection" as such.
I recognise the human urge to collect stuff like berries and stamps; many of us are still "hunter-gatherers" at heart. However, while I can relate to the primitive urge to hoard as many bottles of whisky as possible, I also realise that this behaviour has been pushing whisky prices upwards for a few years now. So, a few years ago I decided to get off that "merry-go-round". Nevertheless, I felt that the old page itself still serves a purpose.

> My Little Black Book - What did I nose & taste in my first 500 whiskies?
When I started this web site in 1995, it replaced the little black book (and later the stack of little black books) that I had been using to keep tasting notes. The writings of the late, great whisky writer Michael Jackson had inspired me to keep meticulous notes on all the malt whiskies that I sampled as well. I managed to keep the list organised for a few years and a few hundred drams, but after 500 malt whiskies it was replaced by...

> My Track Record (Part I) - What are my scores for +/- 1000 (A-I) whiskies?
The problem with the world wide web is that the technology just develops too bloody fast.
By the time I had collected tasting notes and ratings for around 500 whiskies, the old HTML page had reached its limit with a height of 30,000 pixels. So, I had to think of another system to help people find my tasting notes. For a few years - and roughly 2,000 whiskies - the "track record" provided my scores and links to the tasting notes in my Liquid Log - but it wasn't long before the first page needed to be expanded with:

> My Track Record (Part II) - What are my scores for +/- 1000 (H-T) whiskies?
The antique tool that I've used to build the Malt Madnes site (NetObjects Fusion) doesn't support very large pages. That's one of the reasons why the MM site and certain pages keep 'growing out of their skin'. That means that I had to add this second page to the "track record" after a few years. But it only took a few more years for the second page to reach its limits as well. At that point I decided to get off that particular treadmill and simply add a selection of all my tasting notes on the distillery profiles in the Distillery Data section.
 

 
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Well, that's about it at the moment, actually...
But rest assured that ideas are brewing for other items on the malt whisky mAlmanac. Unfortunately, all
other site sections need working on as well; I have to add a few distillery profiles to the DD section,
I need to finish the Advanced Beginner's Guide and I've hardly begun on the Deviant Drams section.