January 2005 .

201 - 01/01/2005 - The Best Intentions; time for another doomed attempt to quit smoking.
202 - 02/01/2005 - Silent Stills, Part I - What have I learned about the silent stills of Scotland?
203 - 03/01/2005 - Silent Stills, Part II - Further research into the (relatively recent) past.
204 - 05/01/2005 - Silent Stills, Conclusion; or how I found out that three just isn't enough.
205 - 06/01/2005 - Alexander The Great; a quick & dirty report on a long & winding session.
206 - 09/01/2005 - Reconstruction Complete; most of the damage of the mini crash is fixed.
207 - 10/01/2005 - Another Fraud? We received an alarming report about a potential new fake bottling.
208 - 11/01/2005 - The Plot Thickens. As it turned out, Ulf Buxred already knew about the fake Hazelburn.
209 - 12/01/2005 - The Response - a (short) response from the German seller of the fake Hazelburn.
210 - 14/01/2005 - Arran; I was pleasantly surprised by the latest Arran experiment: Marsala.
211 - 15/01/2005 - Pigs in Space. Hurray! Dave Broom joined the maniacs. We're now 24 strong.
212 - 17/01/2005 - Cadenheads & Tales; a quick report on my latest Cadenhead's discoveries.
213 - 27/01/2005 - Flu-Id; after recovering from the flu I finished the new FAKE ALERT page.
214 - 30/01/2005 - Tag Your Shovel Day; after many distractions it's time to taste some single malts.
 

February 2005 .

215 - 01/02/2005 - A Wonderful Opportunity; I'll need to 'work' my way to Scotland
216 - 04/02/2005 - Kilchoman; finally there's some good news from Islay's youngest distillery
217 - 05/02/2005 - The Big Stretch; I decided I could 'stretch' the top of my Hit List a bit.
218 - 08/02/2005 - The Ads Race; Serge's covert marketing operation demanded a response.
219 - 11/02/2005 - Casanova; it's not a 'fake' (it's not even whisky) but I wanted to share it.
220 - 12/02/2005 - Group thinking; some visitors asked why Peter briefly dropped from the matrix.
221 - 13/02/2005 - Collecting; the 'ads race' turned friendly and Serge's latest try set me thinking.
222 - 18/02/2005 - Ardbeg H2H; after a string of bad nose days the conditions suddenly improved.
223 - 22/02/2005 - Islay Medicine; I dealt a pre-emptive strike against the cold with 4 Islay malts.
224 - 25/02/2005 - Italian Notes; I finally managed to make a transcript of my Italian tasting notes.
 

March - May 2005 .

225 - 01/03/2005 - Under Contruction; I decided it was time for a minor overhaul of MM again.
226 - 03/03/2005 - White City; the winter made an unexpected comeback - Ardbeg time!
227 - 21/03/2005 - It's Alive! After three weeks of hard work I've restructured Malt Maniacs.
228 - 23/03/2005 - Fishy Politics; a tasting & a few retarded remarks from George Bush Junior.
229 - 31/03/2005 - Press; it seems our fake hunt is drawing attention. We got mentioned in WM.
230 - 07/04/2005 - More politics; another tasting and more retarded remarks by George Bush Jr.
231 - 14/04/2005 - 'Refill' Springbank; yep, we found another fake. An open & shut case it seems.
232 - 17/04/2005 - Glen Grand; time to find out if there's a reason for my adoration of Glen Grant.
233 - 27/04/2005 - Scottish Shuffle; Pernod's bid on Allied inspired a session with six Highland Parks.
234 - 30/04/2005 - Walpurgis 2005; Six rums in Fabio Rossi's 'Rum Nation range. Great stuff!
235 - 04/05/2005 - Brorathon Part 1; Two young Broras and an 'old' (pre-Brora) Clynelish.
236 - 07/05/2005 - Brorathon Part 2; Four 19yo expressions - two from 1981 and two from 1982.
237 - 09/05/2005 - Brorathon Part 3; Four different versions of Brora, all bottlings in their early twenties.
238 - 12/05/2005 - Brorathon Part 4; Three 30yo bottlings from Brora, all scoring comfortably in the 90's.
239 - 23/05/2005 - Fantasy Island; I'm off to Scotland for Feis Ile 2005. Expect a full report shortly...
 

June 2005 .

25/05/2005 - 1st Prelude - Davin & I arrive in Glasgow and do some dramming.
26/05/2005 - 2nd Prelude - Davin & I visit Glengoyne before joining up with Serge and Olivier.
27/05/2005 - 3d Prelude - The fearsome foursome visits Oban (great) and Springbank (erm...).
28/05/2005 - Feis Ile Day 1 - A sampling 'on the high seas' and a fantastic visit of Lagavulin.
29/05/2005 - Feis Ile Day 2 - Open day at Bruichladdich, followed by dinner at Martine's house.
30/05/2005 - Feis Ile Day 3 - Samplings on various beaches, great dinner at Port Charlotte Hotel.
31/05/2005 - Feis Ile Day 4 - Tour of Laphroaig, hike to watersource, blind tasting at Ardbeg, ...
01/06/2005 - Feis Ile Day 5 - Tour of Kilchoman, Balvenie session, visit the ruins at Kilchoman, ...
02/06/2005 - Feis Ile Day 6 - Putting the 10,000th score on the monitor, visiting PLOWED HQ, ...
03/06/2005 - Feis Ile Day 7 - Opening of Kilchoman, open day at Bunnahabhan. And sampling...
04/06/2005 - Aftermath - The maniacs say goodbye to Islay for another year. But we'll be back!

July 2005 .

241 - 01/07/2005 - MM15; Hurray, the first E-pistles of Malt Maniacs #15 are finally finished.
242 - 12/07/2005 - Swedish Session; Foreign correspondent Robert Karlsson visited Amsterdam.
243 - 14/07/2005 - Brain Candy; The Yes Men - the first in a new series of unmalted musings.
244 - 15/07/2005 - Look Ahead Part I; Balblair, Dalmore, Dallas Dhu, Dalwhinnie, Glenury Royal, etc.
245 - 21/07/2005 - Look Ahead Part II; Auchroisk, Glencadam, Deanston, Glenlossie, Tomatin, etc.
246 - 23/07/2005 - 10,000; MM now has well over 10,000 unique visitors a month. I'm egotripping!
247 - 25/07/2005 - Shelf Cleaning; Time to finish some bottles that had been breathing too much.
248 - 27/07/2005 - Ear Candy: The 365 Days Project - some of the weirdest music you'll ever hear.
249 - 29/07/2005 - Balvenie 1973; More details on a tasting with eight Balvenie 1973 cask samples

August - September 2005 .

250 - 01/08/2005 - A Look Ahead Part III; the 'plan of attack' to finish my malt mission a.s.a.p.
251 - 07/08/2005 - Belgian Bottles; a session with a few samples sent by maniacs Luc and Thomas.
252 - 09/08/2005 - Google Earth; I've discovered a nifty piece of software. Highly recommendable.
253 - 14/08/2005 - 'B' Profiles; After neglecting the distillery profiles for a while I finished the 'B' part.
254 - 15/08/2005 - Haarlem Session; Michel van Meersbergen invited me over for some rare drams.
255 - 21/08/2005 - Eye Candy; Escher - an exhibition about MC Escher inspired a small session.
256 - 01/09/2005 - Glenfar Class; a study in excellence - Luc sent me some great Glenfarclasses.
257 - 05/09/2005 - Three Grains; Cameronbridge, North British and Port Dundas by Duncan Taylor.
258 - 09/09/2005 - Eye Candy; SMWS & 26 - a collection of wonderful and unconventional labels.
259 - 21/09/2005 - Alsace 2005; I joined Serge, Olivier, Luc and Davin for the 'awards filling party'.

October - December 2005 .

260 - 01/10/2005 - Please Hold; my Liquid Log went into hibernation before the 2005 MM Awards.
261 - 01/11/2005 - Autumn in Amsterdam; the weather is finally turning. As good an excuse as any.
262 - 08/11/2005 - Three Islands; an investigation of the products from Arran, Orkney and Skye.
263 - 11/11/2005 - Mirror Walpurgis; twice a year I turn my foggy eyes towards some 'deviant drams'.
264 - 13/11/2005 - Private Feis Ile; The awards left me tied to home so I planned a private session.
265 - 15/11/2005 - MM Awards 2005 Winners; the leaders of the pack in this year's awards line-up.
266 - 27/11/2005 - Glengoyne; After making a strong impression last year, 2005 was a real victory lap.
267 - 30/11/2005 - Silly Stats; As it turns out I've misinterpreted some of our more recent statistics.
268 - 01/12/2005 - Awards Review 1; After analysing the biggest winners it's time to look at the rest.
269 - 05/12/2005 - Awards Review 2; Let me tell you about Sinterklaas while I sample some Caol Ila's.
270 - 10/12/2005 - Awards Review 3; Working my way down the list I've arrived in bronze medal territory.
271 - 12/12/2005 - Awards Wrap-Up; Let's spend a few words on the last noteworthy awards entries.
272 - 15/12/2005 - More Classic Malts; Diageo recently introduced the new & improved 'Classic Malts Selection.
273 - 18/12/2005 - Amsterdramming; maniacs Alexander van der Veer & Michel van Meersbergen dropped by.
274 - 23/12/2005 - 2005 Wrap-Up; an assembly of my final observations, comments and tasting notes for 2005.

January - February 2006 .

275 - 01/01/2006 - The Big Sprint; I really need to focus on the 'obscure' stuff this year...
276 - 03/01/2006 - The Whisky Fair; Carsten Ehrlich sent me a couple of 'WhiskyFair' bottlings
277 - 07/01/2006 - Amsterdam Ardbeggeddon; I decided to have a little 'dependance' Ardbeg session.
278 - 15/01/2006 - Malt Whisky Yearbook 2006; a book review - supposed to be the start of a tradition.
279 - 22/01/2006 - Big Fiddich; a session with the latest batches from the largest distillery in Scotland.
280 - 25/01/2006 - A Bunch of Balvenies; after 'Big Fiddich' it's time to look at its sister distillery.
281 - 27/01/2006 - Virus; Malt Madness has been temporarily shut down due to a virus on my PC.
282 - 01/02/2006 - Worms; recovery & repair operations on my PC showed that I'm heavily infected.
283 - 03/02/2006 - Maggots; my PC is up and running again - time to share my feelings and tips.
284 - 05/02/2006 - Birthday Brorathon; I'm turning 40! What better excuse to enjoy a few Broras.
285 - 10/02/2006 - Charlie's Whisky; I've discovered an ultra cheap blend that bears Charlie's name.
286 - 15/02/2006 - Whisky PC; an interesting novelty found on the web - a PC inside a whisky bottle.
287 - 19/02/2006 - Festival Fever; a report about the Whisky Festival Noord Nederland in Groningen.
288 - 24/02/2006 - Bulking Up; a sneak attack in 'the ads race' & advice on increasing your malt mileage.
289 - 27/02/2006 - February Sessions; a quick wrap up concerning sessions on Texel and in Haarlem.

March 2006 .

290 - 01/03/2006 - Keeping Stock; time to have a look at my recent progress w.r.t. the 'to do list'.
291 - 10/03/2006 - Bourbon & Sulphur; a Maker's Mark ad & some wise words from Olivier on sulphur.
292 - 12/03/2006 - Southern Comfort; a chauvinist Southern Comfort ad and the music to match it.
293 - 16/03/2006 - St. Clynelish Day; apparently, March 16 is Saint Clynelish Day. I didn't know that.
294 - 20/03/2006 - Still Swapping; after the sale of Glen Grant Pernod Ricard is now officially # two.
295 - 21/03/2006 - Springtime; it seems that spring is in the air - time to celebrate with a session.
296 - 24/03/2006 - Blind Laddies (I); a blind tasting including the 'Rocks' and '#D Moine Mhor'.
297 - 25/03/2006 - Blind Laddies (II); a blind tasting including the NAS 'Infinity' and 20yo 'Flirtation'.
298 - 28/03/2006 - The Canadian Situation; is the Liquor Control Board of Ontario up to no good?
299 - 29/03/2006 - Back in Business; Suddenly I find myself in a luxurious and comfortable position.

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Sweet drams!

Johannes