Okay so “book review” might be a stretch, since I thoroughly reviewed The Malt Whisky Yearbook last year, and this is just an update. If you don’t know whether you should own a copy of the Yearbook… well, you should. But if you want proof, read last year’s review.
This year’s Yearbook is just more of the same goodness, and remains an annual “field guide” to the world of malt whisky and the malt whisky industry. Author/Editor and Keeper of the Quaich Ingvar Ronde began in 2005 – and every year thereafter – compiling 12 months of news, facts, and figures from the industry while also managing to capture the overall trend and feel of the marketplace. In a way, it’s like a whole year of whisky magazine issues compressed into one compact and concise guidebook. Many if not most people in the industry (writers, retailers, importers, distributors, ambassadors, and salespersons) keep a copy of the latest Yearbook on them for reference.
The 2022 edition is available for preorder at Amazon UK and Official Malt Whisky Yearbook website and will soon be available for preorder in the US.
Please remember the Yearbook is strictly focused on malt whisky, primarily malt whisky from Scotland but also from other distilleries across the globe. You won’t find coverage of blended scotch, Scottish grain whisky, bourbon, rye, Irish whiskey (aside from Irish single malt), etc. This year’s edition contains articles from Charles MacLean, Gavin D. Smith, Ian Wisniewski, and others on topics such as roasting levels in malt (something American producers have excelled at), how whisky-related law has shaped the spirit we love in the past and continues to shape it in the present, and the effects that the global pandemic have had on the whisky industry. There’s also a valuable section on the many independent bottlers of single-malt scotch.
I continue to consult the Yearbook first whenever I encounter a new (to me) whisky or distillery, and I look forward to its release every year.
I bought this last year for the first time because of your review and I will buy it again because I found it to be an invaluable resource. For example I learned that my favorite distillery, Springbank, only met 40% of their targeted 2020 production due to pandemic related shutdowns. I’m not proud, but this fact led me to stockpile a couple of bottles each of the 10 and 12 year expressions! So I’m good until things get back to normal. Hoarding aside, I made a lot of informed purchases and passes thanks to this book.
Nice! Thanks for the note.