Whisky Sponge on Ralfy 'Macallan' Mitchell

@RikS That’s exactly what I do. That way I avoid the lecture.

@BlueNote yea, I must say that the last episode I watched, where he basically stated that he could crowd fund a distillery and make it awesome as he knows everyone in the industry... But just couldn't be bothered dealing with all the shite that comes with being the boss of a business... Struck me as... Well, maybe hubris would be the word?

@RikS I missed that one. I admit that I rarely watch his reviews unless its a whisky in which I have a specific interest. I do scan his "extras".

In the beginning, when I knew nothing, his reviews (which were more succinct) were very helpful. So was the extra commentary. Now that I have a better understanding, and a broader range of information sources, I've lost a lot of interest. I think he has also adapted to being a celebrity.

I wonder if he'll be on strictly at any point?

Well, I'll still give him credit for having been very useful at one point, and for clearly having achieved a strong following. I think though that his "use" is great knowledge, and a knowledgeable source to go to and get an unbiased insight and review of a dram. The problem when people achieve some fame is that they start believing that it is about them, as opposed to being about what they do...

I think You tubers like Ralfy are making a full time living from their channels through advertising and their patreon subscribers. He can say all he wants about whisky and if he happens to be wrong on occasion nobody gets hurt. But he does suffer somewhat from “Gwyneth Paltrow syndrome” and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing when he starts dishing out advice on medicine, nutrition, fitness and politics (mostly conspiracy theories). Otherwise, he is a fairly entertaining whisky reviewer who, as @Nozinan points out, has become enamoured of his modest celebrity. That said, I still check in to see what he is reviewing and how he scores it.

@Wierdo, I agree about his wisdom in splitting the reviews and the "extras." But for me, the strategy is the opposite: I skip the reviews and play only the extras.

I dig whisky chat.

I notice lately that he has quit slagging the whisky industry and it’s upper level personnel in quite the way he used to. Now that he has become pretty conventional and less the self proclaimed eccentric that he used to be, it probably serves him better to play nice. Let’s face it, he never reviews any of their real crap, sticking only to anything he would consider worth 80 points or more. I suspect that their is a fair bit of butter on his bread that comes from the whisky industry, in one form or another.

@BlueNote He says not, though I think he mentioned something about samples for the first time recently...

@BlueNote well at least it's a bit more nuances than whisky.com and, I believe, Horst who seems to only have one rating: "gargle, gargle, Mmmm... Zis iz lovely".

@RikS LOL ! Horst: swish swish....ohhhh eez quite spicy, lots of richness, some fruitiness I think, yes, but the nice spices remain

@OdysseusUnbound @RikS - " . . . So I vill open ze small von zat I ave here, on my cask. Mmmm"

I jest, but I have a wee soft spot for Horst. I get the impression he's a very intelligent gent.

@RianC Oh I love Horst! I really do, but I’d humbly suggest he expand his vocabulary just a wee bit. “Fruity”, “Spicy” and “richness” seem to be his only descriptors. Oh, and “peaty”.

@OdysseusUnbound @RianC The son is even worse with the mouthwash thing. I think their main business is selling whisky on line, and giving everything a nice, benign, positive review is good for sales.

@BlueNote Yeah, Greg over at Great Drams is the same. He’s a marketing guy by trade and all of his reviews are basically glowing. He posted a review today singing the praises of Auchentoshan American Oak, which is without a doubt the worst whisky I’ve ever tasted. I’m waiting to compare it to Lambertus, @Nozinan

@OdysseusUnbound Try the White Walker, then tell me Auch American Oak is the worst (and yes I do agree it's pretty bad).

@talexander I would take that challenge. I don’t hate JW. I’d even take the oft-maligned Red Label over American Oak.

@OdysseusUnbound A friend, who is a GOT fan, sprung for a bottle of White Walker. He says it is sickly sweet and pretty much undrinkable either ice cold or at room temp. He was offering tasters to the rest of us...no takers. One of the guys told him to please donate his to a homeless person.

@BlueNote Well, giving alcohol to a homeless person is a terrible idea for all sorts of reasons...he should give it to a GoT fan who has no palate.

@OdysseusUnbound Lambertus is closer to Lambert Syrup than to whysky, totally in a ligue of its own.

@Robert99 Le fameux sirop Lambert?? Blech ! It’s funny, we never had Buckley’s as a kid; always sirop Lambert. I’m not sure which is worse. I’ll have to see for myself if Lambertus is actually worse than AO.

@OdysseusUnbound Trade you some Signal hill for some Lambertus...

@talexander Quite right, a very bad idea.

@OdysseusUnbound I had a copy of his whisky book for my birthday and I gave it an utter slagging on Amazon as it's just whisky marketing. A whole chapter devoted to how wonderful Macallan is etc.

I've also had words with him on Facebook more than once. When he's saying how wonderful a whisky he's paid to promote is (when it's either a awful or b overpriced). It does my head in that he does it in a way that tries to trick people into thinking he's independent and his view is impartial. I think that's dishonest.

Ralfy says in his whisky of the year 2019 video (Glenallachie 12yo) that he has brought some casks of whisky and will be teaming up with an independent bottler to release a bottle of single malt next year.

@Wierdo Interesting. I suspect it will be natural colour, non-chill-filltered, 46% or above and highly unobtainable in Canada

@Wierdo Yup. I’ve also called Greg out a few times on FB, and rather than address any of my criticisms, he just says “Let’s agree to disagree”. Very dishonest.

@Nozinan well you're spot on with the first three assumptions. He states that in the video. And sadly I think you'll be on the mark with it not being available in Canada too.

Relatively new article from the whiskysponge that tickled me. Thought I'd share but he warned, there is profanity!

whiskysponge.com/2019/11/…

@RianC whisky sponge is ace. I must remember to check it out more often.