The year 2017 has come to an end… And what a year it was! With the whisk(e)y blogging machinery constantly running hot, no less than 166 articles got published on BarleyMania in 2017, resulting in more than 12,000 blog visits and over 30,000 page hits. The 133 drammers, who are currently following BarleyMania on WordPress, happily chimed in and left a respectable 1,330 likes and 191 comments on the published posts. Thanks a million for sticking around and showing such a keen interest in my whisk(e)y ramblings, everybody! Speaking of which: Throughout most of the year, not only my own whisk(e)y ramblings got posted here, but also Aaron’s. He joined in mid-January and stayed on board till almost the end of the year, before he moved on to start a blog of his own called Drams United. Needless to say, you are all highly recommended to hop over there and bookmark the page straight away. As for myself, I will fly solo in the new year and try my best to come up with a few more fun (and hopefully also informative) posts on that grain-based, oak-matured spirit we all enjoy so much. And nope, I am not speaking of barrel-aged vodka here. ;)

Outside of BarleyMania, the year 2017 was great as well. Like pretty much all who read these lines, I spent way too much money on way too many bottles… and do not regret getting a single one of them! Furthermore, I got to visit Scotland for the first time in my life, was asked to become an honorary brand ambassador for my favorite Scotch company Douglas Laing, joined The Scotch Malt Whisky Society as a new member, met all kinds of of awesome people and attended a whole lotta fairs, tastings, gatherings and other cool events. Naturally, there were also some setbacks, hurdles and fails. But unlike the positive things, the bad ones are not really worth reminiscing. If they happened due to my own wrong-doing, I will try not to make the same mistake again in the future. And if they were brought forth by powers beyond my control, there is not much I could have done to prevent them anyway. So enough of that… As a last point, I simply want to thank you all for your frequent visits to BarleyMania once more and wish you all an amazing new year! When I pour myself the first dram of 2018 a few hours from now, I will be raising it to y’all! Slainte!

by Tobi