Bluff Your Way in Whisky

by **Scotchio** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:54 pm

Bluff Your way in Whisky by David Milstead. A lightweight fun book taking an irreverent view of whisky obsessives via the ruse of offering a guide to the novice on how to appear knowledgable on the subject, picked it up for a quid. Covers main points on regions and production . Primarily a tongue in cheek bit of fun from a malt fanatic, my favourite quote is his description of Royal Lochnagar as" a rather stern and bracing malt with a hint of hairy knees." He describes Talisker as "like swallowing a Mahler symphony" a book where many true words are said in jest.

by **peergynt323** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:09 pm

Ha, very nice.

by **les taylor** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:29 pm

For an Island Malt he wrote:-

Not including Islay, which is one, but including Oban, which is not.

Brilliant.

by **Scotchio** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:36 pm

les taylor wrote:For an Island Malt he wrote:-

Not including Islay, which is one, but including Oban, which is not.

Brilliant.

I also love his description of Island characteristics as "Ultimately thulian" not that I know what it means and his description of Islay malts as "heroic" which in the glossary means "probably a little over rated but you wouldn't fancy picking a quarrel with it"

by **les taylor** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:39 pm

In fact after this thread I'm taking the book to bed tonight to read it again. Its been a long time since I have. Thanks for bringing it up Scotchio.

by **peergynt323** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:33 pm

Sounds like a good read. Dare I ask if it's available in the states?

by **Di Blasi** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:37 am

Funny, I'll bet it's an entertaining read for sure!!

by **TheLaddie** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:06 am

Sounds good. I have just ordered myself a copy off Amazon for the princely sum of one pence plus postage.

by **Di Blasi** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:14 am

Huh? Why so cheap?? The postage will cost more!

by **Di Blasi** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:15 am

I'm gonna look for it when I'm over next month!

by **Lawrence** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:48 am

It's actually quite hard to find, so I suggest if you can find a copy for the price of postage, then buy it now! Also, the authors name is spelt "Milsted rather than "Milstead'. :oops:

Lawrence

by **Di Blasi** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:30 am

Thanks Lawrence, sounds like it's worth it then!

by **TheLaddie** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:55 am

Di Blasi wrote:Huh? Why so cheap?? The postage will cost more!

Postage was about £2.50. It's not from Amazon itself but one of the sellers where you can order used stuff through Amazon. There were quite a few available at that price.

Philip Hills' "Appreciating Whisky" is also available starting at £120!!!!! :shock:

by **les taylor** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:21 am

The book retails for £3.99

Under basics He wrote:-

1. No two whiskies are alike

2. 99 per cent of whisky drinkers cannot tell the difference until it is revealed to them.

If you keep pointing out number 1 while bearing number 2 in mind you cannot go wrong.

How good is that.

by **Scotchio** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:11 am

Lawrence wrote:It's actually quite hard to find, so I suggest if you can find a copy for the price of postage, then buy it now! Also, the authors name is spelt "Milsted rather than "Milstead'.

Lawrence

Sorry about that, you're right Lawrence. published by Oval books in 2000, first published 1991 ISBN 1-902825-99-3 RRP £3.99, it was part of a series of Bluffers guides which included "How to bluff your way as an Airline pilot."

Oval Books,335 Kennington Rd, London SE11 4 QE
email info@ovalbooks.com

It's only 63 pages long and a bit of fun so dont pay over the odds for it.

by **Scotchio** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:15 am

Di Blasi wrote:Huh? Why so cheap?? The postage will cost more!

I guess like on ebay the seller will make his money on the postage and possibly/hopefully in doing so reduce the cut for Amazon.

by **Di Blasi** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:06 am

Gotta get this, I love those 2 rules.

by **les taylor** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:11 am

how about this one.

A Scots distiller said of Japanese whisky: If you drank it all day and all night you might end up thinking it was like scotch whisky. But by then you might be dead.

Priceless.

by **Reggaeblues** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:57 am

...or the list of whiskies with silly names.

someone should send a copy to "Old Snackity Bockity", Billy Connolly. Bet he'd love it!

Marvellous. I'm sure we've all met a few...those out to impress with their "knowledge." There was this Oddbins manager. Very camp. Swirling samples in his mouth while gazing thoughtfully skyward before effusing enthusiastically about the "notes" his toungue could hear...oh dear!

But then I must be guilty too...

by **Scotchio** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:17 pm

Reggaeblues wrote:...or the list of whiskies with silly names.

someone should send a copy to "Old Snackity Bockity", Billy Connolly. Bet he'd love it!

Marvellous. I'm sure we've all met a few...those out to impress with their "knowledge." There was this Oddbins manager. Very camp. Swirling samples in his mouth while gazing thoughtfully skyward before effusing enthusiastically about the "notes" his toungue could hear...oh dear!

But then I must be guilty too...

This is why I like to enjoy whisky alone, if I really made the effort to sample a whisky thoroughly in public I would feel like a complete psuede also there is nothing more annoying than having to swallow a whisky before you're ready because some inconsiderate bugger wants to make conversation

by **Lawrence** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:13 pm

TheLaddie wrote: Philip Hills' "Appreciating Whisky" is also available starting at £120!!!!!

There's a soft cover version out of this book now and you see it for a reasonable price on ebay. I have a hard cover version and find it hard to believe it's worth £120 but there you go!

Lawrence