The Malt Whisky File 3 Ed: The Connoisseur s Guide to Malt Whiskies and Their Distilleries 
Product Description: A fully revised and expanded edition of the hugely successful book The Malt Whisky File, sales of which are now over 150,000. Organized alphabetically, it is the most comprehensive and user-friendly guide both to the famous and the little-known distilleries of Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, and Japan, and to their malt whiskies. With over five hundred tasting notes, this is the indispensable reference work for malt whisky lovers around the world and the perfect accompaniment to a wee dram or two.
Customer Ratings: - The Greatest Book on Scotch Whisky Ever Written. The customer reviews of this book thus far prove one should not believe everything they read. This book is, without question, the best book available on Scotch whisky. The chief reasons for this assessment are:
1. The authors of the Malt Whisky File do not give an overall rating as if each brand of whisky is in competition with all others. The authors do not presume to have a monopoly on taste and do not try to tell the reader what to think.
2. The tasting notes have a number rating for Sweetness, Peatiness and Availability. This is followed by brief but descriptive notes on Colour, Nose, Flavour and Finish. The two whisky tasting groups I have been involved with over the years find the Malt Whisky File notes to be uncanny in their accuracy, down to the minutiae of the heather, spice and wood in the pallet.
3. The Whisky is listed alphabetically, so one does not have to rummage for Islays vs. Highland vs. Campbelltown.
The Wallace Milroy book is a keeper and great fun to read. The Michael Jackson book has valuable information. If you are the kind of person who needs an expert to think for you and tell you which scotch is better than another, get Jackson s book. But other than cross reference material neither do the job of The Malt Whisky File.
Milroy comes up with memorial lines, like comparing Laphroig s taste to licking castle walls. Jackson includes a vast number of special bottlings and interesting tidbits about the distilleries. However, both Milroy and Jackson are paid consultants who happen to give high ratings to the same brands who employed them. Their sweeping judgments are but two men s opinions and nothing more.
Jackson is particularly bad in saying Brand X is superior to Brands Y or Z. He clearly favors tame, Speyside varieties over robust island spirits. For anyone to assume such lofty know-it-all posturing while pronouncing arbitrary and suspiciously bias ratings is absurd. Such people do disservice to many great malts and to their readers.
If you only buy one book on Malt Whisky, make it this one.
- Good basic book on whisky, not a great book on whisky. Bought this book at the Whisky Castle in Dufftown while on vacation instead of Jackson s book. Lamond has a down and dirty style that gets right to the point on nosing, taste and aftertaste that appeals to me. His notes in these areas are exactly what I was looking for, but as another reviewer has noted, I found several whiskies left out, and this bothered me a little. Glen Morangie s unfiltered cask strength was omitted (my favorite by far!), several of the Balvenie and Glenfiddich wood caskings were left out, as were numerous vints of several other stellar malts that I ve tried in the past. That aside, his inclusion of distilleries that have been shut down and the malts that are still radomly available is commendable (Pittyviach, Glen Garioch, etc.). I do enjoy this book and regularly refer to it when trying new malts.
I d recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a book on single malts that covers the things for which you seek when you re buying, as mentioned above. No flowery language about the locations and simple history about each distillery. Just basic information that suits the needs. It s worth buying. - Malt whisky file. This is a very informative book, covering both the history and making of Scotch as well as the many brands. Each distillery is given a brief history and overview which helps the reader understand the many brands better. Within the text of each distillery are the many varieties that have been produced over the many years, which ultimately means the Scotch connoisseur will likely never run out of opportunities to sample something new.
The rating system for sweetness and peatiness is a bit confusing, especially since the author specifically attempts to stay away from subjective numbers. The availability rating is somewhat less misleading, though the reader must keep in mind this catagory is limited to the United Kingdom. Americans will have an even more difficult time in finding many of these brands. Aside from question on the ratings, there seem to be few brands of Scotch (or Irish) single malts that are not covered. This book is a handy guide any fan of Scotch should want to consider. - Not up to date. I wouldn t exactly call this up to date over the 2nd
edition. It s a decent book, but if you have the 2nd
edition already, I d recommend skipping this one.
If you want only one guide, buy Michael Jackson s
awesome guide. There are tons of omissions in this edition.
No Highland Park 18yr, none of the Bowmore editions
(Darkest, Dawn, Dusk, Claret, etc), no Dalmore Cigar Malt,
no Glenfarclas 17 yr, Glenfiddich 30, Laphroaig 30,
and many more. The independent listings are hit and
miss to say the least, but he seems to keep other listings
in the book for expressions that are long gone and no
longer available. I guess the authors needed the money.
|
The Malt Whisky File 3 Ed: The Connoisseur s Guide to Malt Whiskies and Their Distilleries (ID: 1841950726)
