Customer Reviews

Michael Jackson's Complete Guide To Single Malt Scotch

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"Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch" is a truly great reference for the connoisseur and novice alike. This 5th edition includes descriptions and scores for over 1,000 single malt Scotches, about 250 more than the previous edition. It is a handsome volume, well-organized and printed on slick high-quality paper. The book has an attractive, durable cover instead of a dust jacket.

The "Complete Guide"'s first 80 pages are dedicated to educating the reader about whiskies in general and single malt Scotches in particular. Ten chapters discuss a useful variety of topics: trends, origins, definitions of terms used in labeling, the influence of the terrain on flavor, the characteristics of various regions, the significance of age, the woods used in casks, and a list of the companies that own Scotch distilleries, with some explanation of their history. The chapter on Flavours is particularly interesting. Michael Jackson is a good writer. His explanations are clear without being dull, and they will leave few questions in the minds of readers who are new to Scotch whisky.

The core of the Guide is the "A-Z of Single Malts". Michael Jackson explains his scoring system and the components of his tasting notes: colour, nose, body, palate, and finish. Then he launches into descriptions of more than 1,000 Scotches produced by, I believe, over 90 distilleries. A few paragraphs explain a little bit about each distillery's history and unique characteristics. The Producer (owner), Region, District, and Address are listed for each distillery, as well as telephone, e-mail and web site where it is available. I found that the palate and finish descriptions took some getting used to before I was able to reconcile Jackson's description to how the malt really tastes. He has a sensitive palate, which has become, or always was, keen to certain nuances. I'm sure everyone is different in that sense, but I picked up on his meaning after a while. His attempts to describe all aspects of the sensory experience unique to each whisky are most helpful and impressive. It is a pleasure to browse his descriptions. The book's single imperfection is the absence of pronunciation guides. The pronunciations of some distillery names are mysterious to those unaccustomed to hearing Scottish words.

In the last pages of the "Complete Guide', Jackson gives us some general information on whiskies from Ireland, the United States, Japan, Asia, and continental Europe. There are also brief descriptions of some vatted malts and Jackson's recommendations for how best to enjoy whisky.

Michael Jackson's "Complete Guide To Single Malt Scotch" is an encyclopedic collection of scotch knowledge and reviews of the most common offerings from every one of the nearly hundred malt distilleries in Scotland.

The book starts off by offering a concise education about the origins of scotch, interpretation of scotch labels, flavors, regional variations and factors that influence the taste of scotch all distilled down to less than eighty pages with numerous color pictures.

After you read the first section you will have a some idea about the decisions that affect the taste of your scotch, for example you might be able to tell whether the dram in your glass was matured in bourbon cask or a sherry cask and make some educated guesses about the shape of the copper stills that the scotch was distilled in.

However the first section was just the warm up. The real meat of the book is the second section which is an exhaustive listing of the most common offerings from every one of Scotland's roughly hundred or so malt distilleries with reviews written in Michael Jackson's signature concise style and a ranking on a 100 point scale. If you're like me you'll find yourself reading the first section and then coming back to both sections periodically for quick reference on a particular distillery or region. The second section is more of a reference and not meant to be read linearly.

And now I come to what makes this book unique. Michael Jackson is almost pathologically consistent in his review ratings, more so than the other popular whisky reviewers e.g. Paul Pacult. Taste is highly personal and subjective so it is unlikely you will agree with any one reviewer's ratings 100% of the times however Michael Jackson is very consistent about the factors that he rates well. I found that he especially appreciates robust full bodied whiskies with complex taste with no big surprises i.e. the nose should be a fairly good indicator of what the whisky will deliver in the mouth.

So while you may not always agree with him, reading his reviews and the ratings gives you a fairly good idea of what to expect from the whisky. This is what makes Michael Jackson such a great author. That and the encyclopedic listing of reviews makes this book a must buy for a scotch enthusiast like me.

Cons? Just a few. Like other Amazon reviewers have noted, he devotes an excessive amount of print to rare and expensive offerings that the average scotch drinker will never come across in his lifetime. Also his reviews are too concise. I would recommend getting this book for its unique merits but also looking into the writings of other scotch reviewers like F Paul Pacult, Jim Murray and Dave Broom who have a more engaging and conversational style of writing, and will help round out your scotch education.

Edit: Just a quick revisit. Sadly, Michael Jackson is no more. He passed away in August 2007. May his soul RIP and I hope he is in whisky heaven enjoying a bottle of Talisker 18. There will be no newer editions of this book. Eventually, as distilleries come and go and their offered bottlings change, this book will get of date. But until then this will remain one of the best Scotch references on the planet.

I can't say many positive things about this book that haven't already been covered by other reviewers. This book proved to be a great introduction to whisky for me. It allowed me to understand how it was made, taught me about the different regions and, to a certain extent, the styles that are generally associated with these regions. I also found Jackson's tasting notes and distillery descriptions beneficial when trying to choose a diverse set of whiskies for my cabinet. The book is well laid out, easy to read, has a solid construction and contains a lot of valueable information on whisky.

That said, the book is unfortunately becoming outdated since Jackson's passing. It's creeping up on half a decade without an update, and not only are whiskies (an ever-evolving spirit) not the same as they were when it was written, but there are many new lines that are not included in the book and some distilleries have completely revamped their lineups since it was written. So while the information on how whisky is made will still prove helpful, and the distillery history will still be interesting, as time goes on the tasting notes - which comprise 90% of the book - are becoming more and more obsolete.

At this point in the game, I wouldn't recommend purchasing this book without taking this into consideration. Perhaps one of the other annually updated books, such as the Whisky Bible or the Malt Whisky Yearbook would be a good, up to date alternative, but I haven't personally read either.

Overall a very good book with a lot of good information, that's unfortunately starting to gather a bit of dust.

The book is easy to read and was a great pairing idea with a bottle of scotch for a lucky recipient

The book was very informative and interesting. Descriptions of the whiskies I have tried seem spot on. I would definitely recommend this book.

We had an earlier edition of this great guide. Fun for tasting parties esp. when everyone brings a different bottle to try.

I bought this a few years ago coinciding with my introduction to whiskey (Balvenie Double Wood purchased at the Duty Free @ Gatwick). It was because of this book that I visited Scotland to delve into the mystery of Scotch Whiskey. I went to Glenfiddich, McCallum, and Abelour solely on Michael Jacksons' recommendations. I don't have the greatest pallet in the world but Jackson has been dead on for even a novice such as myself. I would have never picked up a Highland Park, Ardbeg, or Craigenmore if had not been for him.
Great book!

This book is a great read and contains a huge amount of useful information. I have really enjoyed reading all the history of Scotch whisky, the details of how it's been made and matured, and the nuances of they many aspects of Scotch.

I find that some of my very favorite single malts are not among those that Jackson rates most highly, but that doesn't make the book less useful to me for anything except for using the ratings as a guide when browsing the Scotch sections of my local stores. I can garner enough from his descriptions of the characteristics of the many rated Scotch whiskies to make good decisions in terms of trying bottlings that are new to me.

Great book--I can see that I will need to keep up with new editions going forward, so I can read about Jackson's take on the latest bottlings along my Scotch journey.

Indeed this is the definitive guide to single malt scotch I was highly disappointed; so much that I actually returned the guide for a refund. For any owner of the guide, please refer to page 144 where the Bowmore selection is located. You'll notice that Bowmore "Darkest", 15-, and 17-year old scotches are missing from the book as well as the prized Bowmore Islay's fromt eh 1050's and 1960's.

Upon investigation I contacted the Bowmore distiller's themselves (Running Press never did return my correspondence) and discovered that the publisher had mistakenly missed 5 pages of the book and they just happened to be the Bowmore section. No fault of the author Michael Jackson.

I do own the 4th Edition and will now have to be patient for the 6th Edition before I will be able to sample my collection fully while making and comparing notes with the guide.

Excellent, comprehensive reference for anyone who enjoys single malt scotch whiskey.