Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch [Hardcover]

Michael Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2010

Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch, the landmark best-selling malt whiskey companion by the late Michael Jackson, doyen of whiskey writers, has been comprehensively updated by a team of experts. Featuring over 500 new bottlings, reviewed and scored, plus hundreds of revised entries, Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch includes background information on the distilleries, tasting notes on over 1,000 bottlings, and practical advice on buying malts and interpreting whiskey labels.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...informative, wide ranging, illustrated and entertaining- it deserves a toast." --Newsday

About the Author

Michael Jackson was widely recognized as the world's leading authority on whiskey. He is the author of DK's James Beard award-winning Whiskey, and his books have sold over three million copies worldwide.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; 6 Revised edition (March 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756658985
• ISBN-13: 978-0756658984
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Drinks & Beverages > Spirits

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good attempt at updating the classic, March 16, 2010

By 

R. Barry Lyndon (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch (Hardcover)

Michael Jackson died in 2008 and his book had not been updated since 2004. The malt whisky industry has changed greatly since then. The goal of these three editors was to update Michael's classic book while trying to do it as he would have himself.

The layout of the book is in alphabetical order by distillery. There is a short half-page introduction to each distillery, a sentence on the distillery's house style, followed by very short reviews and ratings of several whiskies from the distillery. Many reviews also include a picture of the bottle label. The beginning of the book starts with a general introduction to whisky, left mostly untouched from how Michael wrote it.

The goal of the editors was to keep as many of Michael's original reviews as possible, while updating them with reviews of new whiskies and removing outdated whiskies. The introduction says that two-thirds of the reviews are new, but I also found many of Michael's iconic tasting notes still in the book. The authors have intentionally changed very little in The Macallan section due to Michael's special affection for The Macallan, although they have added reviews of the Fine Oak series.

I listened to a recent interview with the editors. When it came to reviewing the whiskies, the editors say that they tried to stay true to Michael's style. This means that the reviews are terse, ratings are rarely above 85, and also that the editors tried to put aside their own opinions of the whiskies and tried to rate them as Michael would have (based on their reading of his past reviews). They spent 18 months updating the book, each working on reviewing separate distilleries without consulting each other on the reviews.

Overall I am satisfied with this book, although I do not own the previous versions. Many recently released modern whiskies are reviewed now, while I was also able to find some reviews that I know to be Michael's originals.

The editors hope to continue to update this classic and release new editions, but there are legal issues regarding Michael Jackson's estate. Therefore future editions of this book are still uncertain.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you have any questions regarding single malt whiskies, check out this book and you'll find your answers, February 26, 2011

By 

Alain B. Burrese "Author, Speaker, Mediator, ... (Missoula, MT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch (Hardcover)

Okay, I'll admit, I've read a number of novels where the hero enjoys sipping on a single malt scotch and I'm not entirely sure the differences, so I couldn't tell you if he was sipping on a good one or not. I also have friends who talk about various scotches and I can't contribute much to the conversations. Sure, I've enjoyed scotch now and then, and will again, but I really can't say I know that much.

However, that is where "Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch: A Connoisseur's Guide to the Single Malt Whiskies of Scotland" comes in. This fully revised sixth edition, updated by Dominic Roskrow, Gavin D. Smith, and William C. Meyers, and published by DK, covers just about anything you would want to know about malts. It's not a book to read cover to cover, unless you are really into scotch and enjoy reading reviews and tasting notes on over 1,000 malt whiskies, with vintages from 1926 onward, including reviews of over 500 new bottlings. I spotted it on the library shelf and had to pick it up and give it a read.

The book begins with a few pages on the late Michael Jackson of the whisky industry, not music fame. Then it proceeds with an instant guide to the pleasures of the pursuit of malts. Just a few pages, but it will help you understand why malts are so popular, and why many heroes in books and movies refer to these beverages. Next come chapters on the origins of malt whisky, the words used on the label, flavors, regional variations, the age, the wood, and finally the owners, distillers, and bottlers. These are all very short chapters, with photographs that take up the first 71 pages of the book. You can read these pretty easily and know more about malt whisky than most people. The rest of the book, which is nearly 450 pages long, is an A to Z directory of single malts.

In these pages, you can find information on just about any single malt you can think of. This expanded edition includes chapters on world whiskies, including malts from Ireland, Japan, and newer producers in Sweden and Australia. One of the first entries I turned to was the chapter on Laphroaig, a favorite brand of a few of my friends. Sure, I've shared toasts with it with those friends, but I now know a bit more about what I was drinking. So, if you have any questions regarding single malt whiskies, check out this book and you'll find your answers.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 6th edition for 2010: Definitive Scotch guide, April 20, 2010

By 

Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch (Hardcover)

Although Michael Jackson has passed away, the update of the classic guide to single malt Scotches has gone ahead. The 2010 update looks very good and includes most all of the (extensive!) Macallan information from The Definitive Guide to Buying Vintage Macallan (The Macallan Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky). This is the book to get, even if the reviews themselves sometimes seem less than internally consistent (high praise but lower score, or vice versa). Still, the reviews do carry with them a lot of the character of the Scotches being described. And for the more collector oriented, nowhere else will you get the vintage-by-vintage tastings.