99 Drams of Whiskey: The Accidental Hedonist's Quest for the Perfect Shot and the History of the Drink

An unnamed English bard birthed in a folk song this immortal lyric: “If the river was whiskey…I would dive to the bottom, never would I come up.” The song has been performed by thousands of artists across the world, but we can’t hope to identify the original singer. Getting to the bottom of that particular river is a murky affair. Likewise, Kate Hopkins informs us that the history of whiskey is as cloudy as a peated malt or a barroom full of tall tales and cigarette smoke. The real joy is enjoying the drink in front of us, and when it comes to that, Hopkins is an expert.

Along with a modest travelogue, 99 Drams of Whiskey gives us a rough education of the practices of distilling as well as bits and pieces of that murky whiskey history, including a fascinating overview of the 1920s era of Prohibition on this side of the pond. Pages spent on English law and Irish still production 500 years ago can bog down the narrative at times, but Hopkins's enthusiasm for giving us the lowdown on the best tasting brands makes this book well worth sipping slowly.

Proprietor of the popular food and drink blog The Accidental Hedonist, Hopkins comes alive when sampling the good stuff from Scotland, Ireland, Canada and here in the U.S. Her descriptions of distillery tours are well balanced with mouth-watering notes on her samplings from labels big and small, and there are lots and lots of those. As another famous song goes, nice work if you can get it.