Malt Whisky Yearbook 2012

Each fall, beginning in 2006, Ingvar Ronde publishes what has become the world's most eagerly awaited whisky guide. The Malt Whisky Yearbook is rich in the latest whisky information and is beautifully illustrated with more than 500 new colour photos of all of malt whiskydom. And that includes Canada. Yes, the focus is on Scotland and the major malt whisky nations, but virtually every player of any size at all is included.This year's Yearbook comes in at a whopping 300 pages. It includes a completely revised, distillery-by-distillery review of the basics and all that has happened in 2011, supplemented with over 250 tasting notes. Coverage of non-Scottish distilleries, including Canada's Glenora, Still Waters, Pemberton and Shelter Point, has been enhanced. As well, Nonjatta's Chris Bunting adds an all-new chapter about Japanese whisky.The Yearbook describes basic malt whisky production, provides insights from ten distillery managers, and tells us what to look for in 2012. Topical opinions are offered by Charles MacLean, Ian Buxton, Gavin D. Smith, Dominic Roskrow, Neil Ridley, Iowerth Griffiths and Colin Dunn to round it out.What can you say about an annual guide to malt whisky that names canadianwhisky.org as one of only six websites to watch in 2012?The Yearbook will be published October 1, 2011 and may be ordered from http://www.maltwhiskyyearbook.com/While we are on the subject of malt whisky, if you are looking for tasting opinions on almost any single malt that has ever been on the market, try visiting the Malt Maniacs Monitor. The Monitor is the most comprehensive list of malt whiskies ever created anywhere and provides tasting notes and more than 40,000 scores for over 13,000 different whiskies, including all the latest releases. The data base is fully searchable. Depending on the whisky, notes and scores from up to 15 members of the Malt Maniacs are provided. The Monitor is updated regularly, often daily.Ronde was still revising parts of the Malt Whisky Yearbook as recently as mid-September. That is about as up-to-date as you can get in hard copy. Combined with the on-line Malt Maniacs Monitor, there is no reason for fans of single malt whisky not to have up-to-the minute information at their fingertips in 2012.