Are feeling you lost? Well, not to worry; you can use this sitemap to find your way around the Malt Madness site.
And you can probably use some help, if you want to explore every nook and cranny of a site that has been
growing steadily since 1995. The Malt Madness site now has hundreds of pages dealing with a wide variety
of whisky related topics. This sitemap is supposed to provide you with some insight in the website structure.

I've tried to add a sense of logic to this site by dividing it into five main sections. Apart from those sections
(more about these five a little later) there's a 'general' section with a few pages that didn't fit anywhere else.
Most of these pages were added to help you find your way around the site and the rest of the world wide web.
Apart from this sitemap and a page with press information, the general section contains the following pages;

The hyperlinks in the yellow box at the left will take you to the part of this sitemap
that deals with that section. Alternatively, the links below lead directly to a section;
to the Beginner's Guide (for those who have little experience with malt whisky, to
the Distillery Data section with more than a hundred profiles for whisky distilleries,
the mAlmanac (sort of a shopping guide) and my Liquid Log with my tasting notes.

• an introduction to the Malt Madness website and its history,
• a selection of Frequently Asked Questions (about this website),
• a page with some Tweets & Stuff for public entertainment,
• a couple of Liquid Links to other worthwhile whisky websites,
• a contact page with testimonials from 'satisfied customers'.

I imagine that browsing around MM should provide a relatively smooth surfing experience - at
least for those of you that understand the basic navigation logic of Malt Madness and the two
other web sites in our small web ring. Via the three big horizontal tabs at the top of each page
you can jump between Malt Madness, Malt Maniacs and WhiskyFun (hosted by Serge Valentin).
Likewise, the row of tabs directly below that (on the Malt Madness site) allows you to switch
between the different sections of the web site (Beginner's Guide, Distillery Data, etc.).

I will go into more details of each of the five site sections on this page. Just scroll down and read the entire page if
you want to know more about the history and structure of Malt Madness. If you're primarily interested in one specific
site section, you can select one of the links at the right.
 
As you'll find out when you browse through these pages, the reconstruction of Malt Madness isn't finished just yet.
If you follow me on Twitter you'll stay updated about the developments in the whisky world and around this website.

Apart from following the navigation structure of this website,
you could also use the Google search box at the top of this page
(you'll find it on most other pages on this site as well) to look for
specific information about Scotch malt whisky. Search results for
both the Malt Madness and Malt Maniacs web sites will be shown.
 
If that doesn't provide the answers you seek, you might consider
posting your question on the Malt Maniacs & Friends group on
Facebook. At the beginning of 2010, the group already had well
over two thousand members, so you should be able to find some
help and/or directions amongst fellow malt whisky lovers...

The massive disclaimer on the front
page and the picture at the right are the
only alcohol abuse warnings on this web
site. Yes, alcohol is very bad for you - but
so are many other things, like smoking
tobacco. I think it's an adult's own choice.
As far as children are concerned: the kids
that are stupid enough to abuse alcohol
or tobacco in their formative years will
probably be useless later in life as well...

If you stumbled onto MM by accident, you may not have been properly introduced to 'the water of life'.
Or maybe you have been introduced, so you want to learn more about the wonderful world of whisky.
Anyway, this 'Beginner's Guide' to single malt whisky would be a good place to start. The guide is
aimed mainly at visitors of the MM website who have little or no previous experience with single malt
Scotch whisky. Apart from loads of general background information about the history, distillation and
maturation of single malt Scotch whisky the Beginner's Guide offers trivia, hints, tips and tricks.
The information in the Beginner's Guide to single malt whisky is divided in these 10 chapters;

- Chapter 1: Fundamentals - So, what is single malt Scotch whisky exactly and why is it special?
- Chapter 2: Vocabulary - An entire chapter dedicated to terminology and pronunciation and stuff.
- Chapter 3: Geography - The various malt whisky regions of Scotland, from Lowlands to Highlands.
- Chapter 4: Distillation - The production process begins with malted barley and ends with 'spirit'.
- Chapter 5: Maturation - All the fresh spirit needs to evolve into real whisky is time - lots of it.
- Chapter 6: Bottling - At some point the whisky is ready for bottling, so it can actually be distributed.
- Chapter 7: Shopping - Enough dry theory now, let's get down to business: how to spend your hard earned cash wisely.
- Chapter 8: Enjoyment - About glassware, adding water to your dram, temperature and all those other pesky little details.
- Chapter 9: Practice - And now, finally, it's time to actually pour yourself a dram or two of whisky - preferably single malt.
- Chapter 10: Conclusion - Some final words of whisky wisdom, as well as an e-book review that inspired my next project...
 

The Distillery Data section of Malt Madness provides 'distillery profiles' on well over a
hundred active and silent distilleries in Scotland. Each profile provides some statistics
(the region, the neighbours, the year that a distillery was founded, the water source, the
number of stills, the production capacity, etc.), a few paragraphs about the history of the
distillery in question and tasting notes on at least half a dozen expressions - often more.
Apart from the profiles themselves, the DD section also provides a few additional pages,
like an overview of malt whisky brands (you won't find the Port Charlotte or Stronachie
distillery anywhere for example) and pages for the different whisky regions of Scotland.
You can use these 'regional' pages or the interactive map of Scotland to find all distilleries
in a particular region, which could lead you to a few other malt whiskies you might like.
However, the 'terroir' theory has become much less relevant in recent years, so if you're
looking for new discoveries it might be wiser to check another section; the mAlmanac ...

Aberfeldy - Aberlour - Ailsa Bay - Allt A' Bhainne - Ardbeg - Ardmore - Arran - Auchentoshan - Auchroisk - Aultmore
Balblair - Balmenach - Balvenie - Banff - Ben Nevis - Benriach - Benrinnes - Benromach - Ben Wyvis - Bladnoch - Blair Athol
Bowmore - Brackla - Braeval - Brora - Bruichladdich - Bunnahabhain - Caol Ila - Caperdonich - Cardhu - Clynelish - Coleburn
Convalmore - Cragganmore - Craigellachie - Daftmill - Dailuaine - Dallas Dhu - Dalmore - Dalwhinnie - Deanston - Dufftown
Edradour - Fettercairn - Glen Albyn - Glenallachie - Glenburgie - Glencadam - Glencraig - Glen Deveron - Glendronach - Glendullan
Glen Elgin - Glenfarclas - Glenfiddich - Glen Flagler - Glen Garioch - Glenglassaugh - Glengoyne - Glen Grant - Glengyle - Glen Keith
Glenkinchie - Glenlivet - Glenlochy - Glenlossie - Glen Mhor - Glenmorangie - Glen Moray - Glen Ord - Glenrothes - Glen Scotia
Glen Spey - Glentauchers - Glenturret - Glenugie - Glenury Royal - Highland Park - Hillside - Imperial - Inchgower - Inverleven
Isle of Jura - Kilchoman - Killyloch - Kinclaith - Kininvie - Knockando - Knockdhu - Ladyburn - Lagavulin - Laphroaig - Ledaig
Linkwood - Linlithgow - Littlemill - Loch Ewe - Loch Lomond - Lochnagar - Lochside - Longmorn - Macallan - MacDuff
Mannochmore - Millburn - Miltonduff - Mortlach - Mosstowie - North Port / Brechin - Oban - Old Pulteney - Pittyvaich - Port Ellen
Pulteney - Rosebank - Royal Brackla - Royal Lochnagar - Saint Magdalene - Scapa - Speyburn - Speyside - Springbank
Strathisla - Strathmill - Talisker - Tamdhu - Tamnavulin - Teaninich - Tobermory - Tomatin - Tomintoul - Tormore - Tullibardine

These were all active malt whisky distilleries in Scotland, as well as those that were closed since +/- 1975.
But Scotland isn't the only place where they know how to make good whisky these days... With the growing quality of whiskies from Ireland and Japan (not to mention faraway countries like India, Tasmania and Taiwan), it's about time I paid some more attention to distilleries in those countries. I'll try to do that in the Deviant Drams section.
However, that 'Deviant Drams' section is still under construction at the moment...
 
If you prefer to focus your alcoholic attention on Scotland, the 'Distillery Data' section has a few more pages about related topics as well; like silent distilleries, (distilleries that are demolished or 'mothballed') new distillery projects (new distilleries in various stages of planning, construction or early production), an overview of malt whisky brands and an overview of the main independent bottlers. Last but certainly not least: my brother Franc and I managed to construct a massive interactive whisky map of Scotland which shows the locations of all distilleries in Scotland.

The name mAlmanac is short for 'malt almanac' - a pocket-sized (well, virtually...) guide to Scotch malt whisky.
The malt mAlmanac started out as a fairly simplified shopping guide with a selection of some recommendable,
exciting and especially affordable whiskies, but over time a few other pages were added to the mix as well.
After the massive crash of the old Malt Madness site in 2006, I've managed to reconstruct some of these
ancient pages that seemed lost (like my Stock List and Track Record) and added them to this mAlmanac.
 
However, please keep in mind that many these lists merely reflect my own humble opinion about single malts.
Those humble opinions are influenced by my purely personal tastes - so it's possible that you don't agree...

01) The Hot List - the most interesting bottlings of whisky that were released (relatively) recently.
02) The Hit List - my all-time favourite single malt whiskies which I wouldn't be afraid to recommend to anybody.
03) The Shit List - some of my least favourite malt whiskies and whiskeys which I would NOT recommend to anyone.
04) The Bang-For-Your-Buck List - a modest selection of malt whiskies that offer the best value for money I think.
05) The Reading List - a overview of the 10 most recommendable whisky books that I have read so far.
06) The Whisky Industry List - a schematic overview of all Scotch malt whisky distilleries and their owners.
07) The Stock List - used to show the contents of my liquor cabinet around circa 2005, but has a broader scope now.
08) Little Black Book - my tasting notes (A-Z) on the first 500 Scotch single malt whiskies that I've seriously sampled.
09) Track Record (A-I) - my scores on +/- 1000 malt whiskies that I tried before 2007 - from Aberfeldy to Imperial.
10) Track Record (H-T) - scores on +/- 1000 malt whiskies I tried before 2007 - from Highland Park to Tullibardine.

First of all, please let me apologise for the crappy navigation of this part of MM.
 
Since 1997 I've kept a Liquid Log - a chronological record of my quest to find the
perfect single malt whisky. It contains tasting notes and light-hearted observations
about single malts & life in general. My liquid log evolved into a Liquid Blog in 2005.
This was basically just my old log with more pictures. The 'big crunch' at the end
of 2006 forced me to change the format yet again into my Scrapbook in 2007.
In the scrapbook, all log entries from a single season are grouped together.
And then I decided to try out a Malt Madness Blog on Google. However, that
also was sort of the beginning of the end for my log. Unlike the old pages, the
blog on Google offered statistics on the number of people actually reading it...
Let's just say that other site sections were far more popular... ;-)
 
This inspired me to spend some more time on other sections of the website.
I wrapped up by blog - at least for now - with entry #400 on June 1, 2012.
You can access all older log entries through the main Liquid Log page (covering
the years 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001) and the Archive that covers 2002,
2003 and 2004. More recent blogging material can be found in the Scrapbook and
the Google Blog, but the liquid log is currently not being expanded or refreshed.

I may start blogging again at some point in the future, but Twitter suits me just fine at the moment.

This site is all about single malt Scotch whisky - but we should not forget about all other drinks that are not:
 
1) Scotch - i.e. produced in Scotland and matured there for at least three years,
2) single - i.e. not blended with the product from another distillery,
3) malt - i.e. distilled exclusively from malted barley (not corn, rye, wheat, etc.),
4) whisky - i.e. distilled grain spirit (from pot stills or column stills).

This part of the 'deviant drams' section is still under construction. In due time, I hope to add some information and tasting notes for
other alcoholic drinks like cognac, armagnac, calvados, wodka, gin, grappa, tequila, rum, beer, wine, port and sherry. In my humble
opinion, the enjoyment of single malt whisky is only enhanced further by an occasional 'detour'. For one thing, comparing the occasional
blend or bourbon 'head-to-head' with a single malt can remind us why many single malt whiskies are so special...
 
And this also concludes our sitemap. I guess the fact that you've read this far proves that this was actually a pretty poor sitemap,
because you still haven't found a link worth clicking on. Yeah, well... Suit yourself then! Please go play outside or something... ;-)

Follow me on Twitter if you want to know when new stuff will be added to Malt Madness.
 

There are many other types of Scotch whisky - blended whiskies (like Johnnie Walker, Bell's,
Dewar's & Cutty Sark), grain whiskies (like Blackbarrel, Cameron Brig, Greenore & Invergordon),
so-called 'bastard' malts (like Glentromie, Finlaggan & Stronachie) and vatted malt whiskies
(a.k.a. blended malt whiskies) like Blairmhor, Monkey Shoulders & Sheep Dip. Click on one of
these links for some information about each category and tasting notes for a few expressions.

The 'Deviant Drams' section of MMadness looks at 3 other groups of drinks.
The first group consists of other types of whisky, the second group of whiskies
from other countries and the third group of all other alcoholic beverages.

I realise that it's pretty Eurocentric (Glencentric?) to group all non-Scottisch whiskies together
under the label 'world whiskies' - but there you have it. The list of countries that produce these
world whiskies includes Australia (Lark), Canada (Lot No. 40), France (Eddu), Germany (Slyrs),
India (Amrut), Ireland (Bushmills, Jameson's), Japan (Nikka, Suntory) and the USA (Jack Daniels).
Each of these countries has its own page, but many more are listed on the world whiskies page.