Whisky Gurus

The usual suspects, Ralfy for a great watch, Serge for a great read, Jim Murray, Dave Broom and the many others like them.

As well, the many wonderful members of this site who contribute in far greater ways than I ever have/could, @markjedi1, @two-bit cowboy, @talexander, @WhiskyBee etc. etc. etc. Far too many to list!

And I must mention specifically, that when it comes to anything relating to bourbon or rye, @Victor is probably the most knowledgeable, informative and graciously helpful individual I've ever come across.

While I'm extremely flattered that you listed me as one of your 'gurus' @PMessinger, I assure you there are many, many others far more 'guru worthy' than me ; )

@CanadianNinja - Thanks for the mention. I often shoot my mouth off after having stuck my foot in it, but I appreciate the kind words.

I have so many whisky blogs and websites bookmarked, it's hard to keep track of them sometimes. But there are a few I turn to regularly. I don't necessarily have to agree with a reviewer's tastes on everything. If I get to know one guy's likes and dislikes, I also get to know how they compare with my own.

It's hard not to like Ralfy. He's just so darn entertaining, and he comes across as the nicest guy in the world. But I've learned he can overrate some mediocre drams, and he ignores certain distilleries (such as Balvenie) out of personal bias. No matter. I know when his tastes align with mine, and I use his advice accordingly. Plus, his six-part Whisky Master Class is one of a kind, and I'm glad I discovered it early in my whisky journey.

For an exhaustive resource, Serge Valentin's site is the closest thing to Murray that you'll find online. I'll never taste 95% of the whiskies he reviews, but I read him anyway to see how a true pro does it.

My bourbon knowledge is lacking, but Chuck Cowdery is helping me fill in the gaps. He's also got a great insider's knowledge of the industry, and I consider his site the #1 resource for all things American-whiskey related.

Those are my main go-to guys, but I don't mean to suggest that I don't hold others in equal esteem. John Hansell, Dave Broom, Charlie MacLean, Dominic Roskrow, Oliver Klimek...and about two dozen others whose names don't immediately come to mind are among those I read regularly and respect greatly.

I use Murray to reference certain whiskies, but I'll admit I don't read him regularly because of personal laziness and...well, vanity. I'm pleased that my 57-year-old eyes have never needed glasses, but they wave the white flag when trying to read the tiny type in Murray's book. I refuse to invest in reading glasses for the sake of one book, and I give up after a couple of pages when trying to hold the book open with one hand and hold a magnifying glass in the other. I don't need a large-print version of your book, Mr. M. Just a regular-sized-print version will do.

If I were to list the Connosr members I admire, including those who run some great blogs and sites, my list would be about 80 names long. As much as I've learned from the names mentioned above, this is the #1 site that's contributed to my whisky education. There might be one member whose reviews may be in a class by themselves, but I won't embarrass Victor by singling him out. Oops -- what did I just say!? (So some guys have to settle for being Pippin when Jordan's in the room. You're all Hall of Famers nonetheless.)

@WhiskyBee, I'm in complete agreement with you. Trying to list all of the members on this site who I would consider 'gurus' would make for a very long list indeed. I think you may be in to something my friend... Connosr Hall of Fame...!?

I'll begin with the first nomination @Victor ; )

@CanadianNinja Thanks, the whole point of my discussion was to thank those who I turn to when looking for info / reviews that are loaded with lots of good no nonsence info, and give credit where I feel it's do. You are also right the list is a huge one so again thanks to all who give of their time to share their whisky journey with us. :)

@PMessinger - Wow...just, wow! I think my reaction is the same as many...never expected to be named as a 'guru'...I'm just zis guy, you know...

As for my own gurus there are many, and I don't think I'll be able to list them all:

Dave Broom (love the World Atlas!)

Davin de K (Canadian Whisky)

Johannes van den Heuvel (Malt Madness)

Serge (WhiskyFun)

Ralfy and all the other Malt Maniacs (there are too many to name)

ScotchNoob (@ScotchNoob / scotchnoob.com)

Jason Debly (@jasondebly / Jason's Scotch Whisky Reviews)

the All Things Whisky conglomerate (Calgary)

ScotchBlog.ca (Toronto)

Chip Dykstra (the Rum Howler Blog)

Josh Feldman (the Coopered Tot)

and from within Connosr, and my apologies if I've forgotten someone on the list: @talexander, @markjedi1 (especially for all things Auchentoshan), @two-bitcowboy, @WhiskyBee (for the humour and great reviews!), @systemdown (for the very thorough reviews), @valuewhisky (for his knowledge of bourbon); @victor (for the depth and breadth of his general knowledge and his knowledge of rye), @BlissInABarrel (for her infectious enthusiasm and her great drawings), @squidgyash (for the stories that go along with the whisky reviews) and countless others...way too many to count.

I heartily agree with @CanadianNinja - perhaps we need a connosr hall of fame?

@YakLord - All of the Connosr members you mentioned are on my list as well. If I hadn't been fearful of leaving someone out, I would have given them all a nod.

Thanks for the other names as well. I should be spending the day planning lessons and grading papers, but it'll just have to wait while I check out some new websites.

@YakLord @WhiskyBee @CanadianNinja @PMessinger blushing

Would never have thought I'd see my moniker here. I'm humbled and honored.

@WhiskyBee sometimes the only time I open my mouth is to change feet! Ah, yes, JM's fine print. My arms are too short to read it too. Not because of his book, but I had to get "readers" about a decade ago. I still hate them. "Where did I put them, this time?"

As far as gurus go, I have to nominate everyone on whiskyconnosr! I rarely close a thread without having gained more bits of information than I had before I opened it. It's wonderful.

In addition to the pros already mentioned, I also enjoy morning coffee with these guys: Lawrence @ www.whiskyintelligence.com, Mark @ whiskycast.com, Ruben @ www.whiskynotes.be, and Gavin and Tom @ www.whisky-pages.com

In a whole different category, I also read David Dricoll's blog @ spiritsjournal.klwines.com Sometimes it's like watching a train wreck; you don't want to see it but you can't stop looking. As a spirits buyer and salesman, David gives us a whole different view of the "business" than we get anywhere else. There's entertainment value most days too.

Cheers!

Bob

I'm glad you mentioned Ralfy's 'Whisky Master Class' series @WhiskyBee. I think it's a must watch for anyone looking to educate themselves more.

@CanadianNinja - Yes, and I may have been guilty of under-praising him in my first post. His latest "vlog" on Power's Irish Whiskey is an example of the depth of his knowledge and how dedicated he is to his research.

@two-bit-cowboy - all modesty aside, your experience as a bartender, etc., gives you insight that a lot of us individual consumers don't have. On a related note, you're absolutely right about David Driscoll's blog, and I wish other retailers were willing to be as frank (not that I expect the LCBO to ever be that open...). His post about selling off the 42% ABV Maker's Mark for $5 was incredible, as was his discussion of the dealings with Diageo over the price increases on certain expressions!

@YakLord and @two-bit cowboy those are some more great references the kind of info sharing that I was eluding to with this thread. The ability to share and give of yourself with reviews and insights that others may not have was were I was going. Thanks again. :)

Ralfy, Dave Broom, Charles McLean, Ian Buxton, Gavin D. Smith, Dominic Roskrow, William C. Meyers (a fellow St. Louis native and friend, who co-wrote the 6th edition of Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch, and was one of the contributors to 1001 Whiskies You Must Taste Before You Die), and last but not least, our own @Victor.

@PMessinger @YakLord I agree with Two-Bit Cowboy /Blush. Thanks for the kind words and I'm very glad that you guys enjoy the reviews. It's always a lot of fun writing them.

My personal whisky gurus are many of the usual suspects, Ralfy, Serge, Jim Murray, etc. I don't always agree with them as has already been stated, but knowing any one particular reviewers tastes and preferences can be such a big help in pinpointing my own and being able to help me choose my next bottle.

However as has already been stated before it's mainly the Connosr members here who are my whisky gurus. Over the last 2 years I've learned so very much from all of you guys. @Victor, @Systemdown, @MarkJedi, etc, etc, etc, etc. Too many to name, but honestly it's EVERYONE who's ever contributed to any of the discussions or any of the reviews in a meaningful way (we do get the occasional troll, thankfully it's occasional). It's the insightful discussions and comments and questions that continue to advance my whisky knowledge day after day, week after week. Thank you guys, everyone of you!

@CanadianNinja...I echo everything in your first post. I would also repeat a mention of Davin de Kergommeaux (hopefully my spelling is correct) as THE Canadian Whiskey Guru. While I do find his reviews to be overly positive at times, the information and historical context that he provides in each review is excellent. I check his site for every Canadian bottle that I consider.

As a related aside...anybody that is a rye whiskey fan at all, MUST try to get their hands on a bottle of Lot 40 by Corby Distillers. It's like drinking a lightly buttered slice of rye toast (tried it last weekend after having my bottle open for one month). Imho, it is the definition of proper 100% Canadian Rye. It would awesome if they put it out in cask strength format.

Whisky teachers? Well, with whisk(e)y, as with all else in life one's primary teacher is oneself, one's own experience and one's own intuition. Who, then, has significantly assisted me in that exploration, both with information offered and with experiences offered?

1) my spirits drinking network of my late wife @Dramlette and my sister @Maddie, who both investigated with me and aided and abetted my expanding interest and expanding purchases of whisky and other spirits

2) Jim Murray, whose Whisky Bibles gave me early direction to avoid bad purchases, and to help with making some good purchases. I also love Murray's commitment to purity in whisky, i.e. no colouring or other additives, no sulphur

3) the comraderie of the ongoing whisky discussion with hundreds of Connosr members, which has kept my interest alive and given me much useful information about whisky products for the last nearly 9 years

4) my 15+ Connosr and non-Connosr Canadian whisk(e)y tasting buddies with whom I/we have tasted 12+ times over the last 8.4 years. Thank you, @paddockjudge for sharing your A-number 1 Canadian whisky collection with me, and for obtaining for me first rate bottles of Canadian whisky which I would otherwise not have been able to obtain for myself. Thank you, @Nozinan for the bottles of Wiser's Dissertation and Amrut Peated Cask Strength which you have given me

5) the Vox Populi of multiple whisk(e)y ratings as consolidated within the Connosr Top 100 Rated List and other such statistical large(er) sample average ratings. I would read a whisky blog only if 1) I knew that the writer's whisky taste fell very close to my own, or 2) the blog writer gives out very useful information about the industry which I cannot obtain elsewhere. Almost the only blogs I ever look at are Chuck Cowdery's blog, BourbonR, and Whisky Advocate Magazine's blog. In all three of these cases I read them for industry information or for Vox Populi multiple taster tasting panel ratings (in the case of Whisky Advocate). I share little compatibility of taste with any of these three with respect to the opinions relating to taste of their individual reviewers

6) those extremely few reviewers whom I have learned over time have whisk(e)y tastes relatively very close to my own. On a 10 scale I put most people's whisky tastes as being about 5/10 close to my own. Those rating 7 or above would be very significant to me, because I know I am likely to like almost everything that they like. Who are those people for me? @Nock, @Benancio, @MaltActivist. Even for these guys closeness of taste would probably rate only in the 7 to 8 range. Relatively speaking that is excellent, though

7) @Nock, with whom I have tasted 15+ times. @Nock and I messaged on Connosr for about 2 years before we ever met in person. We know each other's taste very well, and have a high degree of similarity of taste. @Nock also has an outstanding whisk(e)y collection, especially of his favourite genre of peaty-smokey Islay whisky. His favourite distillery is Ardbeg. My favourite Scottish distillery is Ardbeg. He is a Big Flavours Lover. I am a Big Flavours Lover. We have much in common

With whisk(e)y I always tell people the same thing: get as much experience as you can of as many products as you can. Trust your own taste. Discover Whisk(e)y Paradise...which for me is just about as much gustatory and olfactory Paradise as you can discover in the material plane.

Whisky mentors/teachers/gurus, eh? Hmmm, let’s see if I can sort this out somewhat chronologically.

• I started by drinking what I could afford and experimenting with different whiskies. So I was my own first teacher, I guess.
• When I started delving more deeply in to the world of malt whisky, Ralfy became my first teacher. His quaint, homey style was the antidote to the snobbery I perceived (whether it was actually there or not is debatable) around whisky.
• I’ve also enjoyed Horst Luening’s reviews as well as his website.
• The Whiskey Jug’s Josh Peters has a palate pretty similar to mine; probably a 7 out of 10, to borrow the scale used by @Victor
• I’ve obviously learned a lot from my fellow Connosr members. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to @Nozinan @paddockjudge @Victor @fiddich1980 and @talexander and I’m sure I’ve omitted a name or two. Many apologies.
• Jim Murray. He’s controversial. A lot of people hate him. But I’ve found that looking up his reviews after I taste a particular whisky reveals that we generally agree 6 or 7 times out of 10. I especially appreciate his willingness to call out sulphur when he finds it.
• Davin de Kergommeaux. Yes, he’s incredibly biased and very forgiving when it comes to Canadian whisky. That said, he’s quite knowledgeable regarding the history of whisky in this country and he is quite gracious with his time. I’ve sent him a lot of questions and he’s always answered them pretty quickly.
• Dr Don Livermore. Much like Davin, Dr Don answers questions very quickly and candidly. He’s open and honest, and his enthusiasm is contagious. He’s one of the good people in whisky.
• John Campbell. Distillery manager at Laphroaig. Like Dr Don, Mr. Campbell has been very gracious about answering my myriad of emails and directing me to sources of information I hadn’t even known existed (I haven’t consulted them all yet). And he hasn’t even taken out a restraining order against me yet.