whisky books

are, for the most part, a relatively new phenomenon. While there are some early examples, such as Alfred Barnard’s landmark survey of producers from 1887, The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom, and his lesser-known A Visit to Watson’s Dundee Whisky Stores, as well as a handful of books from the early- and mid-twentieth century, such as Whisky by “Aeneas MacDonald” (George Malcolm Thomson), from 1930, and Ross Wilson’s Scotch Made Easy from 1959, the idea that people would want to read anything about whisky longer than a label simply didn’t occur to publishers. See Barnard, Alfred; and MacDonald, Aeneas.

That all changed in the 1980s, an otherwise inauspicious time for whisky. In 1987, Michael Jackson published his first whisky book, The World Guide to Whisky. It was an overview of what whisky was and how and where it was made, and for the first time it presented tasting notes to hundreds of whiskies. It was authoritative without being stuffy, engaging without being coy or cute. It changed whisky writing and created a path that would widen into a variety of types of whisky book. See Jackson, Michael.

###Overviews

The overview book attempts to present the full scope of whisky, either the totality or one of the major regions, with an inclusive narrative sweep that takes in history, process, individual producers, and sometimes cocktails and food pairings as well. Recent examples of the totality type would include The World Atlas of Whisky, 2nd ed., by Dave Broom (2014); Tasting Whisky, by Lew Bryson (2014); and Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life, (2015) by Heather Greene. Charles MacLean’s Whiskypedia (2010) takes a bite-sized approach in a single-volume encyclopedia of scotch whisky. Davin de Kergommeaux’s Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert (2012) and The Book of Bourbon and Other Fine American Whiskies, by Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan (1998, and still quite relevant), are good examples of the regional type. See Regan, Gary.

###Ratings Collections

Intended as a guide to selecting whiskies of similar quality and caliber or for opening the range of whiskies to the readers’ experience, the ratings collection presents a large array of tasting notes on various expressions, with or without a rating scheme. Timeliness in reviewing and publishing such a book is critical. Clay Risen’s American Whisky, Bourbon and Rye focuses on US whiskies and looks to be doing regular revisions. Although it is controversial both for some of its opinions and for how they are often expressed, no list of this kind would be complete without Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, an annual roundup of thousands of tasting notes of whiskies from around the world. See Murray, Jim.

###Technical Books

There are those who want to learn much more about how whisky is made, right down to the chemical and physical processes. Authors who can make this kind of information accessible yet accurate find this niche. One of the better books is The Science and Commerce of Whisky, by Ian Buxton and Paul S. Hughes (2013).

###Memoirs and Company Histories

Memoirs of people who have worked in whisky are still relatively rare; an excellent example is that of outspoken master blender Richard Paterson (written with the help of Gavin D. Smith), Goodness Nose (2010). Company histories are often done in cooperation with the company, as with F. Paul Pacult’s American Still Life: The Jim Beam Story (2003) and Dr. Nicholas Morgan’s Johnnie Walker history, A Long Stride (2020).

###Histories

Historical accounts of various aspects of whisky vary from Charles Craig’s magisterial The Scotch Whisky Industry Record (1994), to Reid Mitenbuler’s business portrait Bourbon Empire (2015), to Gavin D. Smith’s history of illicit scotch, The Scottish Smuggler (2004), to Noah Rothbaum’s lavishly illustrated The Art of American Whiskey (2015). Sometimes a book will completely rewrite the assumed history of a category, as is the case with A Glass Apart: Irish Single Pot Still Whisky, by Fionnán O’Connor (2015).

###Cookbooks and Cocktails

Books that focus on whisky-related cooking and cocktails have found eager readers. Amy Zavatto’s Big Book of Bourbon Cocktails (2019) and Jane Danger and Alla Lapuschik’s Bourbon Bartender (2017) are fine introductions to mixing with the spirit. Whisky’s delicious sweet, smoky character works well with food in books like The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook, by Albert W. A. Schmid and Dean Fearing (2010).

###Narratives

Books that read like fiction but tell true whisky-related stories have a special place in this category. The classic may be Raw Spirit, by acclaimed Scottish science fiction author Iain Banks (1994), a rambling—literally—self-education in scotch whisky. Another is Sea Spray and Whisky, by Norman Freeman (1993), a remembrance of crewing a freighter carrying a cargo of whisky and what happens when the crew realizes the nature of the cargo.

###Novelties

Whisky can lead to whimsy, and to introspection, and thus to books that stand alone. The title of The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Whisky Know-It-All, by Richard Betts (2015), says it all, as does Whisky and Philosophy: A Small Batch of Spirited Ideas by Fritz Allhoff and Marcus P. Adams (2009).

See also mixography and spirits writing.

By: Lew BrysonSee Barnard, Alfred;, MacDonald, Aeneas.See Jackson, Michael.See Regan, Gary.See Murray, Jim.See also mixography, spirits writing.