Alcademics

I received a copy of The Bourbon Drinker's Companion: A Guide to American Distilleries, with Travel Advice, Folklore, and Tasting Notes by Colin Spoelman a few month ago and was planning to breeze through a quick read of it. 

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The plan for the quick read was because from the title I thought it was going to be an entry-level book on things like whether to add ice to bourbon and what it's like on distillery tours. I was happy to be wrong because it is a great book - and even a great model for other books in other categories like tequila and scotch whiskey. I like this so much more than any other book of spirits reviews. 

As for the title, if it were up to me (a book's title is also not up to the author- the publisher usually owns that right) I would call it something like American Whiskey Today, or An Insider's Guide to the Modern Bourbon Landscape. But nobody asked me. They never do. 

What's In It

The book is a bit of a tour through bourbon and rye whiskey distilleries and brands, with recommendations on which ones to visit in various regions. Spoelman looks at regionality in American whiskey and the potential future of the category. There are tons of maps and sidebars and  graphics.

There is a review of characters whose names are on the bottles (Beam, Daniels, etc) in light of modern sensibilities. There are a lot of other consideration of modern sensibilities - in light of knowing that a brand is a sourced brand made by a rectifier what do we think of it? In light of a brand having been dishonest what do we think? (He has a particular distaste for less-than-truthy brands like Widow Jane and Templeton.) In light of the price and secondary market price, what do we think? 

The most memorable content in the book are the whiskey reviews, which are grouped by regions or distilleries, depending on the size. Spoelman doesn't review every whiskey a brand makes, or even most of them, but chooses to highlight the flagship bottling, and/or the best bottling, the underrated one, or a problematic one. I think the most he reviews from any one distillery is six bottlings. He provides context, such as the younger whiskies from a distillery he finds to be thin in texture whereas another distillery's products shine at a few years old but their magic gets lost in older bottlings. He is constantly answering the questions: What is there to like or dislike about a bottle? Is this what the distiller does best? Is this worth the hype? 

It is stuff that comes from a great palate and a lot of experience - he doesn't merely l list a bunch of adjectives and flavor notes, he talks about body and texture and value and originality. He also doesn't rate the whiskies with scores or letters but tells you what he thinks of them. I also agree with most of his reviews and opinions for the whiskeys that I have tried. 

I think it's a great book for people who know a bunch about American whiskey already and want an expert's true and honest opinion on what's good and not-so-good. And he gives us a lot to think about; my favorite part.

On second hand, maybe the title should have been Bourbon: Keeping It Real. 

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