All great ideas have to have a starting point, a genesis, the moment of conception. Whether this is written on the back of a piece of paper during a discussion in a bar and considered coolly in the light of all the pertinent facts, there is always such a point in time.
Whisky Magazine started with the former. A discussion between its founders 10 years ago with the notion to create a magazine that celebrated the wide world of whiskies. Now published in four languages, English, French, Japanese and Spanish, Whisky Magazine has established itself as the magazine to turn to for information, education and above all authority.
Many readers have asked us to bring the tastings together in the ultimate tastings book, so here it is. The book forms part of the 10th anniversary of Whisky Magazine. In that time the rise of the single malt, blended malt and blends phenomenon has been something no one could have predicted. Aficionados and beginners alike have proved hungry for knowledge and experiences to bring them closer to their favourite drinks, and Whisky Magazine has been at the forefront of this.
Similarly no one, other than those championing the cause, would have seen the meteoric rise of bourbon and indeed Japanese whisky, which are now taking the world by storm.
Entwined in this increased interest in everything whisky, the cocktail scene has seen some innovative uses of spirits as the distilling world has become smaller.
Out of Whisky Magazine evolved the tastings pages, which review all the latest releases and put them under the scrutiny of some of the best noses in the business. In10 years we have featured some of the best tasters in the business. Normally there are three tasters in each magazine.
Over the years the pages have featured some of the best whiskies available in the market place reviewed by some of the giants of whisky writing. Some of these whiskies are no longer available, the demand on stock has increased running some barrels dry, but what has lasted is the tasters' opinions.
It is this unbiased, independent stand point, not being afraid to pull the punches if needs be, that has made the tastings pages some of the most influential and widely read pages.
Whisky Magazine has constantly supported the independent bottling sector, allowing readers to explore different bottlings from their favourite distilleries.
To this end you will find nearly every tasting ever published in the last 10 years, uncut and organised in a manner where you can find what you want when you want it.
Where the same whisky has been reviewed more than twice over time by the same tasters we have removed the earliest tasting. Where they have been tasted by different tasters, we have left them all in. Occasionally there are notes where just one taster has tasted the whisky.
One of the most interesting parts of the book is looking at how distilleries, particularly in Scotland, and the various whisky categories have gone through several changes in the time Whisky Magazine has been bringing readers all the best bottlings from the industry.
Looking back you can see how some distilleries have risen to prominance, while others have been closed, and how some styles have experienced a resurgence, for instance rye and Irish whiskey.
The tastings book is laid out in easy to navigate sections with each geographical area containing whiskies according to its style, all sorted alphabetically.
Whiskies that appear with blue headings are proprietary bottlings whereas those in green represent offerings from the independent bottling companies. Every year we also hold a competition involving all the world whiskies. This has been done under several titles but is now the World Whiskies Awards and selects the best whisky in the world from all those on the market.
Some of the peated whiskies were tasted together to look at the effect of peat and how it develops over the years. As a result they were scored differently to the usual tastings, but were included for posterity. Our tasters are listed below, and we hope you enjoy their findings as much as they enjoyed writing them.
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