A First Peek at my Canadian Whisky Book

It’s not been done before. Canadian whisky has never been covered in this depth. Yet in a matter of weeks, McClelland and Stewart, Canada’s major publisher, will release Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert, my A to Z guide to Canadian whisky. The stars must have aligned. The moon almost certainly is blue. And surely, Canada’s early spring comes from Hell itself, having taken our numbing cold and frozen over. But now, along with the promise of the warmth of spring and long, lazy summer nights, a completely new book is waiting in the wings to make its entrance.My book is the result of seven years of research with visits to every operating Canadian whisky distillery – along with several ghostly relics as well. I inhaled book dust in obscure local, provincial, and national archives. I sat down with long-retired whisky men who had made Canada’s rye whisky their lives, and I read everything on the subject that I could get my hands on. Then I took all of that research and worked it into the contents for a first-of-its kind book manuscript.I am thrilled to report that, in spite of all the stories of spending years struggling to get a publisher interested, within weeks of hearing about the book Canada's longest-established publisher signed-up my manuscript. The result? They have turned it into a genuine piece of Canadiana. I’m exhausted, but it’s mine and, I can tell you, I’m proud of it. And I’m thankful for all the creative and enthusiastic folks at McClelland and Stewart who got behind the project and who worked with me to transform messy manuscript pages into a beautifully designed and crafted book.To write and publish a book is a labour of love, for sure. As I dug deeper and deeper into our national potation my fascination grew even deeper. My thirst for information was not so much quenched as my appetite was whetted in the course of this enormous project. Canada makes great whiskies and there are tasting notes for no fewer than 100 of them in the book. The history of Canadian whisky is a story of family feuds, of fortunes made, and of legacies lost. The heart-wrenching and sometimes utterly bizarre details of this history are all there in the book. It also shows readers the characteristic processes of whisky making and how the distinguishing flavours of Canadian whisky are developed. And finally, I narrate the unique story of each Canadian distillery and, for the first time in a book of this kind, show their unique approaches to making Canadian whisky.Coming soon to a bookstore near you! Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert will be released on May 8. And for those for whom patience is not a virtue and who can't wait, it is available now for advance order on Amazon, Chapters/Indigo, McNallyRobinson, and several other on-line booksellers. I sincerely hope that the readers of this site will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.Cheers! And don’t forget that extra copy for a friend or relative…