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Title: Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch: The Connoisseur's Guide to the Single Malt Whiskies of Scotland by Michael Jackson ISBN: 0-7624-0731-X Publisher: Running Press Pub. Date: December, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The next best thing to a single malt itself
Comment: This guide to single malts is being continually revised and is the best of its kind. Mr. Jackson is always expanding his range of whiskies, even to include those made beyond Scotland. He provides an valuable index to the best brands and give you a short history of the distilleries. I've used this guide to help me enlarge my taste for single malts, which now includes a pretty fair sampling. I find myself repeatedly drawn to the 10 year-old Laphroaig, which proves as Mr. Jackson notes, that age is not always the best indicator of a great whiskey. Location has a lot to do with it, as this Islay whiskey seems to have a flavor all its own. He also notes the various blends, and which malts they use as their base. You'll be surprised to find that the more popular brands are not necessarily the best brands, as White Horse uses another Islay malt, Lagavulin, as its base. If you are new to single malts, this book will help you get started. The only limit is the your pocket book, as these whiskeys don't come cheap.
Rating: 5
Summary: Classic work
Comment: The discovery by Americans of single-malt whisky back in the 80's and 90's was one of the most interesting stories in the food and beverage market ever. This event by itself probably prevented a number of distilleries from closing, and several, such as the great Ardbeg, which had been moth-balled, were perhaps reopened as a result.
Some great but lesser known malts, like Edradour, found new appreciation for their tiny output abroad. Edradour, for example, produces less in a year than some distilleries do in a week, like Tomatin (the Edradour distillery only has 3 employees and only makes 2 barrels a week). Others, such as the Islays like Lagavulin, Laphroaig, and Bowmore, and even the oddly dual-natured Caol Isla, with its both sweetish and phenolic character, were already known in Scotland but garnered new fans here in America. As in Scotland, the Islays are not to everybody's taste, but I know people here who will hardly touch a drop of anything else--an amazing testament to the enthusiasm that has developed in America even for the stronger and more exotic malts. And probably no book did more to make that happen than Jackson's great little books on single-malt scotch.
On a personal note, sometimes even the Scots themselves failed to appreciate how far American sensibilities had come with respect to single malts. I had the experience 20 years ago, when still a young man, of sitting in a bar at the south end of Loch Lommond, and having a well-meaning bartender refuse to serve me some Laphroaig. He insisted on giving me Royal Brackla from an old bottle, itself a great malt. But he thought this young American didn't know what he was asking for, and I think he was worried he might do in a perfectly good, paying customer with a draught of the pungent, phenolic, peaty, and iodine-tasking Laphroaig.
These books taught me a lot and I have all 3 editions. They're great for learning to appreciate the particular aspects and flavors of a malt, and as I've been tasting single-malts for 20 years, I've found Mr. Jackson's descriptions to be very accurate and informative. In many cases, after learning from his description, I was able to go on and detect things that weren't even in the book--a great testament to his skill as a teacher and writer. Without his guidance, I wouldn't have been able to educate my sense of taste nearly as expertly.
There is no better way to learn about single malts than to take samples of several malts and then taste and compare them using this book. After you're tasted a couple of dozen malts you should be able to get a good sense of what's going on and be able to go on from there.
A good way to do this is to pick a couple of classic malts from each category, say a couple of lowlands, a couple of highlands or Speysides, and a couple of Islays, and taste them alongside each other with this book. Some of the malts are just so unique or special that they deserve tasting by themselves--as in the case of Clynelish and Highland Park, or Caol Isla and Talisker, or the often overlooked but wonderful lowland malt, Littlemill, with its sweet cocoanut, English toffee, and creme de caramel flavors.
Well, I could go on for a while about interesting things to do for tastings, but I will leave the rest of that to you, hopefully by way of this book, except for one last recommendation. The great Victorian connoisseur and single-malt scotch authority Professor Shaftsbury considered mixing together some Clynelish and Longmorn to be possibly the greatest drink in the world. So you might give it a try sometime and see what you think. Good luck and happy tasting!
Rating: 5
Summary: a must-have for any Scotch aficionado
Comment: This guide is to Scotch what Wine Spectator is to wine and Cigar Aficionado is to cigars. Complete with introductory chapters on the making of Scotch whisky, detailed entries with ratings and tasting notes, and advice on proper Scotch appreciation, this book is a necessary addition to the library of any person serious about Scotch whisky. Though the reader may not personally agree with Jackson's preference for peatier malts (I personally like them myself), s/he will still find enough fairness in the narrative reviews to make a proper decision on whether a bottle is worth buying. Don't taste a dram without consulting this book!
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Title: Scotland and Its Whiskies: The Great Whiskies and Their Landscapes by Michael Jackson ISBN: 0151009422 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 05 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: The Complete Guide to Whiskey: Selecting, Comparing, and Drinking the World's Great Whiskeys (Pocket Guide Series) by Jim Murray ISBN: 1572431512 Publisher: Triumph Books Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title:Riedel Vinum Single Malt Scotch Glasses, Set of 6 ASIN: B00004SZ83 Publisher: Riedel List Price(USD): $120.00 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $83.99 |
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Title: Malt Wiskey by Charles Maclean ISBN: 1857326830 Publisher: Mitchell Beazley Pub. Date: 16 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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Title: Whisky Classified: Choosing Single Malts by Flavor by David Wishart ISBN: 1862055270 Publisher: Penguin Uk Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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