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Thursday, 31 December 2009

Friday, 25 December 2009

Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Saturday, 12 December 2009

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Friday, 4 December 2009

Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Saturday, 28 November 2009

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Monday, 23 November 2009

Australian Whisky ... possibilities made real.









... a fascinating clip sent to me by a whisky-buff in Aus: , thanks Joel.
This is a telling insight into a New World Order of quality spirits.




Monday, 16 November 2009

100,000




Thanks everyone for your support of ralfy.com
Vlogs which have now achieved
100,000 views





Saturday, 14 November 2009

90 - Glen Scotia 18yo Indi rum cask




... for those enquiring, Exclusive Malt's e-address is www.chesterwhisky.com


Thursday, 12 November 2009

Sunday, 8 November 2009

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

85 - How to cope with bad Whisky



I wish to stress that most Whisky is either good or excellent, but the good stuff shows up the very small bad number of bottlings for what they are, ... so buyer beware !!!

Sunday, 25 October 2009

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Saturday, 10 October 2009

Saturday, 3 October 2009

80c - Bladnoch 8yo (October 3rd 2009)

80b - Bladnoch walk-through ( Part 2 )

80a - Bladnoch walk-through ( part 1)

... Thanks !




Thank you to all you concerned and thoughtful
Malty-meanwellers, I am now over that rather rotton 'cold'
virus as was obviously in evidence at 'whiskyreview' 79
... time for a hot toddy !

just a bunged nose but the old smells
and flavours are returning

hooray !


Sunday, 27 September 2009

Saturday, 26 September 2009

... an update on 'whiskyreviews' marks calculations

... ooo! er!
... it seems that my Marks for all the Spirits reviewed have caused some confusion with many folk.
Why score Blends as high as Malts? Why score Rums like Whiskies? Why give scores at all?

Importantly, all marks from any source are opinion, either informed or otherwise !
Marks (out of 100) essentially give an instinctive/educated snap-shot of a spirits worth.

I attach a mail from 'raytownloc' regarding this after mentioning to him in a mail that price is a factor in Spirits' assessments, but I now appreciate that I have moved from a local to global context when reviewing, ... and have altered calculations in my Scoring as a result.
For re-calibration take three marks off Blended Whiskys and Rums, and two marks off Blended Malts.
Add one mark for Cask-strength natural Whiskies.


Rating System
I think that in the end you'll find it best to keep price out of the rating system, as most wine critics who use the 100 point system tend to do, You often hear a critic say something along the lines of "I'm going to score this wine an 89, but for $100 a bottle, I think its a pass... I think that you can find 3 or 4 California Chardonays of equal or greater quality for under $40" (for example).

I think I figured it out... you are more rating the producer, than the whisky itself. To be honest, I dont know why i get so hung up on it, its just numbers, but I like everything else about your program. the people you meet and interview, the on location tastings, the insight into production and enjoyment, even your quirky little sense of humor... so I guess I should just let it go.

But my suggestion is that you think about what your ratings are trying to accomplish, and think about how your viewers might use them to make purchasing decisions. My main argument is that for example, I live in Argentina and pay 33 pesos for Teacher's, 65 pesos for Black Bottle, and 225 pesos for Highland Park 12 y.o. If I were to use your rating system exclusively, I would never see a reason to spend the 225 pesos on Highland Park.... and how I would be missing out!!!!! And why would I (theoretically) be deprived of that pleasure? Because you were scolding the distillery for adding coloring, using a bourbon bottle, or using chill filtration (which im sure is also used for the malts in the blends). See my point? In any case something to think about, but keep up the good work I'll be tuning in as long as you keep it going! Just wish I could get all the malts you can!

Re:Rating System
... you have clearly put thought and time into your message, ... thanks.
... and what you are saying does make me think more about the context of marks. They come from buying and drinking in Scotland which was fine at a local level, but now, thanks to the internet, the context is global !!!
Prices vary hugely Internationally, ... here BB is &14 and HP12, £22, when buying economically.
The drinking experience seems also influenced by altitude, heat, food diet and other stuff so a global reference will vary more than a local one.
I found that my Johnny Walker green label smelled/tasted 'different' when sailing on the Nile and sitting on the Great Wall of China, and was 'odd' when I was in Havana, Cuba.

What I will do is listen carefully to the feed-back from everyone including yourself, and cool-off on the cost factor. Also, I will focus the scores a little by giving 'Blend Marks', 'Malt Marks' and 'Rum Marks' e.t.c.

Thanks again for your time on this matter & could I use our Message as a 'whisky stuff' Blog Item ?
... ralfy


Sure use it, I'd be honored. And thats a good idea, rating blends against each other would probably yield better results... have a good one!

.... and have a 'good one' too Raytownloc.

.




Thursday, 24 September 2009

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

Sunday, 13 September 2009

Saturday, 12 September 2009

Thanks folks ! ... I appreciate you all.





On Saturday 12th September

-----
50,000 views of 'Ralfystuff' Vlogs
200 Subscribers
10 hours of recording time
60 Whiskies reviewed
great feed-back .....
... great to see a growing Ladies posse !
... and all you young dudes' too !

'cos it's all
lots and lots of fun
for me to share the treasure
that is WHISKY & Stuff!


Thursday, 10 September 2009

Friday, 28 August 2009

72b - (Recommended) Rum Results !



... A keen-listening whisky fan has pointed out that Martinique is still a dependency of France,
and as 'whiskyreviews' is here to inform rather than offend, I clarify this point now !
... cheers.

72a - Recommended Rums

Thursday, 20 August 2009

71b - Andy's Tour @ Glencairn Crystal



... with a big thanks to Andy and everyone at Glencairn.

71a - Andy @ Glencairn Crystal



.... Andy was a real sport here, with Vlogs 71a & b being a great insight into a whisky related Company.

Wednesday, 19 August 2009

70 - Adelphi Interview @ WhiskyFringe2009



.... the Gentleman that he undoubtedly is, .....Alex Bruce from Adelphi made time for a chat at WhiskyFringe2009 following a recording-disaster at Glasgow's Whisky Club Adelphi night ! where noisy Club members drowned-out our recorded conversation.
Alex is a quiet-spoken chap, so you will notice how close I hold the Cam to him to capture what he's saying.
... Some great whisky too, the Mortlach 17 was heaven!!!

Saturday, 15 August 2009

Sunday, 9 August 2009

67 - Beer with your Whisky



..... for more excellent advice on beer try www.camra.org.uk

Monday, 3 August 2009

Wednesday, 29 July 2009

Sunday, 26 July 2009

Friday, 17 July 2009

Monday, 6 July 2009

Wednesday, 1 July 2009

Saturday, 27 June 2009

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Sunday, 21 June 2009

Friday, 12 June 2009

Sunday, 7 June 2009

Sunday, 31 May 2009

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Monday, 18 May 2009

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

Sunday, 10 May 2009

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Sunday, 3 May 2009

Friday, 1 May 2009

Sunday, 26 April 2009

Sunday, 19 April 2009

Monday, 13 April 2009

Thursday, 2 April 2009

Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Friday, 20 March 2009