The book of bourbon and other fine American whiskeys

About this book

Connoisseurs of spirits, rejoice! There hasn't been a book solely on American whiskey in much longer than it takes to age good bourbon, and now, here come two! Waymack and Harris' effort arrives first. Companion to their Single-Malt Whiskies of Scotland (1992), it echoes that volume's structure, telling the history of whiskey in America, outlining the making of American whiskey, profiling the makers and evaluating the wares of the two great American styles (bourbon and Tennessee), and concluding with advice on whiskey tastings and recipes. There are fewer distilleries in the U.S. than in Scotland; in the chapters on them, Waymack and Harris stretch out as they weren't able to on Scotland's. They relay some of the master distillers' favorite stories, something about the character of the likes of Jack Daniel and Jim Beam, and some of their own tales of traveling in American whiskey country (Kentucky and Tennessee) and meeting the colorful, congenial folks who make whiskey. The Regans' tome is a more luxurious production. It has 100 more pages, narrower mar gins, and smaller type, so the Regans can expatiate more upon whiskey history, whiskey tasting, and the distillers and their products and include more recipes. They don't, however, offer a chapter on whiskey making but rectify that omission by segregating information about touring whiskey country and visiting distilleries into its own chapter and by covering, as Waymack and Harris do not, the descendant of America's original whiskey, straight rye. In short, the Regans supply more of nearly everything than Waymack and Harris do, but that is not to say they do the same job better. Both books belong in any collection on American food and drink, and both will give lovers of fine spirits hours of palate-piquing reading pleasure. - Ray Olson--BL 09/15/1995.