Hats Off To The Old Guard!

[GrassHopper]

I wish to dedicate this as a history of those who made HD what it is and has been. Many of us here are addicted to this site and distilling. Without the HD forefathers and those of the "OLD GUARD" of whom some are still with us today, most of us would not have the opportunity to get out of the gate and get started in this great hobby. It has been said: "If I have seen farther it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants," quote, Isaac Newton. Some of you, are still with us today, and are the Isaac Newtons of this site. We wish to raise a toast, of our best shine, to you, for all your contributions to this site, this hobby, and to the rest of us trying to attain "the perfect drink". Each of us have various mentors here,......that have shown us direction, varying degrees of knowledge, the ability to say it like it is (I wonder who that is?), have the patience of rocks, the ability to talk about molecules, mathematics and theory ad nauseum , distilling philosophy, traditional methods galore, the new technology up the ying yang, those who worship the pot still, then, god bless em'...... the know it alls.
Time to acknowledge those whom inspired us or were instrumental in having an impact on our lives via this forum, ( one way or another ). I hope you will introduce them here, for the rest of us to know or remember. Who do you feel had the most influence on you or the community?
I wish to acknowledge one of my favorites, Uncle Jessie, dating back to 2004! With nearly a thousand posts in "off topic" forums alone and the work he has done in the background with this site, let alone a great and extremely popular UJSSM recipe! I would love to meet him and share some of my UJSSM aged on oak. Maybe some of you have? Oh, yes I have been influenced by many other colorful characters as well on HD, but I will start with one. Your turn!

[Copper Thumper]

r/circlejerk

[GrassHopper]

Would like to know what your comment means? Say what ya mean.

[woodshed]

I am thankful for those who brought us the site. Could have left the Parent Site behind but what ever works.
Or at least it should now be updated. Quite possible the mods and admins are working on such. That would be cool.
I did not when I was a mod and I now regret that. Hindsight and all.

If you look back through my threads I have a few that give it up for the site and those who participate here.
Nothing wrong with that.

[GrassHopper]

Thanks for the insight Woodshed. I have read many, many of your posts here and do appreciate all I have learned from you. I did an Hd google search on this subject before I started, and got almost nothing related to this post. So, that said....I am proceeding forward. If there are past posts out there on this, I couldn't find anything significant. As said, the goal is only to make mention to those who made a difference to all of us.

[ga flatwoods]

Rad, PrariePiss, Blanicdog, Hookline, MashRookie, Usge, Odin, Walkinwolf, Hookline, Dnderhead, Samahon, Rubber duck, NcHooch, olddog, theholymakeral, and of course Goose eye! All of these members were studied heavily and looked up to when I started out. To this day they remain some of the heaviest contributors to this forum. A hearty toast to them all!
Ga Flatwoods

[shadylane]

There's definitely been some good infor posted over the years.
And occasionally, a little bit of entertaining drama.
Once in a blue moon, the shit hits the fan, an idiot posts or a troll stops by.
Some times I'm sober and miss it.

[Bigbob]

Rad, PrariePiss, Blanicdog, Hookline, MashRookie, Usge, Odin, Walkinwolf, Hookline, Dnderhead, Samahon, Rubber duck, NcHooch, olddog, theholymakeral, and of course Goose eye! All of these members were studied heavily and looked up to when I started out. To this day they remain some of the heaviest contributors to this forum. A hearty toast to them all!
Ga Flatwoods

+1! Those are all my favorites

[HDNB]

i am indebted to (but not limited to) jed, moosemilk, jimbo and woodshed. Rad and PP started me down the right path, of course, with no bullshit approach and the list that GA Flatwoods provides goes without saying... himself included. Those members have shared so much over the years that it will take me at least a lifetime to comprehend.
i have picked up tips from so many... all of the current posters have added to the science and the art in some way for my own journey. If you posted in the last couple years, i have appreciated it.
I hope my own yammering hasn't offended too many (FMH???) and maybe even helped one or two others as much as i have been helped.

cheers all!

[Bushman]

Good names mentioned and I could add to the list but I know I would leave people off that deserve credit as there are many.

PS: Woodshed to try and answer your question Uncle Jess now is the main person incharge of the site but before him it was Tony Ackland. Several members have tried to update the parent site as we know it has problems but haven't been able for one reason or another.

[Halfbaked]

I agree with everyones names above. Don't forget Rtalbigr (BIg R) for fighting through the all grain to make it easy for the rest of us.

[GrassHopper]

Good names mentioned and I could add to the list but I know I would leave people off that deserve credit as there are many.

PS: Woodshed to try and answer your question Uncle Jess now is the main person incharge of the site but before him it was Tony Ackland. Several members have tried to update the parent site as we know it has problems but haven't been able for one reason or another.

Appreciate your history lesson and explanation Bushman. We newbs on here don't always know what's going on. You guys are in the know and have to realize that when we do a google search, we assume that's all there is. Anyway, those names thus far are for sure just a sample of those who have had an impact on us. And I understand the concern of leaving some out. I just want to say that there sure are some characters out there. One that stands out most is Goose Eye....."so I'm tole!

[Bigbob]

You are absolutely right Rock! The Tater is the Man!!

[GrassHopper]

Surprised nobody's mentioned Tater, who has held this place together since the beginning, often overlooked mentor to us all.

Yep, your right. Tater has been very influential to me as well. Love Tater's humor too. Gotta say, Rad has me most perplexed.
Cuz nobody could tell someone to go to hell and make them feel good about it.

Edit: Meant that in a good way Rad.

[MoonBreath]

Larry Taylor, LWTCS to most, has been there every step of the way for me ...To me he's on a different level, but when you've equipped the hundreds of distilleries as he has, along with his hobby level knowledge, that really pays off ...One of the very best in the world ...The guy was born for it...My mentor and text buddy ..
Definitely an OG.

[googe]

I'd like to thank all the trolls and half wits for keeping it interesting

[RedwoodHillBilly]

r/circlejerk

OMG, Reddit. Give me a break.

Rad, PrariePiss, Blanicdog, Hookline, MashRookie, Usge, Odin, Walkinwolf, Hookline, Dnderhead, Samahon, Rubber duck, NcHooch, olddog, theholymakeral, and of course Goose eye! All of these members were studied heavily and looked up to when I started out. To this day they remain some of the heaviest contributors to this forum. A hearty toast to them all!
Ga Flatwoods

+1
RIP MashRookie.
Don't forget DAD300. His CCVM thread has inspired me.

[Monkeyman88]

I'd like to thank all the trolls and half wits for keeping it interesting

+1

[Swedish Pride]

I have to agree with most on the list and add Big Swede and Edwin Crosant, may not be old garde but great sources of info.
I wouldn't say anyone of them have mentored me, but all posted great info, most of it I didn't have to ask stupid questions about.

I've also found that very new members have been very helpful, Yak, HDNB, SC + about 100 more, to many to mention.
All in all a great community that welcomes everyone provided you're not an arsehole, and if you are you have to be a polite arsehole

[apdb]

There should be a toast to some of our favourite "Trolls" on here as well...

Aaron

[Bushman]

Great names, and this morning when I came back to the post I decided to change my stance and add some names. I was going to add Tater but Rock beat me too it. If you want some good reads then look up some past members that contributed a lot early on.
Mulekickers and his plans for controllers that really started the electric push
Blind drunk who was one of the best to research a topic and find answers for members
Corene1 not old guard but gives great advice on building
3d0g another not old guard but is usually spot on with comments and advice
Junkyard dog and his agave threads
Myles always gave great advice
These are the names I haven't seen mentioned and I will come up with more after some coffee.

[Swedish Pride]

Kiwistiller, uncle Remus. have read most of their stuff, well a lot of it anyways.
So many greats that don't stop by anymore

[bearriver]

I was not here for the Old Guard's presence, but extend my best wishes and gratitude to all of the senior membership.

LWTCS has been of great help to me paticularly over this last year. I want to thank him and celebrate having his buisness positively recognized at HD this year.

Most recently I have been enjoying the posts from 3dog, both here at HD and elsewhere. Glad to have him on board!

I fondly remember those who have had the deepest influence on my perspective and hope someday that I will shake the hands of those people. In some cases I already have and that is a real blessing.

[cranky]

I haven't seen Samohon mentiond, of course there are so many others, too many to really think of and and as I read posts I get lost on who is old guard and who isn't. I am grateful for all people's input.

[GrassHopper]

There are many for sure from the old guard. Some of you are still here. There are new ones here as well who have contributed much to the cause.
Who were those from the past that are no longer with us? Where are they now? Have they passed? I bet there were some real battles.
This list is by no means representative of all the old guard. It only takes into account those those who joined 2010 and before and were most active on the forums to help shake your memories.
I bet some of you remember some of them, and have even met them. Tell us about them. Who was Dunderhead? He had over 13,000 posts. Did any of you know him?
Keep it nice.....if you can! We can have different thread on those who pissed ya off.

Tater 2004
theholymackerel 2004
Uncle Jesse 2004
Grayson_Stewart 2004

Blanikdog 2005
The Chemist 2005
stoker 2005
possum 2005

pintoshine 2006
Junkyarddawg 2006
Husker 2006
CoopsOz 2006
goose eye 2006

rad14701 2007
Dnderhead 2007
HookLine 2007
Usge 2007
shadylane 2007
punkin 2007
new_moonshiner 2007
tracker0945 2007
wineo 2007

blind drunk 2008
Hack 2008
Hawke 2008
myles 2008
Ayay 2008
trthskr4 2008
Barney Fife 2008
goinbroke2 2008

LWTCS 2009
kiwistiller 2009
MuleKicker 2009
rubber duck 2009
olddog 2009
Samohon 2009
WalkingWolf 2009
Mr.Spooky 2009
Coyote 2009
ScottishBoy 2009
cob 2009
maheel 2009
Bagasso 2009

Bushman 2010
Odin 2010
rockchucker22 2010
Kentucky shinner 2010
mash rookie 2010
rtalbigr 2010
Braz 2010
NcHooch 2010
Bayou-Ruler 2010
King Of Hearts 2010
emptyglass 2010
rednose 2010
Mud Mechanik 2010
Dan P. 2010

[RandyMarshCT]

If we're giving shout outs to those that have helped us the most, I have to include Harry. I know he doesn't come here much anymore, but he's helped me a lot on other forums. Same with Pint and punkin, regardless of forum drama.

Odin, Jimbo, Prairepiss, Bushman, & Tater have helped me tons.

Cheers to all who help!

[googe]

Usage is my favourite for detailed easy to follow info .

[LWTCS]

Who Was Dunderhead???

My very first influences were :
Goose
Dunderhead
Rad

But not necessarily in that order.

Edit:
Shoot forgot Hook and Hawk

[cob]

husker responded to a pm from me after my first post. without his sage wisdom I might have never been allowed to remain.

all the others mentioned also deserve thanks also. the exiles included

[Jimbo]

LWTCS and Prairiepiss were among the first to help me out on here. Thank you for that. Dnderhead had a knack for saying more in three words than anyone has ever said on here in any number of words, I miss that.