Book review : Malt Whisky Yearbook 2014

mwy2014It’s October, and It’s time for the annual MWYB. I’ve written and reviewed this book for the last 3 or 4 years, and I don’t know about you, but for me this is the definitive whisky book. As one of my FB friends noted : “this is the only whisky book you really have to buy” and I do agree. In addition to it being highly interesting to read (just look at the list of excellent and renounced whisky writers from Charles Maclean to Hans Offringa , Gavin Smith, Dominic Roskrow , and the list goes on and on), you get a brilliant reference book with every distillery in Scotland , US, and the rest of the world as well as whisky geekery info about sales figures , closed distilleries, IB, shops, web sites. You got it all.

This year the articles are indeed very interesting Starting with G.smith revisiting the emerging markets, Charles Maclean taking a look on “How scotch began to conquer the world”, Ian Buxton dealing with the fight for a piece of the whisky pie, Jonny McCormick looking at the beginning of whisky finishing (whish is a very hot topic these days) , Dominic R takes a look at whisky distillers around the world, and their experiments, Neil Ridley examining how whisky acts as a social lubricant (whisky gatherings) and finally Hans Offringa writes on the whisky way, detailing his travels around Bonnie Scotland.  Highly interesting reading for every whisky lover / geek.

I really like this year’s look at the famous blends and their history (spread across the entire book), and of course the short interviews with whisky people across the world.

Tables and Statistics are there like every year, including maps,recommended shops and more.

Really a book you will find yourself reading more than once, and browsing time after time. for 14 quid, this is really an excellent deal.  The book is available at whisky shops, distilleries, and online if you wish to mail order it at  : www.maltwhiskyyearbook.com

Excellent work as always on behalf of Ingvar Ronde the editor.

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