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 me to start work on...
 
... (drumroll) ...
 
... the Advanced Beginner's Guide to Single Malt Scotch Whisky - a downloadable PDF with all the information you'll need to evolve from a (relative) 'beginner' in the field of single malts to a fully fledged 'connoisseur'.  However, that advanced guide isn't available just yet...
 
 

 
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 these days they make whisky elsewhere too... With the growing quality of whiskies from Ireland and Japan (not to mention faraway colonies like Tasmania) it's about time I paid some more attention to distilleries in those countries in the Deviant Drams section. However, the 'Deviant Drams' section is still under construction - for now I'll have to point you to the Lex-icon on Malt Maniacs for an overview of all malt whisky distilleries world-wide. 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, new distillery projects and an overview of independent bottlers.
Last but certainly not least: there's a massive interactive whisky map of Scotland with the locations of all distilleries.
 
 

 
The name 'mAlmanac 'is short for 'malt almanac' - a pocket-sized (well, virtually...) guide to malt whisky.
It started out as a site section that contained everything that didn't quite fit into one of the other four site
sections of Malt Madness, but evolved into a simplified shopping guide with an overview of some;
 
1) Highly interesting new releases (the Hot List with a few relatively recent releases that caught my eye.)
2) Highly recommendable whiskies (the Hit List with benchmarks and my all-time favourite malt whiskies.)
3) Highly avoidable whiskies (the nasty Shit List with a list of my least favourite single malts)
4) Highly affordable whiskies (the Bang-For-Your-Buck List shows a modest selection of good buys.)
 
Please keep in mind that all these lists merely reflect my own humble opinion about single malts.
My humble opinions are influenced by my purely personal tastes - so it's entirely feasible that you don't agree.
In that case, I'd like to suggest that you visit Malt Maniacs or Whiskyfun for other perspectives. Otherwise, please check out;

The Hot List - Although it's first on this overview of contents, the Hot List was actually the most recent addition to the mAlmanac. As my Hit List with personal favourites grew larger and larger, the need for a list focusing on the most recent releases became larger and larger too. The Hot List is refreshed every time I discover an especially noteworthy new release. Of course, 'value' is a consideration here as well...

The Hit List - A selection of the best single malts I've sampled, ranked from best to worst.
Well, 'Best' and 'Worst' according to my purely personal standards, of course. My opinion is just that: an opinion.
One of the things that attracted me to single malts in the first place was the amazing diversity in character and style. It's hard for me to respond emotionally to a whisky that has little personality - which happens to be the case with a lot of blends. In my system 50 points equals a neutral attitude towards an alcoholic beverage - it gets me drunk but other than that I neither like or dislike it. On the way down along the scale it will become increasingly difficult to lure me into drinking the stuff. You may have to get physical to force whisky in the 0-10 points segment down my throat, for example. I like personality so much that I can forgive a whisky some offensive traits, as long as it has a character of its own. Even though I think they are 'avoidable' I awarded some single malts on the so-called 'Shit List' up to 59 points. The 'questionable' bracket runs from 60-69 points and contains malts that would be very drinkable if there weren't so many better alternatives. Don't let the name of the 'average' bracket fool you; any of these malts (scoring 70-79 points) is good, no question about it. In my system 75 points is sort of a benchmark. Anything scoring over 75 points is better than average - for a single malt, that is... Things get really interesting at 80 points and above. A score of 80-84 means 'recommendable' and 85-89 stands for 'highly reccommendable'. Very few malts ever reach the summit of the 'close to perfection' bracket (90 points or more). Do you want to know which ones have?
Well, just click onwards to the Hit List and find out...

The Shit List - Well, the name speaks for itself, doesn't it?
The 'Shit List' (pardon my French) is a (reassuringly short) list of single malt whiskies I didn't like.
There are plenty of 'other' whiskies (blends, vatted malts, etc.) and other alcoholic beverages (vodka, gin, etc.) I don't care for, but my comments on these drinks are reserved for the 'Deviant Drams' section. The personal scores I've added to each whisky on the Hit List and the Shit List should give you a pretty good idea how I personally feel about that whisky.

The Bang-For-Your-Buck List - Do I want to pay as little as possible for my malts just because I'm Dutch?
Probably not. That's why I took a long hard look at my Hit List and played a little with my pocket calculator.
The results explain why I rarely invest my money in the bottles at the very top of my Hit List.
 
 

 
Finally, a site section that IS finished - sort of... 
Everything is still rough around the edges, but at least the Liquid Log is surfable
again on the Malt Madness server. So, let me tell you a little more about my log...
 
Since 1997 I've kept a Liquid Log - which evolved into a Liquid Blog in 2005.
My liquid log is a chronological record of my quest to find the perfect single malt
whisky. Both the Log, the Blog and the Scrapbook that I added in 2007 contain
tasting notes and lighthearted observations about single malts & life in general.
Navigating the (b)log should be easy as pie; you can easily access all the 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.
 
In 2005 my log mutated into a Blog - basically my log with more pictures.
The 'big crunch' at the end of 2006 forced me to change the format yet again
into my Scrapbook - all liquid log entries from a single season grouped together.
Via the arrows above each page you can move back & forth in time, as it were...
If you're not interested in the past, you can jump directly to the fresh entries.
 
The liquid (b)log and scrapbook contain all my scores and tasting notes.
However, they are scattered throughout hundreds of different (b)log entries.
That's why I included my Little Black Book with tasting notes on 500 malts in my Liquid Log.
However, by the time I had reached the 500 malts mark, both my 'physical' black book and its virtual counterpart of this site were full.
 
I replaced my actual little black book with a fresh one, but decided to upgrade the on-line version to the Track Record - an alphabetical overview of my scores for the more than 2,000 single malt Scotch whiskies that I've sampled and scored between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2007. If you're looking for a score or tasting notes on a specific single malt, that would probably be the best place to check. Clicking on the name of a whisky will take you directly to the liquid log entry that contains my tasting notes and further comments.
Easy as pie, eh?

Latest Development: my Liquid Log continues through an external service: the Malt Madness Blog on Google.
 
 

 
Please note that my Little Black Book and Track Record only contain notes for single malt Scotch whiskies.
I've added a seperate Deviant Drams section to Malt Madness, dealing with some other alcoholic beverages
like Irish whiskey, Canadian whisky, bourbon whiskey, rye whiskey, cognac, armagnac, calvados, wodka, gin,
grappa, tequila, rum, beer, wine, port and sherry, as well as (single) grain whiskies, vatted malts and blends.
It's still under reconstruction but will offer an overview of my notes and scores for all 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, etc.),
4) whisky - i.e. distilled grain spirit (from pot stills and column stills).

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 reminds one why malts are special.
But enough about that - as I said the new Deviant Drams section is still under reconstruction. The good news is that another section of Malt Madness has now evolved into a brand new separate website, aimed at the real anoraks amongst us.
I mean, of course....
 
 
 

 
I started the 'Malt Madness' site in 1995 and gradually more and more people started sending me reports about their alcoholic adventures. After a while I started to publish some of the more eloquent contributions on the site. More and more people discovered the site and by the end of 2001 we had evolved into an interactive collective of 12 'certified malt maniacs'. That was when we decided to combine our to collective contributions into a seperate E-zine; Malt Maniacs. When we published our umpteenth issue in January 2005 we had grown to a respectable 24 maniacs, reporting from all over the world. The 'malt maniacs' segment of the site is divided into five sections as well, but I suggest you click onwards if you want to find out more about that. Last but certainly not least is the WhiskyFun website from my fellow 'malt maniac' Serge Valentin from France. It is updated with fresh tasting notes every day and offers loads of other great stuff...
 
 

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Join the mailinglist if you want to know when new items will be added to Malt Madness & Malt Maniacs.
 
 

....Beginner's Guide - especially for novices
....Distillery Data - Scotch whisky distilleries
....mAlmanac - a collection of wit & wisdom
....Liquid Log - my diary with tasting notes
....Deviant Drams - reports on other spirits