Daiches, David
Scotch Whisky - It's past and present

Birlinn Ltd., ISBN 1-874744-36-X, GBP 4.99, First Published 1969, 192 Pages, 18 x 11 cm, Paperback

Scotland has a climate cold enough to require that the national drink be a warming one, and a countryside fragrant enough to suggest that it be aromatic. Barley, clear mountain streams, and peat in plenty determine that it be malt whisky.

David Daiches has written a colourful, affectionate, and complete history of Scotch whisky from its early days as a cottage industry to the triumph of the great blending firms and the decline in popularity of the single malts in the present century. In his final chapters he takes a connoisseur's look at the different qualities of individual malt whiskies; discriminating and knowledgeable, his one criterion is enjoyment.