February 19th, 2010

A Whisky Blogging “Code of Ethics”?

John Hansell

I was thinking about this the past few days. The dozens of whisky blogs out there provide a great service to the whisky industry and to whisky enthusiasts. This is the main reason why they received Malt Advocate magazine’s “Pioneer of the Year” award.

But the downside to blogging (in general) is that it is essentially unsupervised. People can basically say whatever they want. I established brief etiquette guidelines on WDJK here  last year  which focused on comments. I wonder if something like this should be fleshed out, expanded, and (hopefully) adopted by all my fellow whisky bloggers?

Do you think this is a good idea? If we did try to create some sort of “Code of Ethics”, what do you think it should include?

Category: Administrative,Media,Opinions,Writers 28 Comments

January 26th, 2010

Yet another misleading Scotch (and American) whisky article by a major publication

John Hansell

This time it’s Forbes. You can read the full story here.

As I was reading through the article, I kept saying “That’s misleading. That’s not really true. That’s not fair.”

Read the article. Do you see anything misleading? If so, which statement is it? I’m in meetings most of the day, but will chime in later.

Category: Bourbon,Media,Scotch whisky Tags: , , , 41 Comments

January 17th, 2010

If you’re bored…

John Hansell

Okay, Post #5 on this cold rainy day. Does that mean I can take tomorrow off from blogging?

I didn’t know this was published until a reader told me about it. A few months ago, I was asked a few questions about new trends in whisky for Delta’s Sky magazine. Someone flying last week read it and told me about it. They got most of it right…

If you want to see it (and you’re bored), there’s a digital edition of Sky. Here’s a link to the page with the whisky info on it. Of course, you know most of this stuff already.

Category: Media,Scotch whisky 15 Comments

December 2nd, 2009

The Scotch whisky industry’s optimism for the future

John Hansell

There’s an interesting article here by Bloomberg reporting on the Scotch whisky industry’s rosy outlook, thanks to the growing appetites of countries like China and India, and to malt whisky enthusiasts like you.

The story also discusses one man’s desire to re-open a distillery in Annandale in 2011. Whisky hasn’t been made there since 1921.

What do you think? Is the future of Scotch whisky as bright as the article suggests?

Category: Media,Opinions,Scotch whisky 11 Comments

November 27th, 2009

Report: “U.S. wineries must adjust to a $50 ceiling.” Is whisky to follow?

John Hansell

Decanter magazine reports here about a new study which shows the effect of the current recession on wine prices. One quote from the report says:

Wineries need to adjust to a ‘new normal’ of reduced spending power – among the very consumers who have driven recent growth in the market. For that segment of Baby Boomers who have seen their net worth drastically reduced and who have been the prime target of wine marketing for nearly 20 years, a US$50 bottle of wine is now permanently out of the question for a normal purchase.

It goes on to advise:

wineries to focus more of their marketing on the under-40s, pointing out that those aged 45-54 have seen their net worth fall by 45% over the past five years.

So, this leads me to wonder if the whisky companies will take the same approach to the products they produce and sell. Will we start seeing more lower-priced whiskies on the market? Will they ramp up their marketing efforts to a younger crowd who supposedly haven’t seen their net worth fall so much?

Or is the whisky industry more immune to the recession?

Your thoughts?

Category: Media,Opinions,Wine 18 Comments

November 20th, 2009

Welcome Wall Street Journal readers!

John Hansell

For those of you who found your way to my blog from my “The New Era in Whiskey” piece in today’s (Friday’s) Wall Street Journal, let me extend a warm welcome to you!

We are all friends here with one thing in common: a passion for whisky (and whiskey). I hope you find my blog informative and entertaining.

I would also like to invite you to get involved in our lively discussions here. There are no wrong answers.

Check back daily, because I usually post at least once daily. Better yet, put me on your RSS feed (if you are familiar with that).

And for my WDJK friends who haven’t seen my piece in today’s Wall Street Journal, try to find a copy on your local newsstand. In addition to my pieces (Whisky 101, Appreciating Whisky, and Whisky Trends), there’s also a great whisky cocktail article by master mixologist Gary Regan.

Category: Media Tags: 10 Comments

November 17th, 2009

Whisky. The Wall Street Journal. This Friday!

John Hansell

You would think I have enough to keep me busy with Malt Advocate, WhiskyFest, WDJK, Twitter, etc. Well, I do occasionally take on some freelance assignment.

As you know, I recently participated in the History Channel show on “Whiskey”, which just ran again this past Saturday. Well, this Friday (November 20th) I have a 2,000 word whiskey section going in The Wall Street Journal.

The special whiskey section covers some of the fundamentals (how whiskey is made, what distinguishes one country’s whiskey from the next, appreciating whiskey, etc.). I also address many new trends in whiskey (designer whiskies, artisanal distilling, extreme peating, no age statements, etc).

We even reached out to master mixologist Gary Regan and he added a great cocktail piece to the section, which includes a few really nice cocktail recipes.

Pick up a copy if you can this Friday.

Category: Bourbon,Canadian whisky,European whiskies,Irish whiskey,Media,Rye whiskey,Scotch whisky,Tennessee whiskey 5 Comments

November 13th, 2009

“Whiskey” show on the History Channel: Tomorrow!

John Hansell

For those of you who still have not seen this very informative show, it is running again tomorrow, Saturday, November 14th, at 7 pm on the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” series.

There are some great distillery tours and interviews, along with some interesting historical discussions about whiskey. And yes, I am peppered throughout the show as the “independent expert”.

Be sure to watch it (or DVR it) if you haven’t seen it yet. I pasted the summary paragraph on the show from the History Channel’s website below.

    Modern Marvels “Whiskey” :
Known to Irish monks as “water of life”, visit some of the world’s finest distilleries to see how each country brews this thousand-year old spirit. Jack Daniels tells the secret of charcoal filtering, Jim Beam shows its premium bourbons and the art of blending is revealed at Canadian Club Whiskey. Cross the Atlantic to get the real deal at Jameson’s Distillery in Midleton, Ireland and in Scotland discover what gives Glenlivet its character. Meet some of the people who are lucky enough to sample whiskey for a living. Cheers!

Category: Bourbon,Canadian whisky,Distillery Tours,Irish whiskey,Media,Microdistilleries,Scotch whisky,Tennessee whiskey Tags: 8 Comments

November 4th, 2009

Free “WhiskyNotes” Newsletter

John Hansell

Every other week, we email an electronic newsletter called WhiskyNotes to anyone who wants a copy.

Whiskynotes is something to tide you over between issues of Malt Advocate. It contains:

A summary of my most recent blog postings (with links) in case you haven’t visited WDJK lately.

A summary of the most recent national and international whisky news items, with links to the source.

My most recent whisky reviews and ratings.

Hot new whisky books and other whisky-related items in our Marketplace.

Whisky recipes.

A listing of upcoming whisky tastings and events.

And much more!

Best of all, it’s free! All you have to do is give us your email address  by clicking on the link here. And, of course, if you ever decide that you don’t want to receive it anymore, just send us an email and we’ll take you off the list.

Category: Media,Special offers Tags: 4 Comments

October 30th, 2009

Great video of Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon unveiling

John Hansell

The Bourbonblog.com guys were at the unveiling this past Saturday night and shot a great video. They really did a nice job capturing the evening. (I’m also interviewed in the video.) Have a look:

 

And just for fun, here’s their entire uncut interview with me, discussing drinking alone vs. drinking with other people, among other things (after I had a drink or two, as I recall). Enjoy!:

Category: Bourbon,Media,New Releases,Special events Tags: , , 4 Comments

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