The title of this post shouldn't be a political statement.

Systemic racism is prevalent across all facets of American society, and extends across the globe. The mod team of the Reddit Whisky Network has decided to use the platform we have (over 300,000 of you are subscribed across the various subreddits) to voice our support for the protests and calls for change that the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Officer sparked across the nation and around the world.

We've made the choice to lock this thread to emphasize the importance of listening and learning during this time.

Here are some links regarding racism and the whisky industry:

Sugarcoating a painful history

Yes, African-Americans Drink Bourbon. You’d Never Know It From the Marketing.

The role of slaves in Kentucky’s bourbon legacy

If you'd like to learn about systemic racism and how you can be a part of the solution, NY Mag has a list of reading material put together by educators and activists

If you want to support the protests with money, SFGate published an article with organizations you can donate to.

If you would like to contribute an article about whisky to this, please message the moderators.

I hav abused scotch tonight. I think this goes underrated in this reddit. Scotch is great. Everyone tries to church it up like it isn;t mainly there to make us feel great, but it's quite wonderous. Today I got a call from Sallie Mae. I'm defaulting on 50K of student loans. This will ruin my credit and damage my chances of ever moving out of my parent's place. I'm 28. My girlfriend broke up with me AFTER I moved back from LA to Chicago. I have no job, despite applying to 84 jobs in the past week and never being fired or let go from a job since I was 13. I couldn't even make out with a woman tonight after 8 glasses of Glen 15 year old, since my psyche is shattered.

Scotch is there for me. I am not an alcoholic. But sometimes, nothing is better than scotch. Nothing.

EDIT: Thanks everyone. No, I am not an alcoholic. Thanks for the genuine concern and the biting comments, but before last night I hadn't had a drink in over a week and a half. It's odd to see this, my drunken rambling, on the front page. So it goes. I will say this though; lots of people have it worse than I do. No matter how bad things are, it's sadly comforting to know I can still drink scotch (It was a 12 year old Glen, I'm saving the Caol Ila for when I get a job) and watch The World is Not Enough on my couch at home, yelling obscenities at Denise Richards and her horrid acting, like when I was 13. You know, except for the scotch part. Anyway, I'm not sure what else to say. I generally just lurk on subreddits and leave stupid comments that don't get upvotes. The anonymity of the internet is generally a turnoff to me, but 99% of you seem like genuine good people, so I hope everything works out for me but more importantly for all of you with similar stories you shared. As long as there's free wi-fi in coffee shops and libraries, I'll be there applying to jobs. Like some kind of jobless shit Batman.

I'm a film major. Here's this thing someone edited for my favorite director. Enjoy? And thanks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf74qellkok

Edit 2: I did not edit the above video, to be clear, which I wasn't enough before. I hope that guy's page gets tons of hits though because he's amazing.

1. I previously thought spending $100 for a single pour at a bar was a waste of money when I could buy a whole bottle for $1,000... Now I would go for the single pour almost every time.

2. This hobby is better to get into slowly, rather than diving in head first. I used to want to try a distillery and would go buy 3-5 of their expressions and now I have loads of bottles just two or three ounces shy of full that will continue to just collect dust until a curious friend comes along to drink from them. My friends see an impressive collection, but I see an embarrassing waste of money. Now I know my prefered tastes and generally won’t buy outside of it.

3. Old/rare/limited usually doesn’t mean better. Chasing limited/old releases and finally finding them was usually more enjoyable than actually drinking them, which begs the question: why do it?

4. More Arbeg.

My advice for people just starting to enjoy whisky: dabble until you find what you like, dive a little bit deeper in those areas, ignore the others, don’t worry or fantasize about old/rare releases, and more Ardbeg.