I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review I have been a fan of malt whisky for over 40 years, and in the 1990s my husband and I were avid collectors of single malts, reaching a peak of about 120 different whiskies in our collection, and even spending our honeymoon on Islay visiting distilleries. So this book was one that I was particularly eager to review. The bulk of the book is a very detailed and informative history of whisky distilling and the business of whisky production in Scotland from medieval times to the present. It is accompanied by a lovely assortment of pictures of the processes of distilling (ancient and modern), the distilleries, the people involved and, of course, some of the bottles of the wonderful spirit. I learned so much about the history reading through this book Previously, my love of whisky had been focussed on the individual characteristics of single malts, how they appealed to my tastes and ideas of the “perfect” tipple (which, incidentally, is the legendary “Black Bowmore”), and the set up of the distilleries that I had visited. Thus, I had not learned much about the history of the industry as a whole. This book has definitely filled in that gap, in a very interesting and readable way. I loved coming across mentions of distilleries, the names of which had become old friends, and got excited at pictures of distilleries I had visited – and those I have yet to see. The greatest thrill was to discover that a new distillery has opened on Islay – the Kilchoman distillery. I can highly recommend visiting as many distilleries as possible – each has its own character, as does each single malt – and no trip to Scotland is complete without such a visit. To facilitate that, this book ends with a very handy list of all the distilleries that offer tours, along with their telephone numbers and websites. What this book does not do, is give advice ion which whiskies to buy and / or taste, nor does it rate individual bottles. But there are plenty of other books for that. It does offer some thoughts on whisky in cocktails and in cooking, which I found a bit superfluous. Over all, an excellent book that any whisky aficionado (current or future) would be very happy to own. Now back to a glass of unadulterated Lagavullin.