The Story of Whisky
The Story of Whisky is a full-color hardcover guide to the history, craft, and flavors behind the spirit in your glass. Award-winning writers Charles Maclean and Gavin D. Smith bring whisky’s global journey to life through more than 100 stories, legends, and anecdotes, pairing an entertaining narrative with historical images and photographs of landscapes and iconic distilleries, inside and out.
Keep it beside your favorite reading chair or bring it to the table for an evening of conversation. Whether you are discovering whisky or deepening an existing interest, this illustrated book connects what you taste with the people, places, and traditions that shaped it.
From early distilling to modern craft
Following a loose chronology, the book traces the origins of distilling to 1200 BC, mainly in China and India, then explores whisky’s beginnings as an illicit spirit in the hills of Scotland and Ireland. It follows that story through to today’s small-batch whiskies, craft distillers, and master blenders around the world.
Meet pioneers and inventors who helped shape the industry, from John Jameson in Dublin to Nearest Green and Jack Daniels in Tennessee. Explore whisky’s cultural heritage, from Ernest Shackleton in the South Antarctic to the growth of single malt in the USA, and discover how it became a global success story.
Understand what is in your glass
Learn how three basic ingredients, grain, yeast, and water, produce such varied flavors. The authors explore how history, craft, tradition, and science influence whisky’s character, where its flavors come from, and how they are changing. Contemporary topics include sustainability, heritage barley and corn, and the problem of fake whiskies.
Book details
- Title: The Story of Whisky
- Writers: Charles Maclean and Gavin D. Smith
- Format: Hardcover
- Illustrations: Full color throughout, with historical images and photography
- Subject: Cooking / Beverages / Alcoholic / Spirits
- Inside: More than 100 stories, legends, and anecdotes designed to entertain and educate whisky enthusiasts
“For the reader who knows little about whisky, this is a book that will easily and enjoyably fill that gap.”
— Sir Alexander McCall Smith
The Story of Whisky is a full-color hardcover guide to the history, craft, and flavors behind the spirit in your glass. Award-winning writers Charles Maclean and Gavin D. Smith bring whisky’s global journey to life through more than 100 stories, legends, and anecdotes, pairing an entertaining narrative with historical images and photographs of landscapes and iconic distilleries, inside and out.
Keep it beside your favorite reading chair or bring it to the table for an evening of conversation. Whether you are discovering whisky or deepening an existing interest, this illustrated book connects what you taste with the people, places, and traditions that shaped it.
From early distilling to modern craft
Following a loose chronology, the book traces the origins of distilling to 1200 BC, mainly in China and India, then explores whisky’s beginnings as an illicit spirit in the hills of Scotland and Ireland. It follows that story through to today’s small-batch whiskies, craft distillers, and master blenders around the world.
Meet pioneers and inventors who helped shape the industry, from John Jameson in Dublin to Nearest Green and Jack Daniels in Tennessee. Explore whisky’s cultural heritage, from Ernest Shackleton in the South Antarctic to the growth of single malt in the USA, and discover how it became a global success story.
Understand what is in your glass
Learn how three basic ingredients, grain, yeast, and water, produce such varied flavors. The authors explore how history, craft, tradition, and science influence whisky’s character, where its flavors come from, and how they are changing. Contemporary topics include sustainability, heritage barley and corn, and the problem of fake whiskies.
Book details
- Title: The Story of Whisky
- Writers: Charles Maclean and Gavin D. Smith
- Format: Hardcover
- Illustrations: Full color throughout, with historical images and photography
- Subject: Cooking / Beverages / Alcoholic / Spirits
- Inside: More than 100 stories, legends, and anecdotes designed to entertain and educate whisky enthusiasts
“For the reader who knows little about whisky, this is a book that will easily and enjoyably fill that gap.”
— Sir Alexander McCall Smith