Another first! After Monday’s book review, I decided yesterday to do a magazine review as well. This one is about a Dutch magazine, so it might be slightly less interesting to foreign readers — but I just had to get this off my chest… (which might indicate this won’t be a very positive review).

About a year and a half ago I was reading the newest issue of Whisky Etc. on the couch and thought it was quite annoying that I no longer had guaranteed delivery of the magazine. My favorite whisky shop had gotten into a bit of a quarrel with them and decided to stop selling it, which meant I had to start looking around for it — or I could just get a subscription. There was a discount that month, so I chose the latter.

With the quarterly delivery of the newest edition of the magazine I was always happy to get something whisky-related in the mailbox, and I still have that joy when it arrives. Then I start reading it.

It is a small Dutch magazine — not even the biggest in the country — and most of the advertising is for one chain liquor shop that not many whisky enthusiasts I know go to for their supply.

Since it is a specialist magazine like Whisky Magazine and Malt Advocate, it uses freelance writers to fill it with articles. Nothing wrong with that, but what annoys me more and more every time I read it is that they state things like “Whisky Etc. was invited to <enter random event>.” They weren’t — a writer was, and they decided to buy an article.

This not only happens with event coverage. According to Whisky Etc., all writers who supply them with articles are employees — not correspondents, not editors, but employees. For some reason, that ticks me off every time.

Tonight, while reinstalling my laptop, I was reading through the latest edition, and before I got to page 10 I found at least 10 errors in spelling, grammar, or data. Minor things like incorrect verbs or punctuation, but also missing words in sentences and references to the “Bush Mills” distillery — come on guys, this is a whisky magazine! Please proof-read, and at the very least check the names of distilleries.

There is also a quarterly piece about newly released things that are not whisky. This time it was limited to “new” whisky books and that Islay DVD with a bad voice-over. Normally, however, this column also includes watches, shoes, and golf supplies. For some reason I just cannot wrap my head around the idea that people like you and me — who spend most of their hard-earned cash on the newest release from distillery X — want to know about a €10,000 Rolex or some funky golf shoe that leaves smaller holes on the green…

So tonight, I decided to unsubscribe from this magazine and to stop buying it altogether. There are four other magazines I read with much more satisfaction than this one: Whisky Magazine, Malt Advocate, Whisky Passion, and De Kiln — our terrific club magazine. That saves me another twenty euros to spend on drams!

Two stars — because the articles themselves aren’t that bad and there are some good columns. It’s just poor proofreading, a bit too much arrogance, and content that feels out of place for a whisky magazine.