Jumping the shark - crowd-sourced reviews

And he's got 63 people hooked so far... At LCBO prices he's got enough for one bottle of Lag 16 a month.

Ah, Ralfy. I know. I hear you. I understand. I often wish he'd announced his semi-retirement about three years ago, with occasional reviews every two months or so. That's about when he ran out of the basics, the semi-obtainable interesting stuff, the offbeat stuff (I love his absinthe review), and the valuable lessons.

It's difficult for me not to love the guy. My first purchase of expensive whisky and my discovery of Ralfy came at about the same time, about five years ago. I credit him with a most enjoyable education through my 200-level courses in whisky appreciation. His Masterclass vlogs remain the best of their kind anywhere online.

He plays his personal life close to the vest. I couldn't care less about his personal life, yet I can't help but speculate about his personal finances. Does he live in that Manx bothy? It's my understanding that a Scottish bothy is little more than an abandoned cottage, available to the homeless. I don't know from bothies, I don't know Ralfy's life. Yet it's odd that he seems to dwell in a place heated by only a coal fire. We never see the place, other than the barrel-and-bookshelf view for his reviews, or the occasional by-the-fireplace view for his annual Whisky of the Year vlogs.

I often wonder, does he pay rent and utilities, or does he just use the bothy for a rustic setting for his vlogs? As he's no longer a mortician, does his sole source of income come from being Ralfy? We know his philosophy, we know his politics, we know his whisky opinions. Yet we don't know Ralfy.

Analogy: I took piano lessons from jazz legend Art Hodes for seven years. After about three years, he taught me everything he knew (or, at least, all he could teach), and I should have moved on to another piano instructor at that time. Yet I so loved and respected the guy that I couldn't leave him. I love Ralfy and I still respect him, even as his vlogs are now self-indulgent. I wish that he'd get back to reviewing the Ardbeg 10s of the whisky world...but he's already reviewed Ardbeg 10 twice. He's up to 562 reviews as of this writing, and that doesn't include the "special" and unnumbered reviews. Again, he should have gone into semi-retirement about 262 reviews ago.

Yet I donated $15 to Ralphy tonight. He's become so pompous, so in love with himself. Nevertheless, I'd rather have a whisky world with Ralfy than without.

Say what you will about the guy or what he's become. This is Ralfy. 'Nuf said and shaddap already.

I just watched the latest Ralfy review mentioned above, where he reviews Knappogue Castle 14 Twin Wood. A few thoughts on this video and on Ralfy’s “stuff” (sic) overall:

•Yep, he did the “I’m eccentric” thing at the beginning. He’s always done that and I’ve always found it annoying, just like I’ve always found it annoying when ANYONE claims qualities for themselves. But, no change from the past.

•He spends much of his 23 minutes here championing more “craft presentation” of Irish whisky. Yes yes yes to that!

•He touches on some festival he went to and whom he met there. I could do without that, but these videos seem to be a prime communication vehicles for him and these fellas, so OK.

•He reviews a higher-end Knappogue Castle. I know saying that states the obvious and repeats what I said above, but what a fine choice for a guy who’s done HUNDREDS of reviews. Yes, I’m a Knappogue fan.

•It’s probably true that whisky newbies comprise much of his following. It’s DEMONSTRABLY true that the comments attached to his video are newbie-riffic. I’d love to see a Connosr–, WhiskyWhiskyWhiksy–, or Scotchit–caliber discussion follow each video instead, but that ain’t happening. It is what it is. Is he affected by his hordes of sycophantic newbie followers? Maybe. Probably! But I’m not feeling any change in what he delivers.

•As far as I know, he’s the one we all have to thank for the popular notion of “craft presentation:” 46%+ ABV, not chillfiltered, uncolored. Again, yes yes yes. And he sings that song in this video.

I guess my point is that I really don’t see any shift in our bothy-dwelling friend. Ralfy still = good.

@WhiskyBee , I like your piano teacher analogy.

Also, I'm posting again to point out that you and I were probably writing our two above posts at the same time, and mine is NOT a reply to yours. :)

As whiskybee puts it, with all of his flaws I'd still rather have a whisky World with ralfy than without him. I do not love everything about him (or hardly anyone else for that matter) but he's a nice guy and I appreciate his reviews even if he might have become a little full of himself. I'm gunning for a bottle of ledaig thanks to him and serge, probably wouldn't have any notion of its existence without those two gentlemen

@Alexsweden if your interested in a Ledaig as your next purchase I suggest you look at some of the youngish releases from Signatory and Van Wees . These are all from first-fill Sherrywood , about 70+ euros and are all getting marks from 89 to 91 on whiskybase. These release's all sell quickly and are very highly regarded by whisky fans , some of the highest marks given on whiskybase are for these expressions. I haven't got my hands on 1 yet but I mean to very soon.

I actually like Ralfy's longer reviews and I applaud the change in his approach. We are not whisky robots, after all. It's unfortunate that people like Nozinan and Bluenote use the doublebind and bullying to enforce participation on this website into a very narrow and obsessively "on track" discussion about whisky that is robotic instead of a dialog that organically evolves with a human touch.

My estimation of Ralfy's reviews have gone up geometrically in relation to his willingness to have a chat about more than simply tasting notes and whisky talk that is totally "on point." Since this is my nature as a reviewer of whisky, as well, I tend to take the same approach. I care about people deeply. I want the world to be a better place, and I recognize that the Internet has been structured to keep people buying and talking like robots rather than in the old world way of intellectual pondering and ruminating about topics of value. Yes, back prior to the mid 20th Century few people had college degrees but the world was brimming with self educated intellectuals. Today, sadly, the opposite is the case: the world is full of college graduated which, even in school, are discouraged from having intellectual discussions and thinking very deeply about much of anything at all.

Here on Connosr, this trend is par for the coure. Unfortunately, the "whisky police" decent like a pack of hyenas to bully folks who relate whisky to the world at large instead of merely vice versa.

As Ralfy so often reminds us, good whisky is like good conversation: it takes time to evolve in the glass and between persons. Time in a Youtube video often equals a longer video. Time on a website like Connosr = more words on the page--words which, oftentimes, are not obsessively merely about whisky, but also about human beings and the world at large. Obviously, whisky reviews are not the place for long meandering "diatribes" a world that the whisky police tend to use very liberally. But the comments section IS the place for a human touch and yes even talk that is not obsessively about whisky.

HINT: IF THE FOLKS WHO RUN THIS SITE REALIZED THIS FACT, THEN THEY WOULD ALSO UNDERSTAND HOW TO ATTRACT MORE PARTICIPANTS ON THE SITE.

As for Nozinan's earlier talk about the perils of overdoing whisky, I was one of his strongest supporters at the time and I still applaud his good council on this topic. I also think he was peer pressured to back off his approach, which was informed by his career as a physician, and that's a shame. Over time, I've seen his personality devolve on this website into a typical whisky robot who also censors others if they are not whisky robots, as well. Consume, consume, consume. Good! Consume consume consume. Good! That is my program. Must not vary from my program. More talk about whisky equals more income for the whisky industry. consume consume consume, consume, consume. . .. .

I have been accused of writing too much about politics and engaging in other "diatribes." If one were to go back through my reviews, one would see that the reviews themselves were mostly about whisky with a mere spice or peppering of other tid bits of interest to me. It's called the human touch. It's called somebody who refuses to devolve into a whisky robot.

Most of my digressions into other subjects happened in the comments sections of my own reviews when I was badgered, insulted, and falsely maligned for daring to be myself either in the review, or, more often than not, for making a comment in response to another comment, in my own review, that was about more than simply whisky. This type of digression tended to snowball as I was accused of digressing. It is my nature to rebel to people who tell me what to do and who insult me. Ironically, I have this in common with the true pioneers of the whisky industry--folks who would tend to get along with Ralfy and NOT with very many writers on this website. Yes, that's right: big shocker: the whisky industry was created by rebels who went into the hills and mountains in direct disobedience to authority that was unfairly telling them what to do. Today, big corporations run most of the distilleries and these corporations are linked to the relatives of the very people who sent the original whisky pioneers into the mountains to flee from being told what to do and from having their incomes unfairly taxed and regulated (like today).

The last time I went off topic and decided to quite Connosr, I was innocently accused of being un-American because I suggested that the vast amount of Americans didn't know much about good single malt whisky. This was uttered with a qualifier that since America has so many hundreds of millions of people, it still has a very respectable class of whisky experts and well educated drinkers, just not as a very high percentage of the population. In Europe, there have been well educated consumers of whisky for much longer and they established channels and connections that continue into the present day. That's why so many great casks rated on Whiskybase go to England, Germany, France, Belgium, etc.

Well, I straightened out a very innocent exception that another reader had taken to my comments and all was well. At this point the thread turned back to whisky . . . until some of the whisky police (one of whom was Bluenote) came into the comments section of my review and started making trouble because the comments section of a review, that was pretty far down in the comments area BTW, dared to speak of something other than whisky. This is what set me off, along with Bluenote's (and a few other people's) trollish ways that seek to bully and badger those who do not conform to his very narrow definition of "whisky talk." In other words, those who dare not to be . . . that's right, "Whisky Robots."

This sort of bullying and trolling is the reason that Connosr's participation has shrunk to a mere shell of its former self.

What's perhaps the most ironic is how Bluenote, in his own closed minded way, is trying to serve the best interests of Connosr, despite the fact that his badgering and trolling ways have at least partly destroyed it. And, of course, there are few others, aside from Bluenote, who share his unfortunate penchant for trolling and bullying others who do not conform to a very narrow definition of "acceptable" talk about whisky and whiskey.

Tonight, I shall raise my glass in a toast to Ralfy for his willingness to be a real person and to talk about more than simply whisky on his website.

I have no problem with Ralfy's ads on the site either!

As Bluenote so typically infers, he would expect Ralfy to pay out of pocket for tons of whisky bottles that would put any normal man in the poorhouse . . . or, to become corrupt and take free bottles and samples from distributors and distilleries like many other reviewers tend to do. Ralfy does neither and I applaud his independence from the corrupt dark underbelly of whisky industry insiders.

Any time I read a review that has been written by someone who admits to having received a full bottle or a sample from a whisky insider (distributor, ambassador, or distillery) I tend to take that review with a grain of salt. And what's more, I also look for telltale signs of good ole boy connections to the whisky industry amongst reviewers.

To me, back door connections and networking for free samples and bottles (and, dare I say it, yes, outright bribes) is anathema to good reviewing and honesty.

Of course, samples from fellow whisky drinkers is a totally different story.

The dirty little secret of the whisky industry is the fact that some reviewers are sent samples that are NOT the same as the bottling runs at all. I just read a review the other day that reeked of that bait and switch tactic and the reviewer didn't seem at all suspicious of the way his sample differed so dramatically from what other reviewers had tasted when they had bought their own bottles--albeit in England and not in the USA, where the bottle is not yet available.

Sending off whisky "samples" from rigged bottlings (that differ from what the public is drinking) DOES happen and anyone who says it doesn't is either naïve or corrupt.

Three cheers to Ralfy: Hip hip hurrah, hip hip hurray, hip hip slainte!

Well, I'll have to look back through all my comments on connosr and see if I can find the point at which I became the whisky anti-Christ. My sincere apologies to anyone who has felt bullied by any of my contributions or comments.

@BlueNote, A toast to you, a gentleman indeed; however, I believe the wrong person is apologizing. These didactic and superfluous annotations do nothing but create a rigmarole, or a former rigmarole. It is difficult to accept hypocrisy as sincerity. I wonder what comes next?...@malarkey? @flibbertigibbet @choo

@paddockjudge, you are the other troll on this site that has harassed people, along with Bluenote. You obviously didn't even read my comments about Ralfy.

You, sir, are a big reason this site is dying and has a mere fraction of its former participants. Shame on you. Put quite simply, you are bad for business.

Together with Bluenote, you run this site into the ground. Imagine all of the money that has been put into developing Connosr and maintaining it. Do you think it exists for you and a handful of your buddies? Nope.

But I know that I am speaking to a brick wall. You will never learn. And stop with the coy allusion to Rigmorole. Everybody knows I used to be Rigmorole. I've openly admitted it several times already in response to troll harassment from you and Bluenote.

Why don't you two get a hotel room together so that you can fantasize about starting your own website together? I have a suggestion for what you might call it: how about the opposite of "whiskyfun?" Because together you two are a complete and utter buzz kill.

@Cunundrum, Cheers dude, you are certainly entertaining.

@Cunundrum, I actually agree with most of your comments on Ralfy.

Wow, what can happen on a 4.5 hour flight... I come back to this!

@conundrum, I don't know what it was I did to earn your wrath after simply welcoming you back with a comment that it's hard to stay away, and when I suggested, not really to you, that we stick to the discussion of whisky and related interests, somehow you took offense.

I do NOT apologize. I think you should apologize to all of us.

You claim to be a "supporter" of my original discussions around alcoholism yet if I am not mistaken you joined months or years after that took place. So my conclusion is that after wearing out your welcome under another name, you decided to try a clean start. Well, they say third time is the charm...good luck to you.

It is totally OK to discuss concerns about online video bloggers and to share my disappointment in a whisky expert I looked up to.

And if you want to talk about bullying, read your own manifesto you posted a few entries above, that pretty much describes it.

I had hoped to give you the benefit of the doubt on your return. Seems I shouldn't have bothered.

@Nozinan, as usual you are applying a liberal dose of the "double bind." Look up the term. Learn the magic of your craft that you do quite naturally (all the fricking time when you are openly confronted) because it has, most likely been done to you, especially in childhood, and obviously with dramatic effect.

There are two sorts of people in Western society that really fall back on this method of controlling others: doctors and clergy.

You, sir, are most certainly a troll at times, although not of the highest order like Padlock and Bluefin. For you, it seems mostly to be a learned trait by spending too much time on this site.

At any rate, I'm glad you had a safe flight. Be well, and follow your own advice about whisky consumption. You were correct. I like you better a few years ago. These days, you seem more like a programmed multiple on autopilot.

Good evening to you. I hope you have a nice relaxing dram before bedtime. And even though I am irritated to a great extent by Madlock and Bluefudge, I still wish them well and hope they stay happy and healthy. I never wish anyone ill, even my enemies, although I don't consider anyone on this site to be an enemy. And now, I think I will watch a couple of Ralfy videos along with a dram of Uigeadail 2011, my favorite whisky of 2015.

i've had the pleasure of meeting ralfy in person at spirit of toronto a few years back. i found him to be quite pleasant, perhaps even a little shy. just a regular guy, really. even came to the pub for the (first) afterparty, enjoyed a couple pints.

i'm likely in the minority, but i've never really been a fan of his video reviews, even when they were far shorter. don't think i've watched one in a couple years, and doubt i've made it through an entire single one ever. i reckon the whole video format just doesn't agree with me. it's not him, it's me ;-)

all that being said, if there are others, and there seem to be many, who get hours of entertainment from the man, then i don't really seem the harm in tossing a few dollars his way to keep the cupboard stocked - if they so choose. i doubt anyone would truly question the man's love of whisky, and i'd rather see fans paying him than the industry....

@Conundrum and Ralfy sure do have something in common. They both clearly love to hear themselves talk.....

Nothing against you @conundrum, but if you have an issue with someone, send them a private message. Calling them out and airing your grievances within posts on the main boards is just asking for people to come back and troll your posts. Keep your directed hate to PM's and leave it out of the public message boards. Just my two cents.

@mscottydunc @mscottydunc The Three Mouseketeers started the attacks in public on replies to MY reviews and in replies to MY posts on boards, and MY original board topics both as Conundrum and as Rigmorole. You see, there is a history of aggression here that you are completely ignorant about.

Most of my initial post in this topic, Jumping the Shark, was about Ralfy. Other than that, I've been replying to The Three Ratketeers.

As for me being like Ralfy, yes I am. I've already said that. I stand in proud company. If you had read the initial post that I spent about thirty minutes writing on this board today, you would know that. Obviously you have not read it. Instead, you just toggled to the end of the board, checked out a few lines, and then wrote you "two cents."

In relation to your statement that Ralfy and I love to hear ourselves talk, would you rather listen to reviews like all the others? Most whisky reviews are paintfully similar. In fact, I can tell, as a seasoned writer of over thirty years, that most just read the first few reputable reviews on a whisky and then tailor their reviews around it like rank amateurs.

Speaking of which: Have you read my reviews, Scotty? What do you think of my last review, for instance? Do you even know which whisky I reviewed?

I am, without a doubt, one of the top five writers EVER to write reviews on this site, in terms of my word craft, the sharpness and sensitivity of my sense of smell, touch, and taste, as well as my general knowledge of single malt whisky, which I've been drinking attentively since the mid 1980's.

And how about you, Scotty? That's right, YOU.

Let's talk about you, my friend. You haven't even written even so much as ONE review yet. You are a nobody until you write a review. NOBODY.

It's time to stop petting your golden retriever and write a whisky review tonight. And if you don't have a whisky or a whiskey to review, then drive down to your local bar and TASTE ONE. Later, after you've written YOUR FIRST REVIEW, then get back to me.

I will read your first whisky review attentively, which is more than I can say for at least two of the Three Suskateers who fly pretty much by the seats of their britches.

@thecyclingyogi that's cool you met Ralfy, even though he really isn't a celebrity to me, and the experience didn't particular impress you other than affirming that he is a "nice shy person."

I wasn't aware of Ralfy's "buy me a wee dram" thing until Noz brought it to our attention. I think this is a rather cool discussion and quite refreshing, given the usual grind on the discussion these days which slavishly track people's buying habits in the way a corporation might to cull data for its marketing department.

I do think that I will send Ralfy a FIVE SPOT. And why not? He totally deserves five bucks for all of the hard work he's done. Yes, that's right Malt Mates, Ralfy's vids have MOST DEFINITELY played a hand in shaping the whisky industry for the better (more craft oriented and creatively made offerings, less E150a, less chill filtering, higher ABV, etc.).

To me, Ralfy is most interesting when discussing single malt blends and single malt whiskies (not whiskey or rum), Scotland, and government (in that order). I do enjoy his occasional wonderings into the realm of politics.

In fact, I was quite interested during the election in Scotland involving the (alleged) chance for independence. I threw maybe 10 percent commentary about the (alleged) referendum into one or two reviews at that time on Connosr, and took holy hell for it. (I was for independence, yes, as was Ralfy.)

I also suspect that, in private, Ralfy and I might agree on the strong possibility that the election was really just for show anyhow and hence "rigged." Then again, one should never underestimate the number of citizens in any socialized country that can be brainwashed by the Power Elite to pick the hemp, make the rope, selection the tree, rent the horse, hoist themselves up by the neck, and hang until dead. And, no I'm not a "conservative republican" either. I loathe both major parties here in America equally.

I've also tracked Ralfy's somewhat cryptic comments about the future and I agree with nearly all of them. He's "awake" (as most Scottish were up until the 1980's or so) even though he keeps a low profile about it.

And, believe it or not, MY POLITICAL COMMENTARY IS ON TOPIC FOR THIS PARTICULAR POST by Nozinan. Great post, Doc! . I've very much enjoyed reading through the comments.

@Cunundrum Let me start off by saying that I only have an associates degree, and by your standards I'm just a run of the mill dumb American.

I'll put this as eloquently as possible...Stop being an asshole.

@FMichael Really, what gave you that idea? I've never said anything like that before about college degrees.

Ah yes, I seem to remember your personality now. You're the curve ball kid. Obviously, you are referring rather obtusely to the way I responded to a person who gave me rather course advice after contributing no reviews whatsoever to this site.

I have written 250+ reviews on Connosr. As Rigmorole, much of what I wrote was highly artistic and professional in terms of the craft and also fairly advanced in terms of the actual information and sensory impressions conveyed. As Cunundrum, I was a bit more lax and just tied to have fun.

At any rate, this site isn't fun for me at all. It's work and I'm used to getting paid for my writing, or at least some appreciation. This site offers none of that. It used to be far better. When I first joined quite a few years ago, Connsor was vibrant, alive, and brimming with enthusiasm for whisky. Now it's like a ghost town.

As of midnight tonight North American Western Time, I rinse my hands of this website forever. I will not be logging on even to check my mail, so don't bother sending me anything. Enjoy.

@FMichael @paddockjudge @BlueNote @mscottydunc

You know the old saying.... If you ignore it, it will go away.... I think we should do exactly that - I'm sure Ralfy will get along fine...

Oh @Conundrum, did you think I was talking about you?

Goodbye and good luck...a THIRD time. When you come back next time let's see how long it will take for us to figure out who you are. I would reckon after your third post.

"History repeats itself; but the first time it's tragedy and the second time it's comedy." Karl Marx.

The third time, I think it's just sad.

So long, rigmorundrum, I'm sure you will find somewhere else to spew your vitriol.

Returning to the original subject of this thread, a simple observation that Ralfy has now got $250 US per month coming in. That's $3000 a year!

That would be:

1. close to a bottle of Port Ellen or Brora at LCBO

2. Over 30 bottles of A'Bunadh in Ontario (or Blanton's Gold if anyone could find it)

3. Close to 30 bottles of Springbank12 YO Cask Strength.

4. About 40 bottles of Bowmore Tempest in Ontario or Uigeadail in Calgary.

5. 50 bottles of Booker's Bourbon..mmmmm

It's mind boggling. Of course, rally opens and reviews 5-6 bottles a month so it may not cover all of his expenses (though it is cheaper for him), but at my rate of consumption (rare malts aside) that's a 7-8 year supply. Or, a trip to Calgary for my whole family.

Makes one want to sign up to be sponsored....

$250/month sounds about right for what he contributes. Good for him.

And I didn't follow this crazy thread during its most argumentative days above, but yowza. And I didn't know that Cunundrum was the same as old Rigmarole. Ha. Dude, your old reviews really were much more entertaining than the average. I hope your write more.

Well, I was gonna comment here with some thoughts about Ralfy (mostly positive, BTW) but after reading--then just skimming--the posts in this thread, I think I'll just bow out now.

Man, this was a crazy old thread!

Hey Dr. @Nozinan: If know you've historically been "interested," we'll say, in Ralfy's medical advice. In case you care to see another example, check out his comments on cancer in this Laphroaig IB review:

www.youtube.com/watch

@MadSingleMalt He (Ralfy) has a medical degree from the U of You Tube. Surely that qualifies him to give medical advice.

If you pay up you can have access to additional content. As if 20+ minutes is not enough.

Just come across this thread and re. the OP I have to say, like others, I like ralfy and came across him pretty much as i got 'into' single malts. I've found his reviews, and some of the additional info., really helpful and interesting.

I generally like his meandering but recently I find I'm skipping to the notes and mark then calling it a day. The recent Pewdiepie review though was a bit of an odd one but I can see why he did it. Fair play to him I say.

Would more than happily buy him a nip or two and think he'd be good company - not so much of a fan of this Patreon malarkey though . . . although the STDs (who I quite like) are top of the class in self-marketing. I put it down to a cultural thing?! Best not be too damning though as I just won two glasses on a comp they were running and am still awaiting delivery

This really is a great thread! :)