Chasing the Dram: Finding the Spirit of Whisky by Rachel McCormack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you like whisky you’ll like this book. Rachel McCormack undertakes a well paced tour of Scotland and it’s events and places that have a relevance to the centuries old art of whisky production. Of course history ranges from small and sometime illegal stills in remote villages to huge operations owned by modern multi-nationals but Rachel keeps the stories relevant to the magical drink and all its variations, from the peatiest Islay to the palest Speyside.
She clearly has some good contacts because she has some wonderful distillery tours and other tasting events. Do you know about Keepers of the Quaich? Rachel gets to take the reader to this exclusive annual banquet and ceremony at Blair Castle.
It’s a really interesting tour, with friends and family and perhaps an unwelcome hook up with a stag party. The book is smattered with recipes that include…whisky of course! I was going to give my copy to a friend, but have bought him another one because I want to try some of those recipes.
My mouth watered throughout the book and I’ve now got a list of bottles to get, though I suspect some of the rarities that go for many thousands will always be out of my reach.
Despite having holidayed quite a bit as a child in Scotland – and run two Edinburgh Marathons, my awareness of Scottish geography has improved the zig zagging across the glens and lochs in this book.
If you know someone who likes the amber nectar this will be a good present for them.
Though there are some acknowledgements of suffering from over imbibing I suspect we’ve not been told them all. However McCormack emphasises that whisky is a drink to be savoured, not quaffed in a quest to reach oblivion, and I for one look forward to savouring many more.
Buy it here!
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