Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
According to Phillip Hills, it is only in the last couple of decades that distillers have woken up to the fact that some people drink whisky because they actually like it. This is a startling claim, but one that is supported by even a cursory survey of past whisky marketing practices. The stuff was flogged as a signifier of, variously, Scottishness (the wee dram) or social class (upper-class male tipple, usually with soda), but rarely if ever on the grounds of its taste. Those were the days when the only whisky available was blended. Even now that malts have made such a spectacular comeback, the old marketing habits persist in a new guise: whiskies of all types come accompanied by so-called tasting notes of the most dubious provenance and usefulness. Phillip Hills, one of the leading lights of the modern malt revival, will have none of this nonsense. The only way to tell good whisky from less good is to taste as many as possible, taste again and keep tasting until one has confidence in one's powers of discrimination. It will also help to have as deep a knowledge as possible of the chemistry, materials (five of these), manufacturing processes (five of these, too) and cultural history of whisky. All of these he has provided in Appreciating Whisky, an exhaustive--but far from exhausting--primer for the aspiring whisky connoisseur. Independent-minded, witty, erudite and on occasion iconoclastic or downright bawdy, Hills is clearly obsessed by whisky, which makes him the ideal guide to this complex and fascinating drink. This excellent book is likely to remain the most authoritative in its field for a long time. --Robin Davidson
Synopsis
As with fine wines, there is a social cachet in being able to "appreciate" a good Scotch. But how exactly do you learn this skill? Where can you acquire the knowledge to join this whisky-appreciating elite? This illustrated book offers the reader detailed, structured tuition on how to develop his or her palate for whisky. Readers are first taken on a detailed tour of how whisky is produced, what each of its constituents and each of the stages of its manufacture bring to the final product. With this grounding, they are then introduced to the various chemical processes at work during distillation and maturation that give each whisky its distinct characteristics. Using specific popular whiskies which readers are encouraged to have to hand as they work through the book, they are taught how to recognise what it is they are tasting and smelling, and how to describe this in the language of the experts.
(1 customer review)
(
