For whisky enthusiasts, books are an often-overlooked resource that can deepen your understanding of the spirit. While tastings and distillery tours are invaluable, reading can provide the historical, technical, and cultural context that brings whisky to life. Books are also the best way to gain an overall picture of the history of a spirit.
The best whisky books cut through the jargon, explore the history and evolution of the spirit, and highlight key figures and moments that shaped the industry. Whether you’re interested in the nuances of production, the stories behind famous distilleries, or a broader look at whisky’s global impact, these books are a practical way to build your knowledge. Here are some top picks to get you started.
The Philosophy of Whisky by Billy Abbott
BUY NOW: £9.95
This is a recent acquisition of mine, and I must give so much credit to Billy for putting together such a wonderfully succinct and detailed book.
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One of the biggest problems in the spirits world, whisky especially, is jargon. Billy does his absolute best to decipher this and succeeds. Breaking down the different styles of whisky made in Scotland, Ireland, and the rest of the world. How putting them together creates different legal definitions of products. This is all surrounded by some rather brilliant vintage posters and artwork from across the ages as well as the world.
An easy read with loads of detail, this is the perfect whisky book to read over the approaching Christmas break.
Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America’s Whiskey by Reid Mitenbuler
BUY NOW: £14
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If you’re a fan of bourbon, or want to become one, then this is the only book I recommend that you occupy your time with. From every factual story to one of the best legends and tales within the bourbon industry, Reid Mitenbuler has set everything out in one of the most well-told, entertaining, terrifying, and historically important books about America’s native spirit.
I re-read this book every year, not only for the factual details and stories, but just to relish in the ridiculousness and infamy of bourbon, rye, and all of the stories around it.
The Malt Whisky Year Book by Ingvar Ronde
BUY NOW: £15.95
This whisky book is the biggest insight you’ll ever get into data regarding whisky. Do you need to buy it every year? Maybe, if you want to see how smaller distilleries are growing, and how much scotch whisky is exported across the world – these figures are crucial to understanding the demand for what it is we’re drinking.
One of my favorite parts of this book is the ability to deep dive into your favorite distillery. If it exists, and they’ve sold more than a case of whisky, it’s somewhere in this book. Some distillery profiles are obviously more detailed than others, with scotch whisky getting all of the fancy pictures and bigger sections. But, fear not, this book is incredible when it comes to world whisky as well. Like I said, if they’ve ever produced any sort of whisky and sold it, it’s in this whisky book.
Independent Scotch – The History of Independent Bottlers by David Stirk
BUY NOW: £19.95
It takes a lot of research to dive into the history of brands like Cadenhead, Gordon & Macphail, and Douglas Laing. However, David Stirk has done all of the hard work for you in his whisky book: Independent Scotch.
This is an encyclopedic rundown of all of your classic and modern indie bottling companies. Developing stories from hugely important events in the scotch whisky world, this book takes a deep dive into developments of brokers in the mid-twentieth century, to brands bottling massive distillery stocks under their own names and labels, the demand of independent bottlers from the 1990s, and so much more. This is a must-have on any shelf for the whisky lover.
Scotch Missed: The Lost Distilleries of Scotland by Brian Townsend
BUY NOW: £19.99
If you fancy yourself as a historian, or if the person you’re buying for loves to turn back time, this is an incredible whisky book. I bought this when I first started to learn about more famously closed distilleries such as Port Ellen and Brora, which have since reopened.
This book is going to go much further back to Victorian-era Scotland and talk through some of the distilleries that most of us have never even heard of. You might think ‘why would I want to learn about a distillery that hasn’t existed for so long?’ Everything in this industry has some link to one another, and all of these scotch whisky distilleries that have long since been erased from the modern history of spirits deserve a little mention in the grand scheme of things.
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