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Malt Advocate Magazine
Malt advocate is the only whiskey-centric glossy magazine published in the U.S. (in the UK there's Whisky Magazine). Malt Advocate runs $16 per year, with issues arriving quarterly. John Hansell edits and publishes Malt Advocate and he and his crew throw the grand Whisky Fests, held yearly in New York and Chicago and drawing hundreds of whisky lovers. On the plus size, Malt Advocate will keep you up to date on the latest in whisky, and, to a lesser extent, fine |
| beers. Their New Products
section and annual Buying Guide are great aids to those looking for advice
on what to snatch up. One can also find many of the heavies in the
world of spirit writing in their pages- Michael Jackson, Gary & Mardee
Regan, etc. Feature articles are often insightful- witness Hansell's
essay some time back on the relationship between drink choices (simple
vs. intense and complex) and attention (crowded parties are more suited
to beverages not requiring one's concentration, solitary drinking favors
complex beverages), or Fal Allen's recent bit on yeast and beer flavor.
On the downside, some times editorial
oversight slips. Occasionally, the regular writers columns are a little weak- e.g., Stephen Beaumont is a beer
guru, but who really cares if he is "not a friend of craft brewers," but
"a friend of good beer" (see vol. 9, no. 4, autumn 2000, p. 24)?
Despite this, Malt Advocate is run
by good people and for the whiskey lover or whiskey industry person Malt
Advocate is essential.
-Charles Westbrook |