Whisky Bible 2008 - Jim Murray

[corbuso]

The Bible has its place, but I'm becoming ever disillusioned with it. It's out-of-date at publication, there are noteworthy omissions, and there's not nearly enough care paid to the text. Needs to do better.

MaltWhiskyYearbook 2008, by contrast, is fabulous. Up-to-the-moment, great photos and narrative, and fab articles.

I do agree with you. Attention brought to the text is not acceptable for widely published book and in addition, I would like to see more tasting notes. Depending on the malts, the only information that you get is the rating. In M. Jackson book, at least you had "real" tasting notes for all whiskies tasted. Unfortunately, he left us.
Concerning the Malt Whisky Yearbook, it is a good book, with an excellent presentation and I hope to get hold on the 2008 version soon.

[MrIntrepid]

MY bible usually sits next to the loo also. Is it just we English who like to read whilst "on the throne?"

Maybe JM does his own proofreading, in which case, you'd expect a lot of errors given the nature of his "day job!"

Maybe he does his own proofreading on the loo

[Deactivated Member]

JM has gone down the self-publishing route. That means he would have to take care of proofreading, typesetting, etc. himself or pay someone to do it for him. I guess it's not a high priority, and I guess JM keeps his work in proportion to the income it generates.

I think it is a credit to the Whisky Bible that people complain that it is out of date on publication and spot whiskies that are not in it. As far as I can remember, there was nothing so comprehensive before the Whisky Bible - and probably not since, either. I think the down side is that some of the markings have been knocked off balance by previous anomalies and inconsistencies. If the best North Port got an 88 previously (a generous mark because it was not quite as bad as most of the stuff) and one comes along that is much better then it has to get an even higher mark.

This is made very obvious from the front section which lists all the whiskies that have scored over 94. In the first couple of years there were only two 97 whiskies and 96 was a rare score. Now just look at the number of 97s and 96s - and see how many distilleries have produced whisky in the 96+ category. Surely they can't all be that good. If any distillery can (and does) produce the best whisky in the world, then it just devalues the cachet.

But it is still, for me, streets ahead of all the other whisky guides.

[woodhill]

You can get it now for only a fiver inc. psotage but hurry he's only got 2 left.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/jim-murrays-whisk ... dZViewItem

[mikeymad]

I think that the Bible '08 and the yearbook '08 are both good and serve a purpose.

The yearbook is great:

History
Pretty pictures
New releases
Stories and articles

Bible is great:

Ratings
Many more listings

Not that I put too much stock in overall ratings anymore, but it is nice to see a breakdown of the whiskys.

But I do like pretty pictures as well.

Cheers,

[woodhill]

I've never seen this book. would I be correct in saying it's more a narrow pamphlet than a book?

It is pamphlet shape and softback with very small text and so not easy to casually read, but great for reference and to take shopping with you!

And some of his descriptions are very funny.
Amongst my favourites is from his comments on Glenlivet Nadurra 48% he says " Longer and more Gingery than a lengthy Gingery thing" or something like that.

[Reggaeblues]

...or "Dunglas"(under "Littlemill")

"...only for those with a serious grudge against their tastebuds"

[BruceCrichton]

Anyone notice that he hasn't got the new Whyte and Mackay bottlings in?

I'm sure the 13, 16 and 19 year old versions came out in 2006.

[MrIntrepid]

Anyone notice that he hasn't got the new Whyte and Mackay bottlings in?

I'm sure the 13, 16 and 19 year old versions came out in 2006.

It coule be a conspiracy against Whyte and Mackay - I noticed the other day that the Dalmore 62 year old scores 95, however if you add up the 4 single scores, it should actually score 96!!! Was this a simple arithmetic error or a true conspiracy

[woodhill]

Does he have any of the RM bottlings in?

[Lawrence]

You can buy a signed copy at;

http://www.dramgoodbooks.com/


Lawrence

[Deactivated Member]

This is only my second year of owning this but I think it's pretty essential, especially for a beginner like me, to make head or tail of the vast number of whiskies out there.

[lohssanami]

I like the book so far, and I've only had it for 4 days. I suspect I'll get the Yearbook too as I like pictures as well.

I can get past the massive disproportion of text to picture, and I'll use it as a bit of a reference point.

Good reading while I'm on the pot.

[Reggaeblues]

Yes. My favourite seat of learning too...

Nice place also to look at the pictures in Michael Jackson's latest, and last, sadly...

[lohssanami]

I may look for the Michael Jackson book this weekend.

It'll give me a change of pace for my second office.

[Reggaeblues]

The 'Bible' is more technical,analytical, and a great point of reference.

MJ's book is more like a walk through the world of whisky.

[Deactivated Member]

I finally got to meet Jim at the Munich Whisky Fair yesterday and bought some bibles for my whisky business and my pub.
He is a great character and it was a pleasure to meet him and to now be able to offer his famous bible.

He even sat and hand-signed each book for me!

Thanks Jim, I'll even read through one myself.
MT

[Deactivated Member]

That's great to hear

[IainB]

I just noticed something about this last night - My copy says "Whiskey Bible", while all the previous editions say "Whisky Bible". So I checked the website this morning and it says Whisky Bible.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is there a seperate Irish (and maybe US) edition?

(I can't believe it took me six months to notice this.)

[Lawrence]

My first copy, 2004 says Whiskey and all the rest including 2008 say Whisky. I know there are printings for various markets so that may be part of it.

Lawrence

[IainB]

Interesting. I've bought them all, since 2004, in Ireland and they other have all said whisky.

[Willie JJ]

Sounds like they are printing variants for different markets, but no one told the distributors.

[Lawrence]

I do know that boxes of books get moved around according to need; from the UK to Canada for tastings etcetera.

I know this because I've gone to the airport to pick them up. I've also carted them onto airplanes and helped ship them here and there. So copies with whisky or whiskey are shipped according to availability to where ever they've been sold.

[Deactivated Member]

I bought a 2004 one on Amazon and it was shipped from Canada. It has 'Whiskey Bible' on the cover but later says 'Whisky Bible' inside. The pricing is Canadian so it's obviously the same book with the dust jacket and cover switched over for that market.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

All mine say Whisky also all bought in UK or Ireland

I think you've hit the nail on te head there BP

[Lawrence]

I bought a 2004 one on Amazon and it was shipped from Canada. It has 'Whiskey Bible' on the cover but later says 'Whisky Bible' inside. The pricing is Canadian so it's obviously the same book with the dust jacket and cover switched over for that market.

I had breakfast with JM this morning and told him about this and he was really surprised. It seems publishers do things behind the authors backs!

[OKDiver1]

I bought mine (the 2008) directly from JM's site, and both the dust jacket and cover say "Whiskey".

[Wendy]

As it has been noted, the 2008 Whisky Bible was printed with both spellings: Whisky/Whiskey. I know that the UK office and other distributors who work closely with UK office have been quite diligent to match the country with the appropriate spelling of our favourite drink. Like Lawrence, I have also shipped, received and delivered bibles from here to there for the purpose of distribution. On occasion with some American orders, I have shipped the Bible with the Canadian spelling. To date, no one has cancelled their order over it. But, they have also had warning.

Amazon is a complete different story and JM has no control over the business decisions they make. These stories are just another source of frustration and disappointment for authors like JM.

Wendy

[Deactivated Member]

I'm sure that JM can console himself counting his cash or massaging his ego lol.

When I first got into SM, I carried JM's Bible everwhere. However, I've hardly opened the latest edition. Found that little point, as his prefereces different from my own.

[Deactivated Member]

I bought a 2004 one on Amazon and it was shipped from Canada. It has 'Whiskey Bible' on the cover but later says 'Whisky Bible' inside. The pricing is Canadian so it's obviously the same book with the dust jacket and cover switched over for that market.

I had breakfast with JM this morning and told him about this and he was really surprised. It seems publishers do things behind the authors backs!

No, it was from an Amazon Marketplace seller, obviously based-in or selling from Canada. It wasn't directly from Amazon themselves, it being 4 years old.