Your Whisky Journey: 101 Tools for Your Whisky Journey and to Escape Room 101

By Stephen Swinney

Interested in whisky?
An endless journey of fun and intrigue.
Here is a guide to help you navigate the road ahead. Filled with ideas, facts and advice based on the experience of running whisky tasting events over a number of years. Essentially a selection of the questions the author has been asked at these events and the responses (as far as he could remember), along with some humour and interesting facts. There are some useful tips and advice on how to best enjoy your whisky experience and get to the heart, soul and spirit of the spirit.
This will give you a head start in understanding more of a complex, varied and unique spirit. One with a rich history which continues to evolve in some interesting directions and as you explore further will always surprise and delight.
Slow down, take your time and let the whisky do the talking, and above all have a safe journey!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781398413863

Stephen Swinney

Stephen Swinney's whisky journey continues onward, but has its roots many decades ago when variety and budget provided only limited choice. Over the years, he has built up an extensive understanding of both the whisky industry and its products. Having lived in Warsaw, Poland, for the past 26 years, he has seen a transformation in the acceptance and development of whisky in what still is a wódka-dominated market. He facilitated the introduction of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society to Poland; this was to provide the backcloth for him to use his creative and presentational abilities to host regular tasting events. The Society has a wonderful saying that he believes could be a single guiding principle for the appreciation of fine spirits – “Not for swigging, glugging or knocking back.” REMEMBER. “WHISKY DON’T MAKE LIVES, IT JUST MAKES FOOLS.” JAMES MCMURTRY REMEMBER. “WHISKY DON’T MAKE LIVES, IT JUST MAKES FOOLS.” JAMES MCMURTRY

Book preview

Your Whisky Journey

101 Tools for Your Whisky Journey and

to Escape Room 101"

Stephen Swinney

Austin Macauley Publishers

Your Whisky Journey

About the Author

Dedication

Copyright Information ©

Acknowledgement

Purpose of the Book

Content and Layout

Principles

Some Tips to Enhance the Experience

Section 1 – Enjoying the Experience

Section 2 – Producing

Section 3 – Maturing

Section 4 – The Market Environment

Section 5 – The Industry

Tasting Themes

Some Key Terms

About the Author

Photo © Steven Shone – shone.myportfolio.com

Stephen Swinney’s whisky journey continues onward, but has its roots many decades ago when variety and budget provided only limited choice. Over the years, he has built up an extensive understanding of both the whisky industry and its products. Having lived in Warsaw, Poland, for the past 26 years, he has seen a transformation in the acceptance and development of whisky in what still is a wódka-dominated market. He facilitated the introduction of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society to Poland; this was to provide the backcloth for him to use his creative and presentational abilities to host regular tasting events. The Society has a wonderful saying that he believes could be a single guiding principle for the appreciation of fine spirits – Not for swigging, glugging or knocking back.

2

Warsaw

November 2021.

Dedication

The book is dedicated to all whisky lovers of the non-glugging and non-swigging persuasion, and in particular, to those who attended the tastings and without whom this book would not have been possible. Also, to my colleagues at Distinctive Distillations for their faith and understanding.

Copyright Information ©

Stephen Swinney 2021

The right of Stephen Swinney to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, experiences, and words are the author’s alone.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398413856 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781398413863 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2021

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

Just to thank all those of you who have participated in my tasting over the years; this book would not be possible without your curiosity. Whilst a number of the tastings have not been in the format that would appeal to the purist, we have always had an enjoyable and entertaining time; after all, why bother if you don’t have fun and enjoyment. Also, a big thank you to the venues that hosted us over the period, these include Radisson Blu on Grzybowska, The Intercontinental Hotel, De Silva on Zgoda and one of the best little restaurants in Warsaw, Freta 33, in the New Town.

Also, to Verlaine for his review and suggestion on the draft.

Please remember all things stated might not be 100% accurate.

Finally, many thanks to my wife, Agnieszka, for the photos.

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Purpose of the Book

I was told once that a man should father a son, plant a tree and write a book; perhaps, this was an influence on the desire to publish something. Or maybe it was my wife’s nagging comment – Stop reading all those books and write one of your own. There has been a desire to write, but you need a subject matter that you have some confidence in – a story. An example of what I mean is, a good friend of mine John Scott (he who introduced me to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh all those years ago) went off to walk the Appalachian Trail. When he came back, he wrote his book To the Woods – he had his story.

There are an increasing number of publications on whisky; some with facts and figures, others with opinions about what is the best whisky, others still about history and distilleries or about the process of whisky making. I wanted to produce something with a slightly different, if not unique, angle.

Our interaction with whisky is like a journey. For some of us, it is very short and with disastrous consequences; for others like me, it is ongoing with no end in sight, at times slowing down, at others speeding up, with lots of twists and turns. This book is, therefore, a little like a well-equipped backpack to take with you at least for the first part of your journey. The idea is to try and simplify the very complex world of whisky with something that is simple to read and understand whilst being entertaining. Over the years of running whisky tastings, I’ve been asked many questions about whisky, some of them more than once. This book therefore contains 101 of those questions with my responses, as best as I can recall them. Let’s hope that this answers some of your questions or raises questions you did not know to ask. At the end, I believe you will have a better base from which to start your own journey. This is my story.

A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. – Lao Tzu

Content and Layout

A far as possible, I have deliberately tried to keep the content short and simple. For each question, there is the answer as best as I remember it. I have included some postscripts for additional clarification. Included are the first 101 distilleries that we used in tastings; these are in no particular order, nor necessarily linked to the question. They have the date of founding and a short comment or fact. There are numerous books around that provide details of distilleries, if you need to know more, or indeed simply use the internet.

Then there are some comments from others about whisky or alcohol generally; these are by and large of a humorous nature. Some perhaps related factual points are also included on each page. These illustrate that, in fact, you could use whisky as a centre point from which to introduce a whole range of educational subjects i.e., science, finance, engineering, geography, history, mathematics and language; the world of whisky providing the latter a rich source. Small format was chosen to fit