Book Review: Barrels & Drams

I recently read Barrels and Drams: The History of Whisk(e)y in Jiggers and Shots. It's an anthology edited by William M. Dowd. 

The book contains essays by people like Bill Owens, James Rodewald, F. Paul Pacult, Charles Cowdery, Daniel Okrent, and David Wondrich. Most of them have been previously published in distiller biographies, category books, history books, Whisky Magazine, and Scottish Field Magazine, but a few are brand new. 

The book has sections, each with several essays. The sections are on spirits and distilling, famous distillers, American whisky history, Prohibition, global whisky, a few how-tos, and a miscellaneous section. 

I particularly enjoyed the essays in the Global Whisky section, learning about whisky in India, Japan, and South Africa. I got a few ideas from the Home Vatting essay, and picked up new facts here and there throughout that will inspire further research. 

The book isn't a narrative, nor a text book, and it isn't exhaustive in any one section, but is just a group of essays themed around whisky. People like me who are into whisky tend to like to read about whisky (vodka drinkers, not so much) and will probably also enjoy the book.