The Whisky Men

 Gavin D. Smith, 2005 Birlin Limited 276 pages no reference or glossary.

Well illustrated in monochrome, some with historical relevance. This book is well covered and sensibly organised. The subject focus goes from the distillery designer through to those who work throughout the distillery as well as those who work alongside it such as coopers and those who work outside such as the illicit distiller.

This is a well written book but more than that it is an historic record of tales that are slowly vanishing from our world. This is not written from the author’s ego but is a sensitive facilitation of others to tell their stories. More than that it is a read that leaves you understanding at a deeper level. One can not learn all about whisky from books, but there are those that help – this is one of them.

Gavin D. Smith also wrote ‘The Secret Still’ which makes a good companion read.