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99 Drams Of Whiskey: The Accidental Hedonist's Quest For The Perfect Shot And The History Of The Drink (2009)

by Kate Hopkins(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0312381085 (ISBN13: 9780312381080)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

St. Martin's Press

review 1: Not so much a Whiskey book as a book about tours of Whiskey facilities. The title is incredibly misleading: there are nowhere close to 99 drams in this book, and that's a mercy because you can get to the end more quickly as a result.The writing here is the problem: it seems like Hopkins couldn't decide whether to write a travelogue, a memoir or a history of whiskey. She instead decides to shove all three into every chapter and the result is a mess.The trip to Tornoto she describes is a particularly good example of poor work that I'd suggest reading it first--you'll lose nothing by reading out of sequence--and seeing how you feel.
review 2: In reality, I give this book 2.5 stars, but because my wife recommended it to me, I rounded up.I love whiskey and I jumped ... moreat the chance to read more about it in the hope of learning more. And I did learn more, it just wasn't as much as I had hoped to in 270 pages.Hopkins does one thing really well throughout this book: she's a natural storyteller. While she tries too hard to be funny at times, the genuineness in her stories tend to balance that out.What she does not do well is cover history. The historical aspects of this book felt rushed and not researched deeply enough. It's clear that the focus of this book is her trips to Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the U.S. to learn about whiskey, but the other half of the book is supposed to be about the history of the drink.This made for a disjointed read, as half of the book flowed well (the stories) and the other half felt forced and not very enjoyable (the research).If you want to read one person's trip through whiskeys on both sides of the Atlantic, then pick up this book and ignore the historical portions; you'll be doing yourself a favor. less

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