Customer Reviews:
 Essential, Inspired & Inspiring Guide to the "Water of Life" November 3, 2004
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
"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.
The next best thing to a single malt itself October 7, 2003
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
This guide to single malts is being continually revised and is the best of its kind. Mr. Jackson is always expanding his range of whiskies, even to include those made beyond Scotland. He provides an valuable index to the best brands and give you a short history of the distilleries. I've used this guide to help me enlarge my taste for single malts, which now includes a pretty fair sampling. I find myself repeatedly drawn to the 10 year-old Laphroaig, which proves as Mr. Jackson notes, that age is not always the best indicator of a great whiskey. Location has a lot to do with it, as this Islay whiskey seems to have a flavor all its own. He also notes the various blends, and which malts they use as their base. You'll be surprised to find that the more popular brands are not necessarily the best brands, as White Horse uses another Islay malt, Lagavulin, as its base. If you are new to single malts, this book will help you get started. The only limit is the your pocket book, as these whiskeys don't come cheap.
Classic work November 29, 2002
45 out of 47 found this review helpful
The discovery by Americans of single-malt whisky back in the 80's and 90's was one of the most interesting stories in the food and beverage market ever. This event by itself probably prevented a number of distilleries from closing, and several, such as the great Ardbeg, which had been moth-balled, were perhaps reopened as a result.Some great but lesser known malts, like Edradour, found new appreciation for their tiny output abroad. Edradour, for example, produces less in a year than some distilleries do in a week, like Tomatin (the Edradour distillery only has 3 employees and only makes 2 barrels a week). Others, such as the Islays like Lagavulin, Laphroaig, and Bowmore, and even the oddly dual-natured Caol Isla, with its both sweetish and phenolic character, were already known in Scotland but garnered new fans here in America. As in Scotland, the Islays are not to everybody's taste, but I know people here who will hardly touch a drop of anything else--an amazing testament to the enthusiasm that has developed in America even for the stronger and more exotic malts. And probably no book did more to make that happen than Jackson's great little books on single-malt scotch. On a personal note, sometimes even the Scots themselves failed to appreciate how far American sensibilities had come with respect to single malts. I had the experience 20 years ago, when still a young man, of sitting in a bar at the south end of Loch Lommond, and having a well-meaning bartender refuse to serve me some Laphroaig. He insisted on giving me Royal Brackla from an old bottle, itself a great malt. But he thought this young American didn't know what he was asking for, and I think he was worried he might do in a perfectly good, paying customer with a draught of the pungent, phenolic, peaty, and iodine-tasking Laphroaig. These books taught me a lot and I have all 3 editions. They're great for learning to appreciate the particular aspects and flavors of a malt, and as I've been tasting single-malts for 20 years, I've found Mr. Jackson's descriptions to be very accurate and informative. In many cases, after learning from his description, I was able to go on and detect things that weren't even in the book--a great testament to his skill as a teacher and writer. Without his guidance, I wouldn't have been able to educate my sense of taste nearly as expertly. There is no better way to learn about single malts than to take samples of several malts and then taste and compare them using this book. After you're tasted a couple of dozen malts you should be able to get a good sense of what's going on and be able to go on from there. A good way to do this is to pick a couple of classic malts from each category, say a couple of lowlands, a couple of highlands or Speysides, and a couple of Islays, and taste them alongside each other with this book. Some of the malts are just so unique or special that they deserve tasting by themselves--as in the case of Clynelish and Highland Park, or Caol Isla and Talisker, or the often overlooked but wonderful lowland malt, Littlemill, with its sweet cocoanut, English toffee, and creme de caramel flavors. Well, I could go on for a while about interesting things to do for tastings, but I will leave the rest of that to you, hopefully by way of this book, except for one last recommendation. The great Victorian connoisseur and single-malt scotch authority Professor Shaftsbury considered mixing together some Clynelish and Longmorn to be possibly the greatest drink in the world. So you might give it a try sometime and see what you think. Good luck and happy tasting!
a must-have for any Scotch aficionado September 21, 2002
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
This guide is to Scotch what Wine Spectator is to wine and Cigar Aficionado is to cigars. Complete with introductory chapters on the making of Scotch whisky, detailed entries with ratings and tasting notes, and advice on proper Scotch appreciation, this book is a necessary addition to the library of any person serious about Scotch whisky. Though the reader may not personally agree with Jackson's preference for peatier malts (I personally like them myself), s/he will still find enough fairness in the narrative reviews to make a proper decision on whether a bottle is worth buying. Don't taste a dram without consulting this book!
THE guide to Single Malts May 10, 2002
67 out of 68 found this review helpful
I consider myself an above-average (although by no means an expert) fan of Scottish single malts, and I own several books on the subject. I find "Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch" to be the most comprehensive, intelligible and above-all useful book in my whisky library. While no book can take the place of sitting down and doing some tastings, buying whisky by the glass for tasting can be prohibitively expensive. If you are buying by the bottle, it becomes an even greater investment, and figuring out your individual tastes will be a considerable investment. Michael Jackson's guide goes a long way in the selection process, leading you to the whiskys most likely to meet your pallet. Each whisky is outlined, explained and graded. It will at least give you an idea of what to expect when approaching an unfamiliar label. This book definitely falls into the "If you only own one book about single malt..." category.
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