World Whiskey

by Charles MacLean

World Whiskey is a long overdue visual bible of over 700 worldwide whiskeys. Whiskeys Worth the Wait directory spreads make up the body of the book, marrying together distillery history, in-depth tasting notes, and a photograph. Guiding you through every important distilling nation - starting with the rich varieties in Scotland, going on to woody bourbon and rye in the US, and finishing with the range of varieties available in Asia and Australasia - you're sure to find a satisfying dram wherever you are.

Genres: Reference, Cooking, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 21, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the goodreads data base.

Charles MacLean is a writer whose special subject is Scotch whisky, about which he has published ten books to date, including the standard work on whisky brands, Scotch Whisky and the leading book on its subject, Malt Whisky, both of which were short-listed for Glenfiddich Awards.

Whisky: A Liquid History, published by Cassell in 2003 was named Wine and Spirit Book of the Year (2005) by the James Beard Foundation of New York. MacLean’s Whisky Miscellany followed in 2004, expanded in 2006 as Whisky Tales; in 2008 he was Managing Editor of Dorling Kindersley’s Eyewitness Companion to Whisky, and in 2009 their World Whiskies.Whiskypedia was published in June 2009.

Reviews

[Yolanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty comprehensive guide, though it can't cover everything, and Taiwan has at least one other distillery since it was published, beyond the varied and experimental Kavalan (Omar, in Nantou county - I don't know what it tastes like, just that it exists.)

I especially liked the detailed explanations of how whisky / whiskey is made and whence it gets its flavours etc. This supported my existing knowledge and also meant I knew what I was looking at while going around 2 distilleries. Also worth a mention is the fact that it covers whiskies which are a bit crap (Officer's Choice - not my choice) and explains WHY they aren't that great.

I would drink whisky no matter what, but since buying this book, I have branched out and discovered new things I like, a few things I don't (grain whisky is a bit bland for me - I can just file this under 'generic whisky taste') and some things I want to try more of (like rye whisky.)

A sad fact is that the book has shown me I once dismissed something whose worth neither the owner nor I understood. This was a special bottle of Bells. I can't stand Bells and nor can the biker who was trying to palm it off on me. Firstly, what was in that bottle would have tasted nothing like the Bells I had such antipathy towards. Secondly, it was actually worth a significant amount of money and I could have flogged it. I'd have got a good price too - I was a sharp little thing at 20. Hindsight is 20-20.

[J. Scott Frampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reference. Have a bourbon in your hand when reading, otherwise it doesn’t work..

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book. As I started reading it, beginning with the single malt whiskeys all in alphabetic order. As I got to #3, Aberlour, I remembered I had a bottle of it in the cupboard so I thought, why not involve myself with the book. So I poured a glass and sipped as I read it. Very tasty. And thence to Balvenie - hmmm, have some of that in the cupboard too. And I really like it. Thence to Bruichladdich in its tasty liddle silver boddle in the cubberd. Jest a dram, my man. And thence I read on. The payjes getting mer and mer inneresing. Bunnahabhain, where is thad black boddle. The readin is gedding blurry, but the story is a guddun. Pitching forward into the C's and that was it for the night.
So I read over the course of a week before leaving Scotland with a headache.
I sailed through the Canadian whiskys, remembering to drop the "e" and slowing sipping some favourites. I struggled with the plot as I came the bourbons, a.k.a. American Whiskey. It was new territory for me and the Bourbons are not as complex as the European family of the same name.

[Ozan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good reference to start if you are interested in whiskey. Lots of useful reviews about almost 650 different whiskeys and distillers.

[Alexandru · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice intro into the world of whisky, a guide into discovering types of whiskey for any taste. Useful for beginners and for those that tried whiskies from around the world.

[Adam Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely comprehensive guide to whisky from around the whole world. It covers the various styles and methods of production of the different types of whisky in great detail. There are concise descriptions of the history and types of whisky produced for the hundreds of distilleries included in the book. These are not only from Scotland, USA and Japan but also from other less likely places such as Germany, India, Australia and South Africa. Beautifully produced.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me thirsty.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a wonderful book, excellent information provided, pictureare well done..to those that are devotee's of the dram....this is a must-have.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures

[Rick Townley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few curious omissions but overall an excellent reference.