I’m supposed to be working on other things… like a write up of a cocktail I made the other day, tasting notes on Midleton, tasting notes on Leopold’s Gin… etc, etc.

However, I’ve been asked more than a few times (mostly by Marketing types) why I insist on taking my own photos of bottles and NOT using the pretty photos provided by the professionals.

My answer is simple:

Proof.

By taking a picture of the bottle on my dining room table or in my kitchen, I’m proving to my readers that I actually had the bottle in my possession; I had the bottle, I opened the bottle, I tasted its contents.

There are oh so many “review” blogs out there that use stock photos.  If you can’t take the time to snap a quick pic of what you’re reviewing, why should I take the time to read your “review” let alone believe a word of it?

Even worse are the blogs that use a stock pic and use the tasting notes direct from the distiller’s website.  And what *really* kills me about that is:

• there are several “review” blogs that employ this practice,
• those blogs are quite popular, and
• the writers are hailed as “experts”!

You know what? They *are* experts!  Experts at deceiving their readers.  Experts at Copy-and-Paste.

I have a relatively small following up here on this blog, but those of you who pop by have been quite friendly.  I’ve only been hit up by a handful of haters, and only one distiller has scolded me for a less-than-glowing review.  And I like to think that you all appreciate honesty and humor over a stock photo and bunch of bullshit.

I’ll happily take a small, but well-informed audience over a throng of semi-interested “me-toos” any day.

And if that costs me the limelight, so be it.

Sincerely and honestly,

Eron “BoozeGuru” G.