The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails

Murray, Jim


Murray, Jim (1957–), the English-born whisky writer, diverted a newspaper career into full-time whisky writing in the 1990s, publishing six books on the topic between 1994 and 1999. The timing was serendipitous—whisky’s popularity was growing as food media increasingly embraced the kind of celebrity culture that had already given the wine world several influential tastemakers. Murray had noticed, however, that similar personalities were absent from the fledgling whisky scene, as he told an interviewer in 2014. Murray trademarked his name and began offering his opinions, both through books such as Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, a widely popular ratings guide published annually since 2003, and in private tastings. Although Murray is undoubtedly knowledgeable in both British Isles and American whiskies, his unpredictable choices, particularly the Whisky Bible’s yearly “world’s best whisky” pick, regularly generate controversy among aficionados. This not only underscores the subjectivity of taste but leaves many critics to wonder just how much of Murray’s advice is deliberately engineered to generate publicity for his personal brand. In 2020, Murray found himself entangled in additional controversy after fellow spirits writers publicly objected to the sexist language and antiquated attitudes frequently displayed in his reviews and, it is alleged, tastings. Murray dismissed the accusation as “cancel culture,” but several spirits companies distanced themselves from him anyway. Nonetheless, his stamp on a whisky has been known to considerably raise a whisky’s profile: indeed, in 2016, when he named the Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye the world’s best, it helped to spark a renewed interest in Canadian whisky in general.

See also spirits writing.

Bellwood, Owen. “Industry Condemns ‘Sexist’ Language in Whisky Bible.” The Spirits Business, September 21, 2020, https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2020/09/industry-condemns-sexist-language-in-whisky-bible/ (accessed March 26, 2021).

Murray, Jim. Interview with Pip Courtney from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. August 3, 2014.

Risen, Clay. “Jim Murray, a Top Whiskey Critic, Faces Accusations of Sexism.” New York Times, October 1, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/dining/drinks/jim-murray-whisky-sexism.html (accessed March 26, 2021).

By: Reid Mitenbuler