Be part of the community - help The Whisky Guy stay free and ad-free by becoming a Patron!

Be part of the community – help The Whisky Guy stay free and ad-free by becoming a Patron!

How can you make sure The Whisky Guy is able to keep giving you great info?  How can you help turn it into even more, with tours of distilleries, more podcasts, links to insider info and more? Now’s your chance!  The Whisky Guy has joined Patreon!

What is Patreon?

Patreon is a crowd-funding platform.  Maybe you’ve heard of Kickstarter, IndyGoGo or GoFundMe – Patreon is similar, but for ongoing projects.  Where those others are for a single project (like the launch of a game, a cooler, a movie or a watch), Patreon is for ongoing projects.  You sign up to be a Patron and each time a creator releases material, the Patrons support to keep the project alive and vibrant.

Here’s a video about Patreon and how it works.

Why did I join Patreon?

Short answer – Because I love whisk(e)y, talking to people about whisk(e)y and sharing info about whisk(e)y.  Scotch whisky, Irish Whiskey, Canadian Whisky, Bourbon Whiskey, Japanese Whisky, Indian Whisky… you get the point.  One of the many great things about whisk(e)y is how many other people love it, and how much info is out there, and how easy it is to find people to talk to and places to go.  The downside is there are only so many hours in the day, and bills need to be paid.

You may have been on board since the beginning.  Back in early 2014 I tested with 4 episodes of The Whisky Guy podcast (find it on iTunes and Stitcher).  The response was great, everyone loved it, I loved making it, and each episode took over 15 hours to produce, plus all the other material I wanted to share.  I couldn’t keep that up for the long-term.  I was approached by some big companies who asked me to feature their products, or become sponsors and advertisers, but that just didn’t feel right.  I want to produce an honest product – I don’t want you to think I’m only talking about a product or interviewing someone just because I took their money; I’d much rather tell you about something because I think you want to hear it or because I love it and want to share.

So how can these 2 things live together?  How can I pay for all the hosting, and the time, and the production, and the rent…  and not take advertising dollars?  How can I keep The Whisky Guy free – and ad-free – and not go bankrupt?  That’s where you come in.

I learned about Patreon maybe 4-5 months ago and I realized this might be the answer.  I’d been following a band for a while (called Pomplamoose) and one of the members, Jack Conte, was having the same problem I was.  He wanted to keep making great music (and the videos that go along with them) but couldn’t afford to keep it up, and couldn’t find a good solution, so he created one.  Enter Patreon.

Today, Patreon is a community of people supporting creators.  Authors, Photographers, Teachers, Scientists, Animators… and The Whisky Guy.

What are you paying for, and what do you get for it?

I’m glad you asked!  First, my goal is to continue to keep The Whisky Guy free and ad-free.  I want to be able to give you real info. Your support as a Patron allows me to do that.  Support is per episode, and can be as low as $1.  If you’re worried I’m going to go on a binge and make 30 episodes one month, you don’t have to worry – you can limit your monthly total.

The plan right now is to release at least 2 podcast episodes per month – roughly every 2 weeks.  The hope is that I can add video on the off weeks, and hopefully grow to a podcast episode every week plus some video (distillery tours, whisk(e)y reviews, etc).  The blog posts, the links to cool stuff in the industry, the photos – all of that will continue to be free.  The only items that will be part of Patreon are the Podcast episodes and YouTube videos.

For less than the cost of a latte a month, you can make sure The Whisky Guy stays on and stays ad-free.

I’m planning to continue to release 4-5 blog posts per week here on the website, plus links to other great info on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc, and more videos on YouTube.  I’d also like to add a store to the website where you can buy Whisky Guy stuff, and other items that are Whisky Guy Approved.

When you become a Patron, you get not only my wholehearted thanks and the knowledge that you’re part of a great community of supporters; I’ve also come up with a collection of Thank You gifts – things that you can show off to your friends and family, that come in useful day-to-day.  You can learn more on the Creator Page.

When I decided to go with Patreon, I had an option – I could set-up as a monthly subscriber or as a per-episode.  I decided to go per-episode because I don’t want you to think you’re supporting something that’s not being created.  If I don’t launch the material, you don’t spend money.  It’s that simple.

How do you start?

Thank You!  If you’re ready to become a Patron and support The Whisky Guy, just click here and you’ll start the process.  If you want to learn more about becoming a Patron, you can visit my Creator Page.  You can be a Patron for just $1/episode, or get in on the good stuff when you support at higher levels.  As a very special thank you, for the first 50 people that become a patron at the $5/episode level and stay on for at least 4 episodes, I’ll send you a Limited Edition Whisky Guy T-Shirt in addition to everything else you receive at that level.

Conclusion

Making The Whisky Guy my full-time job has been a dream of mine for over 5 years.  With your support as a Patron you can continue to get all the whisk(e)y info I can throw at you – ad-free.  Really – Thank You!