Six New Whiskey Books For Christmas

By Richard Thomas

The 2020 Holiday Season has a quite different vibe to it that years past, due in large part to the covid-19 pandemic. With infection numbers spiking around the world, but nowhere worse than in (what is still Donald Trump’s) America, people are looking at the coming of winter and the end of patio and sidewalk drinking and dining. The most sensible folks are planning on spending more time at home.

An interesting twist to that is one bit of fallout from the Spring 2020 lockdown: that alcohol consumption skyrocketed. That means a good bottle of whisk(e)y might not actually be the best buy for the enthusiast on your shopping list this year, and for two possible causes: 1) that person might want to curb consumption relative to this spring, when “Drink Your Cellar” was a thing; and 2) if that person doesn’t want to curb consumption, that bottle won’t be savored as in years past, but will instead be drained before January is out.

One way to go instead of a bottle is get a book, and there are plenty of recently released whiskey and whiskey-centric books to choose from:

The Complete Whiskey Course by Robin Robinson
This is the one-stop book for anyone intent on becoming a well-grounded enthusiast in the broader world of whisk(e)y. Robinson also brings a perspective to the work which is almost unique in whiskey writer circles, as his background isn’t that of a distiller or a “professional appreciator” as most all other authors in this field are. Instead, Robinson comes from the sales and marketing end of the industry. The work is broad in scope without sacrificing depth, and could serve as a substitute for half a dozen books as an introduction to world whiskey.

Bourbon Tails: The Dogs Of Bourbon Country by Beth Andrews
I’m a huge dog nut, and I know I’m not alone in needing to keep an iron grip on my dog nuttery in the era of social distancing, because until this year I was the fellow who would cross the street to greet a happy, sociable-looking canine. So when Andrews book–a photographic work introducing the world to the dogs owned by bourbon industry folks–I was uplifted and enthralled. Frankly, I had no idea that so many of the people I know in that business were dog lovers too. If you love bourbon and love dogs, this book needs to be on your coffee table.

Drink by Kurt Maitland
Maitland, who is the curator of the Manhattan Whiskey Club, a consultant and our own Deputy Editor, penned this guide to cocktails. Although not just about whiskey mixology, we know Maitland’s tastes well enough to say it’s a book no whiskey cocktail-loving drinker should eschew. With over 1,100 recipes, it’s very home bartender-oriented and a strong choice for anyone who wants to be the posh host of many small gatherings this winter in the name of replacing going out with having folks over.

Malt Whisky Yearbook 2021, edited by Ingvar Ronde
The most intimidating part of becoming a knowledgeable Scotch consumer is coming to grips with the vast number of producers in the industry. Just for the sake of illustration, let’s say you know a diehard fan of Dewar’s Blended Whisky. What exactly goes into the recipe of Dewar’s isn’t public information, beyond the statement that said recipe draws on over 40 separate malts and grain whiskies. But the parent company owns five malt distilleries: Aberfeldy; Aultmore; Craigellachie; Macduff; and Royal Brackla. Aberfeldy is at the heart of Dewar’s White Label, but any serious fan would presumably want to memorize details about all five distilleries, plus any other distilleries that are rumored to contribute to the brand.

That is a lot of information, which is what the Malt Whisky Yearbook provides. Each year, this reference guide to the modern state of the Scotch whisky industry is updated to encompass new distilleries, new negociants, and cogent feature articles on developments impacting production and sales. The book also includes a section on world distillers producing malt whiskies (making malt whisky has spread from Argentina to Taiwan in the last decade) and the numerous independent bottlers. There are plenty of taster’s guides to Scotch whisky; this book is a thickly detailed work on the who and how, not the what.

Which Fork Do I Use With My Bourbon? by Peggy Noe Stevens & Susan ReiglerWhisk(e)y and food pairings are such a thing nowadays that it was only a matter of time before someone stirred in a dose of Southern hospitality and served up the resulting book, and I don’t think anyone could have done a better job of it than Stevens and Reigler. The former is a Master Bourbon Taster and the founder of the Bourbon Women Association; the latter is a former restaurant critic for the Louisville Courier-Journal, current whiskey writer and author of six books. All that know-how and talent is brought to the subject of giving the reader the tools to host the ultimate Bourbon Country style dinner party, tasting or cocktail soiree. Once again, we’ll all be entertaining at home a lot more for the next several months, so this is a handy book to have.

American Whiskey by Richard Thomas
Yes, I’m plugging my own book and for good reason: American Whiskey is the only small distiller-centered whiskey book around. I was charged with producing a book about the emergence of whiskey as a truly American phenomenon. As a result, roughly two-thirds of the space in the work was devoted to the whiskeys made outside of Kentucky and Tennessee and the people who make them. If you want to get a handle on the who, what, where and how of craft whiskey sweeping the country from coast to coast, this book is the only one that tackles that subject.