The world of whisky blogging began to take shape in the early 2000s, driven by growing global interest in single malts and independent voices enabled by the rise of personal blogs.
I believe it all started with the Malt Maniacs, a select group of whisky anoraks that shared drams, insights and detailed tasting notes. It started with a newsletter and elaborate e-pistles, but there was also a blog-style format Malt Madness. From this Whiskyfun emerged (2002), probably the first major whisky blog.
After that a second wave started (2005-2008): Dr. Whisky, Whisky-News, What Does John Know, Caskstrength.net, Whisky Cast, Edinburgh Whisky Blog, Nonjatta, Whisky For Everone… Some of these bloggers were swallowed up by the whisky industry, so only a few are still active. We’re proud to be part of this early wave: WhiskyNotes was started in 2008 which makes us one of the longest running whisky blogs out there.
More tasting notes from our friends
Nowadays there are hundreds of whisky blogs, yet there are just a few that I read on a regular basis, or at least trust when it comes to giving a reliable opinion:
- Whiskybase a social whisky network
- Whiskyfun by Serge
- Words of Whisky by Thijs
- Dramface by several people
- Whisky Saga by Thomas
There are still a few blogs that we check sometimes, even though they’re not posting new articles:
- Malt Fascination by Sjoerd (ended 2025)
- Onversneden by Johan (ended 2014)
- Scotchwhisky by Dave and others (ended 2019)
- Whisky Science by Temu (ended 2016)
If you’re interested in sherry, the Spanish fortified wine that is essential for the character of many whiskies, check out my sister project SherryNotes.
Whisky shops
Not just a list of shops. I’ve bought several times in each of these shops, and I can recommend them. Obviously there are many, many more.
- La Maison du Whisky (FR)
lots of exclusives, sometimes high prices - Master of Malt (UK)
own bottlings, excellent website - Passion for Whisky (NL)
wide range, often good prices - TastToe (BE)
good advice, related to Belgian importer The Nectar - The Whisky Exchange (UK)
lots of exclusives, very wide shipping options - TyndrumWhisky (UK)
wide range, often good price, intl. shipping - Whiskybase (NL)
wide range, often good prices - Whisky-Fässle (DE)
own bottlings - Whiskysite (NL)
lots of exclusives, often good prices