K&L Awards 2012: Whisk(e)y of the Year

Perhaps the thing to remember is that it is a blog by a whiskey salesman who loves whiskey. He isn't trying to con anyone but his job is different than yours and mine.. and whiskey isn't just his hobby. It will have a slightly different slant than a blog by a enthusiast who earns a living doing something else.

I really enjoy David's blog. It's honest, insightful and usually reminds me why I find enjoying brown spirits so much fun. Also I have come to appreciate where his palate and mine are similar and where they diverge which is a great help when making purchases. And helping with purchases is his job.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts David.

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Originally Posted by RVTsteve

I always figured they disallowed comments because when they allowed them they got blasted by spam.

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That might be but DD didn't include spam as a reason for disabling comments:

Part 1
Part 2

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Originally Posted by silverfish

Spoken like a true Gen X/Y/whatever who thinks everything on
the net is free and feels entitled to use someone else' material
as they see fit. Who are you to say an author doesn't control
material they publish? You might discuss it wherever you want
but by disabling comments, K&L is exerting some control over
the "resultant discussion." Contrary to what you may think, the
entire internet isn't in Public Domain and not yours for the taking.

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Not only is that a load of rubbish, your comment is downright rude. CoMobourbon never suggested that the author did not retain rights to what he wrote--he simply said that they cannot control how it is quoted nor the direction of any discussion that it might generate. K&L's control over the discussion is limited solely to their own web site (which is their right). Any notion that they might have of their ability to control that discussion elsewhere is pure naiveté.

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Originally Posted by sailor22

Perhaps the thing to remember is that it is a blog by a whiskey salesman who loves whiskey. He isn't trying to con anyone but his job is different than yours and mine.. and whiskey isn't just his hobby. It will have a slightly different slant than a blog by a enthusiast who earns a living doing something else.

I really enjoy David's blog. It's honest, insightful and usually reminds me why I find enjoying brown spirits so much fun. Also I have come to appreciate where his palate and mine are similar and where they diverge which is a great help when making purchases. And helping with purchases is his job.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts David.

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And thanks for sharing your thoughts too Steve as these are my thoughts too :cool:.

And anyone who doesn't like it can change the channel.

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Originally Posted by squire

And anyone who doesn't like it can change the channel.

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You have a knack for using a minimum number of words to make excellent points.

:toast:

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Originally Posted by LostBottle

Rockefeller, I agree with most of what you said, except the part about the blog losing legitimacy. It is impossible to lose something you don't already have. Recognizing the K&L blog as something other than a series of articles that benefits a for-profit retailer (otherwise known as advertisements), would be giving it entirely too much credit.

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We live in a black and white world these days it seems.

The K&L Blog exists in a shade of grey, however. When I do hour long podcasts in my free time to help people learn more about the great producers in this industry, they're downloaded by thousands of people all over the world who live in places that K&L can't ship to (thanks to the handy-dandy download map included on the podcast site, I can see this). 75% of the hits on the K&L blog come from states that K&L cannot legally ship spirits to (which I can view on our statistics mapper). Therefore, the overwelming majority of people who read the K&L Spirits Journal Blog are people who do NOT shop at K&L. Why is that? This has greatly affected the way that I write.

That being said, my job is to sell whisky. When we sell more whisky, my bosses are happy and I get to do my job for another year. A job that pays for me to go to Scotland and taste whisky (which is awesome). I can't continue to write the blog unless I sell people more whisky - a blog that is read by thousands of people who cannot shop at K&L, even if they wanted to.

So while I in no way deny that my goal is to excite readers into wanting to purchase whisky (hopefully from us), the truth is that most people who tune in everyday are not shopping with us. Therefore, most of my posts are "advertisements" for other retailers.

Even though I've come to realize that most of our readers are not customers, I still write the blog everyday because it's fun. People email me all day long who want help selecting whisky, but not from us. I help people who live in Massachussets select whisky from their local retailer in my free time at home. When I'm not getting paid I help people buy whisky from other stores. Crazy, right? So, even though my role is to boost sales for K&L, I end up boosting sales for other stores. If I was only about writing "advertisements," I would shut down the blog completely because it's not directly helping K&L sell more booze. It does seem to be helping people enjoy their whisky, however, by the comments I'm reading so far here on SB.com

I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read it and correspond via email. It's a lot of fun. I appreciate all the feedback as well. Very touching. Thanks!

-David D

Take heart David, they're no legal restrictions on my travel, I'll get by there someday.

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Originally Posted by David D

We live in a black and white world these days it seems.

The K&L Blog exists in a shade of grey, however. When I do hour long podcasts in my free time to help people learn more about the great producers in this industry, they're downloaded by thousands of people all over the world who live in places that K&L can't ship to (thanks to the handy-dandy download map included on the podcast site, I can see this). 75% of the hits on the K&L blog come from states that K&L cannot legally ship spirits to (which I can view on our statistics mapper). Therefore, the overwelming majority of people who read the K&L Spirits Journal Blog are people who do NOT shop at K&L. Why is that? This has greatly affected the way that I write.

That being said, my job is to sell whisky. When we sell more whisky, my bosses are happy and I get to do my job for another year. A job that pays for me to go to Scotland and taste whisky (which is awesome). I can't continue to write the blog unless I sell people more whisky - a blog that is read by thousands of people who cannot shop at K&L, even if they wanted to.

So while I in no way deny that my goal is to excite readers into wanting to purchase whisky (hopefully from us), the truth is that most people who tune in everyday are not shopping with us. Therefore, most of my posts are "advertisements" for other retailers.

Even though I've come to realize that most of our readers are not customers, I still write the blog everyday because it's fun. People email me all day long who want help selecting whisky, but not from us. I help people who live in Massachussets select whisky from their local retailer in my free time at home. When I'm not getting paid I help people buy whisky from other stores. Crazy, right? So, even though my role is to boost sales for K&L, I end up boosting sales for other stores. If I was only about writing "advertisements," I would shut down the blog completely because it's not directly helping K&L sell more booze. It does seem to be helping people enjoy their whisky, however, by the comments I'm reading so far here on SB.com

I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read it and correspond via email. It's a lot of fun. I appreciate all the feedback as well. Very touching. Thanks!

-David D

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I for one really appreciate the blog and podcasts. You could ship to me I think (Missouri) but I'd rather buy local. Postage for something like booze doesn't fit into my budget. That being said if I lived in San Fran well I know a great place to buy whiskey there. It doesn't surprise me one whit that you spend your free time helping others who can't really benefit you. When you love something kickbacks aren't the bottom line. Keep doing the blog, keep doing your thing. I appreciate it for sure. The podcasts with Rachel Barrie and Jim Rutledge were amazing. Learned more from those than I have anywhere else. Thanks for your hard work.

I have a quick question. Maybe I'm naive, ignorant, or something else. But why does David D continually have to come on here and explain or defend what he does. I don't get it. I thought this was a friendly community

PS..I have never done business with K&L, read his blog, or listened to a podcast.