Richly detailed and compelling analysis of the historical and political and cultural and economic reasons for the Scottish Clearances and wide-spread Richly detailed and compelling analysis of the historical and political and cultural and economic reasons for the Scottish Clearances and wide-spread emigration away from the Highlands and Lowlands Like all good historical analyses, this book delves below the superficial attitude that "the Clearances was simply greedy landlords driving out Highland crofters in favour of more profitable sheep farming". There may be some element of that, but the real picture is vastly more complicated and nuanced, with fewer clear-cut villains or heroes. If you want to understand many of the key factors in very well-researched details, this is the book for it.
The audiobook is expertly narrated by Ruth Urquhart, a Scot who knows the proper pronunciations of Scottish place names and family names, which is a huge relief from some of the dreadful non-Scottish narrators who have butchered these things shamelessly in other audiobooks....more
A far more nuanced portrait of Mordred and Arthur Mary Stewart creates a fitting culmination to her reimagining of the Arthurian legend, tacking the moA far more nuanced portrait of Mordred and Arthur Mary Stewart creates a fitting culmination to her reimagining of the Arthurian legend, tacking the most tragic and contentious final arc of the story, in which Mordred and his Orknian half-brothers go to Camelot, setting in motion the long-dreading prophesy of Merlin that Mordred will be the doom of Arthur on some Wicked Day. Knowing the outcome, she does an amazing job of weaving together disparate, contradictory, and patchy historical documents written centuries after the reputed reign of Arthur (mainly Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae from the 12th century, Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur from the 15th century, etc), and creating a real and plausible tale in keeping with the ethos of the times. A moving and tragic story that breathes fresh life into the legend....more
Merlin's Elder Years as King Arthur's Advisor, the Rise of Morgause, and His Time with the Lady of the Lake Mary Stewart once again does a masterful jMerlin's Elder Years as King Arthur's Advisor, the Rise of Morgause, and His Time with the Lady of the Lake Mary Stewart once again does a masterful job retelling the Matter of Britain and Arthurian Legend in her own reinterpretation of events, explaining many of the more fanciful legends of magic and enchantment in a more realistic way, as they are always embellished by the common and superstitious people of the times.
We see Merlin advice King Arthur on uniting Great Britain, tangling with Morgause in her various deadly ploys as the wife of King Lot, enemy of Arthur, and later Queen of Orkney, where she raises 4 fiery young red-headed boys: Gawain, Agravaine, Gareth, and Gaheris, along with one dark-haired, slender boy named Mordred.
Merlin also encounters a young woman he mistakes for a boy at first, named Niniane (aka Nimue, Viviane, etc in the many version of the Lady of the Lake legend), who was raised next to the lake at Avalon, and who forms a romantic relationship with Merlin as she also learns all his arcane knowledge and thus receives (steals?) his magic over time, eventually leaving him spent. ...more
A fantastic visual portrait of Gauguin, inspired by his artistic style This is a visually sumptuous graphic novel depicting the life of the infamous reA fantastic visual portrait of Gauguin, inspired by his artistic style This is a visually sumptuous graphic novel depicting the life of the infamous rebel painter and champion of the "primitive" in art and rejection of tawdry Western civilization. His symbolic escape to Tahiti and haunting paintings of Tahitian women and simple island life are a direct rejection of the materialistic and soul-less world of Western civilization.
It explores the spiritual struggles, megalomania, and single-minded pursuit of his art that Gauguin was eager to project to the larger world - his life was a form of protest against bourgeois thinking and formalist art, and his paintings were his tools to challenge the status quo.
If you are even slightly interested in him as a person, more dramatic than life, you will be entranced by this visually-brilliant dive into his complex mental and spiritual landscape....more
The Most Complex, Adventurous, Iconoclastic, and Daring Victorian of the Era Sir Richard Francis Burton is probably one of the most (in)famous and compThe Most Complex, Adventurous, Iconoclastic, and Daring Victorian of the Era Sir Richard Francis Burton is probably one of the most (in)famous and complex of all the Victorian-era English adventurers, a polymath and obsessive traveller and researcher of exotic foreign cultures and languages. According to the book blurb, “He made significant contributions in the fields of literature and geography, and was also a poet, traveler, soldier, diplomat, inventor, explorer, archaeologist, student of religion and more.”
I can’t argue with that, he truly wanted to do it all, and did it with a stubborn and relentless intensity that more genteel Victorian society, with its tedious propriety and rigid hierarchy, didn’t have room to accommodate. He was an inveterate iconoclast of Christianty and the British government, and yet was dependent on it to feed his insatiable desire to travel and explore by becoming a diplomat, though based on this book he was probably one of the most unmotivated and irresponsible ever to hold such posts, using every excuse to get out and explore for weeks and months, abandoning and shirking his official duties in favor of exciting adventures among the locals.
He also didn’t hesitate to tell off his superiors back home, which of course damaged his career prospects time and again, and it was only the dogged efforts of his dutiful and almost slavishly-loyal wife Isabel to get him reinstated after various fallings-out and acrimonious exchanges. He almost seemed to revel in conflict and bating what he considered his inferiors, pompous stuffed shirts unworthy of respect. But when such men are your employers, most people will toe the line and play the social game. Not Burton though, he was both proud and irascible, and never forgot a slight or grudge.
He was profoundly interested in Arabian and Indian culture, and had an incredible talent to acquire languages with his powerful memory and self-developed learning techniques, a self-taught linguist. He delved deep into the cultures, literary works, religions, politics, and even sexual practices of these cultures, and learned first hand through whatever means suited his interests and circumstances. He was so convincing that he managed to pretend to be a devout Muslim and make the holy pilgrimage, the hajj, to Medica and Medina, and touch the Black Stone of the Kaaba there, having memorized the dozens of specific prayers, worship practices, and speech inflections. Any slip up and he would have been killed immediately.
He also was a prodigious writer of his explorations and adventures, taking detailed notes on everything he observed and thought, producing dense books packed with annotated notes, that were apparently not the most readable. His masterworks were his translations of the 1001 Arabian Nights, the Kama Sutra, and The Perfumed Garden, all delving deeply into taboo and exotic Middle Eastern and South Indian sexual lore, and we can surmise that he was intent on doing first-hand research in all of it. I am amazed he did not contract any serious venereal diseases given all his sexual escapades, if the book is accurate.
Finally, like most Victorians, he was a virulently racist (by our moderns standards), believing firmly in the innate superiority of the white British race, and that it was the duty of said race to rule over the lower races. His quotes and comments on Africans in particular would raise the hackles of any modern reader, woke or otherwise, with their biting contempt for darker peoples, in many cases depicting them as less than full human, closer to the apes. While these attitudes were prevalent in the British Empire and the Victorians, it’s still hard to stomach them when you read them straight from his comments. But that was the reality of those times.
There is so much more to this complex and difficult person that cannot be fit into a simple book review. This biography is a good entry point, and I choose it mainly because there was an audiobook version, but have two other hardcopy biographies of him that I may someday read, Edward Rice’s “Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton : The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Discovered the Kama Sutra, and Brought the Arabian Nights to the West”, and Mary Lovell’s “A Rage To Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton”. ...more
Incredible true story of a young British diplomat embroiled in the October revolution in Russia Ironically, I only found out about this book after readIncredible true story of a young British diplomat embroiled in the October revolution in Russia Ironically, I only found out about this book after reading his excellent book on single malt Scotch whisky (written in 1951, but still totally relevant), and reading a brief biography blurb on him on Amazon:
"Robert Bruce Lockhart (1887-1970) had an extraordinarily varied life and is widely believed to be the inspiration for James Bond. Primarily a diplomat, he held posts in the Foreign Office serving in Russia during WW1 where he was accused of plotting to assassinate Lenin and imprisoned in the Kremlin until exchanged for Litvinov. He then served in Czechoslovakia and worked in the late 20s for Beaverbrook Newspapers until he took up writing full time. He returned to the FO in WW2 were he was Director-General of Political Warfare. He returned successfully to writing after the war and had a prolific output until he died in 1970."
Having read that, who could possibly resist finding out more about this larger-than-life character. His story of growing up a privileged child of the monied class in Scotland, spending his childhood at Balmenach Distillery which was founded by his grandfather, and then being sent off to Malaya to make his fortune in the booming rubber business, learning the language and culture there, playing football, and getting into a steamy and scandalous love affair with a local girl of aristocratic birth. This would establish his M.O. of immersion in foreign culture and languages, building political relationships with powerful people, and getting into romantic affairs with exotic women.
After a nasty and nearly fatal bout with malaria, which ends his Malaya adventure, he returns to Scotland and finds himself at a loss what to do next, but due to some pressure from his father and matriarchal grandmother, he decided to sit the exam for the foreign service despite being a lot older than the other candidates and not nearly as prepared academically. Some of his adventures during the oral exams actually provide some of the most entertaining episodes of the whole book - this man was ingenious in getting out of situations with a quick wit and instinct for charming others. No wonder he may have inspired the debonair British super spy and playboy James Bond.
Anyway, when he is assigned to Moscow in 1912 in the closing days of the dysfunctional Tsarist regime and its decadent aristocrats, the story enters its most interesting phase, as he again immerses himself in the turbulent world of western diplomatists and Russian political groups, a treacherous sea of conflicting factions, mainly the Bolsheviks, Russian Liberals, Left Social-Revolutionaries, counter-revolutionaries, Communists, etc. He navigates these waters with remarkable skill, managing to makes deep relationships with a huge number of Russians and other foreign diplomats, politicians, aristocrats, and so forth. He seems able to schmooze and drink till the early hours, charm various ladies, and not lose his head at the same time.
Once the October Revolution happens, led by Lenin and Trotsky, his position becomes more precarious as he has formed strong relationships with many Bolsheviks, but the British and other Allied governments are very wary of this socialist revolution, and are obsessed with keeping Russia fighting on the Eastern front to divert German troops from the all-important Western front. So an intricate game of diplomatic chess emerges as Lockhart is used by the British as the "unofficial" negotiator with the Bolsheviks, separate from their office diplomats as they are still unsure whether to recognize the Bolsheviks or hope to overthrow them through intervention. This make it almost impossible for Lockhart to keep a consistent approach when different branches of his own govt are at odds on how to deal with the Russia issue.
Events get more intense as different Russian factions start to fight internally, with assassinations of various figures on both sides, culminating on the near-assassination of Lenin himself, and Lockhart being implicated in the plot. It's an amazing sequence of things to happen to one young man as he is caught up in powerful historical forces and lives through incredible moments of history in the making, but still maintains a strong sense of justice, diplomatic savvy, and sense of adventure. Larger than life, it's an incredible story told exceedingly well, and exposes us to the attitudes of a British "agent" a century ago in a turbulent period of European history....more
Ralfy tells his story in true fashion - full of humour, honesty, and feistiness If you're a fan of Ralfy's legendary YouTube channel, "ralfydotcom", thRalfy tells his story in true fashion - full of humour, honesty, and feistiness If you're a fan of Ralfy's legendary YouTube channel, "ralfydotcom", then you'll know all about his feisty, uncompromised, insightful, and humorous views on whisky and pursuit of genuine malt-moments, divorced from commercial hype, marketing, and most of all non-chillfiltered, non-colored, and presented at a decent ABV or 46% or more. There are lots of quirky details of journey of malt discovery, and his unexpected career as a Glasgow undertaker, and all the insights into mortality and drink that entailed. It's full of surprisingly spiritual insights, in both senses, and doesn't shy away from discussing alcoholism, especially when we try to disguise it as upmarket whisky enthusiasts. It may have a lot of grammar mistakes and typos, but this is a self-published book full of genuine passion for that most complex and rewarding of sprits: uisge bheatha, aqua vitae, malt whisky....more
What an Amazing Time 1927 Was To my mind, this is one of Bryson's best books, touching on so many amazing events in a memorable period of American histWhat an Amazing Time 1927 Was To my mind, this is one of Bryson's best books, touching on so many amazing events in a memorable period of American history, much of which most Americans (including myself) had never heard of or knew only vaguely. This is his most structured and least-episodic book. It has a cohesive narrative that weaves between a large number of bigger-than-life real personalities and events, and does so with a very compelling storytelling style.
He also isn't afraid to explore the unpleasant realities of those times, especially the pervasive racism, sexism, and embracing of eugenics and admiration of racial cleansing and the Nazis by some elements in America, not least Charles Lindbergh. So this book is far, far more than just a nostalgic tribute to a long-gone, simpler, grander time in America. It's an honest exploration of the good, the bad, and the excesses like the stock market frenzy and crash. For all those reasons, I found this to be his most substantial book, still featuring his signature humor in parts, but far more intent on understanding a far different America from now, that still brings insight into American society today....more
The Odd Couple Walk the Appalachian Trail Bill Bryson is a funny guy, with a satirical eye for exposing the underlying absurdity of daily life in whateThe Odd Couple Walk the Appalachian Trail Bill Bryson is a funny guy, with a satirical eye for exposing the underlying absurdity of daily life in whatever country he resides in or is visiting, or in the case of America, is revisiting after two decades abroad. And he is the classic chubby, middle-aged, well-read and frequently complaining type, but usually in a self-deprecating manner that takes a little of the edge off some of his harsher barbs directly at American life. In this case he reunites with his long-separated friend Stephen Katz, whom we last saw having a acrimonious split with Bill after their trip across Europe in the 1990s. Katz has since spiraled into a dissolute life of casual work, alcoholism, and general decline, and surprisingly approaches Bryson to ask if he can join him on his ambitious plan to hike at last part of the 1,700-mile Appalachian Trail.
What ensures is one of the funniest and sometimes poignant travelogues of the tribulations of two middle-aged guys of different temperaments, social standing, professional achievement, and general life outlook. Katz is constantly struggling with his urges to drink alcohol and binge on junk food, chucks vital equipment on the train because its too heavy, frequently wants to stop and rest, and is generally arguing with Bryson when they are not in a strained silence. And yet somehow they persevere, through many adventures, and find moments of camaraderie and hilarity in their encounters with annoying fellow hikers, backwards locals, bears & other forest creatures, and most of the the woods themselves that they are surrounded by.
It's a very entertaining story, and like all his books has a comfortable, unpretentious tone of sardonic humor, interspersed with his diatribes again the Forest Service and America's odd relationship with and treatment of its incredibly rich and (dwindling) abundance. There are plenty of things he doesn't like about what our civilization is doing to nature, and this book is a tribute to the value of that heritage, but doesn't sugar-coat how little funding there is, and how fundamentally unsuited to living in nature we are with all our modern conveniences. Lots of laughs but just as many insights and plenty of food for thought. The interaction of Bryson and Katz is comic gold, and holds the story together throughout....more
An entertaining and eclectic collection of stories, legends, and anecdotes about Islay's whisky culture and history and colorful personalities It is quAn entertaining and eclectic collection of stories, legends, and anecdotes about Islay's whisky culture and history and colorful personalities It is quite a mish-mash of short entries on a huge range of stories, legends, and anecdotes about anything on Islay to do with whisky, which is almost everything really. Lots of really interesting tidbits of history and legends, along with more contemporary anecdotes of the real larger-than-life characters who've lived on Islay and been part of the rich whisky tradition there. It's all good fun if you love Islay whisky and history, along with cheeky illustrations by and a healthy dose of Robin Laing's lyrics sprinkled throughout. I'm sure he would recommend you listen to his CDs while reading for the full experience. A good book to dip into either before or during an Islay whisky distillery tour....more
An excellent series of lectures by Professor Craig Benjamin on the Mongol Empire, both brilliant militarily and utterly ruthless and destructive to itAn excellent series of lectures by Professor Craig Benjamin on the Mongol Empire, both brilliant militarily and utterly ruthless and destructive to its enemies, wiping out entire cities that did not surrender, including men, women, children and animals. Yet they also had greater religious toleration and excellent administrative skills. Like all empires, it cannot be summed up in one simplistic view. You’ll learn a wealth of things about Genghis Khan and his generals and sons, told enthusiastically....more
A fantastic series of lectures about the Ottoman empire, presented enthusiastically by Professor Kenneth W. Harl of Tulane University. I've only just A fantastic series of lectures about the Ottoman empire, presented enthusiastically by Professor Kenneth W. Harl of Tulane University. I've only just discovered these history courses on Audible, and what a wonderful way to enjoy history lessons presented by actual experts of the field, incredibly informative, interesting, and insightful. I'll be listening to these more often in the future....more
A wonderful history of the pioneers of Scotch whisky, both Highland malt distillers and the later whisky barons of the Lowlands that popularized blendA wonderful history of the pioneers of Scotch whisky, both Highland malt distillers and the later whisky barons of the Lowlands that popularized blends in England and the world, but at the expense of pure Highland malts. Sir Robert Bruce-Lockhart had a fascinating and exciting life as "a British diplomat, journalist, author, secret agent, and footballer. His 1932 book Memoirs of a British Agent became an international bestseller and brought him to the world's attention by telling of his failed effort to sabotage the Bolshevik Revolution in Moscow in 1918." (Wikipedia)
But this book is his celebration of "uisge beatha"(Gaelic) or "aqua vitae" (Latin), that quintessential Scottish drink that has been the lifeblood and birthright of the Scottish Highlands for many centuries. He himself spent part of his childhood exploring the Balmenach Distillery, and shows great knowledge of both the making of, history of, and enjoyment of quality single malts. He provides detailed portraits of some of the most famous whisky barons to make personal fortunes and lasting legacies by popularizing Scotch blends (malt and grain) to the masses and the world, and also the story of the Distillers Company that took control of the Scotch whisky industry through numerous tribulations caused by the First World War, Prohibition in the US, every rising taxes from the English Exchequer, and the Second World War. He theorizes that without the collective power of this amalgamation, the scattered Scottish distilleries may not have survived these many difficulties. Here is his view of the legacy of the blenders:
Legacy of the blenders (p130):
"Here I may properly sum up the virtues and faults of the men whose real achievement was to create an international taste and insatiable desire for what had hitherto been a national, and, indeed, mainly Highland drink. They lived in a spacious age when capitalism had a free reign and opportunity offered rich rewards to those who were able to grasp it. They made huge fortunes and kept them, as the spirit of the age not only entitled but encouraged them to do. In the process they altered the taste of whisky, and this was and is still regarded as their greatest sin by the malt distillers and by the Celtic enthusiasts of malt whisky. However regrettable this may be, it is at least open to doubt whether malt whisky by itself would ever have conquered the world and whether the blender-magnates, by taking a proportion of malt whisky, did not, in fact, benefit the pockets of the malt distillers even if their palates were offended."
He also provides a great deal of insight into the role of Scotch in the life of the poor Scottish worker, and how it is often blamed for drunkenness and poverty, whereas he views it as a symptom rather than the cause:
On Scottish drinking and urban poverty (p167):
"It is also regrettably true that in the second half of the eighteenth century, and throughout the nineteenth, Scotland had an unenviable reputation for drunkenness, especially in the rapidly growing industrial centres. The fault, however, must be attributed, not so much to whisky, although much of it was bad, as to the appalling conditions in which the workers lived. Drink was the easiest escape from economic hell, and whisky, then remarkably cheap even in relation to the low wages, was the quickest road to oblivion. As Kipling has said: ‘Drink is the only thing that will make clean all a man’s deeds in his own eyes. Pity it is that the effects are not permanent.’ Slums and poverty were not the creation of the worker. It was the misdeeds of others which drove him to cleanse his despair in alcohol.
Certainly the effects were not permanent, but they were tried repeatedly. I still remember vividly the fear that lent speed to my legs whenever I walked down Dock Street in Dundee in the late afternoon of a winter Saturday. Every third house was a pub, and every pub a vortex in which the week’s wages were engulfed. As often as not, there would be a group of men and women quarreling, fighting, and brandishing bottles on the pavement. The temperance workers raged and had cause for their indignation, but in their efforts to suppress the drink trade they neglected the social conditions on which it thrived. Whisky, in fact, was the consequence and not the cause of these conditions, and had there been no whisky, man in his ingenuity would have found, as indeed he found later in such poisonous concoctions as ‘Red Biddy’, another anodyne for his despair.
In a very real sense the Scot’s love of whisky is a natural reaction against the rigours of Calvinism which, for all its virtues, is harsh more than tender and leans toward self-righteousness rather than to grace. It is against the fleshpots of Egypt. It insists that the devil must be fought in this world in order to secure salvation in the next. Whisky is perhaps a more dangerous fleshpot that the cucumber and the melons and the onions and the garlic which the Israelites remembered from their days of bondage in Egypt. But to the Scot, born to poverty and the hard life, it was his only fleshpot and it gave him what he could not find in his gloomy surroundings: a glimpse of the mystery and splendor of existence. There was no frailty in his character to excuse his lapses. His was the rousing kind of drinking which exalted the soul and reasserted his independence. As for wrestling with the devil, he was always prepared to do his best, provided that Auld Nick won an occasional throw, especially on Saturday nights. Then, contrite with the repentance of repletion, he would seek out the minister and admit his fall."
Finally, he speaks eloquently on Scottish whisky as a fundamental part of the Scottish character and identity, saying:
Whisky is a part of Scottish culture (p171): Whisky has made us what we are. It goes with our climate and with our nature. It rekindles old fires in us, our hatred of cant and privilege, our conviviality, our sense of nationhood, and, above all, our love of Scotland. It is our release from materialism, and I often think that without it we should have long been extinct as a rare, for we should have been so irritatingly efficient that a worse persecution than the Hebrews ever suffered would have been our inevitable fate.
Today Scotland is neither wholly free nor wholly sober. Indeed, to the Scot who is not given to wasting his substance on fast women and slow horses, whisky is today his only extravagance. Everything encourages him in this national strength and weakness. In March 1951, two of the leading doctors of the United States declared pontifically that a man is a food not to drink after 40 and should take three ounces of whisky daily to counteract the effects of the hardening of the arteries. So, with the best medical opinion on his side, what is the poor Scot to do?
As a friend, whisky has virtues unequalled by any other form of alcohol. As O. Henry wrote in The Lost Blend, ‘it gives men courage and ambition and the nerve for anything. It has the colour of gold, is clear as glass and shines after dark as if the sunshine were still in it.’ As an enemy, there is no Scot who does not know its dangers and no Scottish family without its whisky skeletons. They rattle in my own cupboard, and I myself have been near enough destruction to respect whisky, to fear it, and to continue to drink it."...more
A detailed picture of the Ottoman Empire, How it Functioned, and How it Collapsed
I listened to this after finishing an audiobook lecture series from tA detailed picture of the Ottoman Empire, How it Functioned, and How it Collapsed
I listened to this after finishing an audiobook lecture series from the Great Courses, the Ottoman Empire, by Professor Kenneth W. Harl, which was a very comprehensive series of 36 lectures on all aspects of the Ottoman Empire over 600 years.
This book has a more narrow focus on the modern history of the Ottoman Empire, its involvement in the modern European and World Wars of the 19th and 20th centuries, how it was torn asunder by internal forces (Arab Nationalism, the Extermination of Armenians in the Empire) and its conflicts with Russia and the Allied Powers, which laid the groundwork for the the Western Powers to carve it up after World War I and create the modern political landscape of the Middle East, with all the intractable problems we see today....more
A wonderfully opinionated tribute by a true champion of whisky This is a tiny self-published volume written under a pseudonym by Leith-born journalist A wonderfully opinionated tribute by a true champion of whisky This is a tiny self-published volume written under a pseudonym by Leith-born journalist and writer George Malcolm Thomson. He used a pseudonym possibly to avoid the negative reaction from his teetotaler mother, and due to the many strong and critical opinions perhaps. Either way, it's an absolute gem of a book, a paean to the beauties and subtleties of single malts rather than the brands that dominated the industry, a diatribe against wine snobs, 'drinkers to get drunk', and characterless blends watered down with grain spirit influence. It's far more opinionated and romantic and personal than many modern whisky books that take a more balanced, clinical approach with loads of data, distilling method descriptions, and color photos, etc. This book is just a private tribute to the sublime beauty of usquebaugh (or 'aqua vitae'), and an absolute joy to read. I loved some passages so much the I sat down and typed them down on the PC to save for later reference, so I'll let him speak for himself below.
Wine Snobs (p3): There has of late come into being a class of persons who have learnt of wine out of books and not out of bottles. They are as a rule to be surprised drinking cheap champagne in secret but their talk is all of vintages and districts and close and chateaux.
These dilettantes of the world of drinking are distinguished by weak stomachs and a plentiful store of snobbery. Wine merchants make of them an easy and legitimate prey. They are apt in quotation and historical anecdote, culling these from the books which honest men have written to advance the arts of civilization and to earn money. They roll great names on their tongues as though they were heralds marshaling the chivalry of France, or toadies numbering the peers they have fawned on.
In finding those qualities of bouquet and body which their textbooks bid them seek, they are infallible, provided the bottle has been correctly labelled. They will, indeed, discover them before they have tasted the wine.
These creatures have the insolence to despise whisky. Fresh from their conducted tour of the vineyards, the smellers of corks and gabblers of names sneer when its name is mentioned. It is, they declare, the drink of barbarians, offensive to the palate and nostrils of persons of taste; above all, it is not modish.
For all that is southern and Mediterranean in is the mode among us. Civilization is a Latin word and culture comes by the Blue Train. Better a rubber beach at Monte Carlo than all the sea-shores of the north. And, of course, we must affect enthusiasm for wine; it is so European, so picturesque and cultivated. It shows one has a certain background. A cellar is like a pedigree and requires less authentication. Nor is actual experience of bibbing necessary; a good memory and the correct books will suffice. If one is actually forced to drink, one can toy for a time with the glass in one’s palm, discuss the merits of the wine, quote from Brilliant-Savarin and tell that anecdote about the Doc de Sully, open a learned debate on the possible incompatibility of temperament between the wine and the food with which it is proposed to wed it, and, when all else fails, confess to a delicacy of palate which the grosser forms of indulgence would outrage. But such stratagems are absurd and unmanly inner weaknesses of the bookish wine snob concealed from the ridicule they deserve.
Drinkers-to-Get-Drunk (p3): I pass on to another type of enemy, the men who drink whisky. With pain and not without a hope that they may yet be saved, let us number their sins. Foremost among these is the they drink not for the pleasure of drinking nor for any merits of flavour or bouquet which the whisky may possess but simply in order to obtain a certain physical effect. They regard whisky not as a beverage but as a drug, not as an end but as a means to an end. It is, indeed a heresy of the darker sort, doubly to be condemned in that it lends a sad, superficial plausibility to the sneers of the precious. Whisky suffers its worst insults at the hands of the swillers, the drinkers-to-get-drunk who have not organs of taste and smell in them but only gauges of alcohol content, the boozers, the ‘let’s have a spot’ and ‘make-it-a-quick-one’ gentry, and all the rest who dwell in a darkness where are no whiskies but only whisky - and, of course, cola.
Illicit Distilling (p39): Now dawned the heroic age of whisky, when it was hunted upon the mountains with a price on its head as if it were a Stuart prince, when loyal and courageous men sheltered it in their humble cabins, when its lore was kept alive in secret like the tenets of a proscribed and persecuted religion. If whisky has not degenerated wholly into a vile thing in which no person of taste and discernment can possibly take an interest, it is because its tradition was preserved, by men whose names ungrateful posterity has forgotten, during years when the brutal and jealous Hanoverian government sought to suppress in the Highlands this last relic of the ancient Gaelic civilization. It is an extraordinary thing that, while Jacobite loyalty has found its bars, this loyalty to a thing far more closely linked with Highland history than a Lowland family ever could become, has not yet been sung.
Malt vs grain whisky (p69-79): It was nothing short of a sin against the light to lump malt whisky with neutral industrial spirit as if it too were something to burn in lamps, to drive engines, or to clean clothes. The evil having been done, however, it is necessary to instruct the whisky public, especially young and inexperienced drinkers, in the true facts of the case so that, so far as possible, ‘whisky be the grace of the Royal Commission’ may be left to those who ask for nothing more from their beverage than a ‘kick’. This, at least, it will guarantee for them. But the children of light will continue to demand of their Scotch whisky that it should be distilled in Scotland by means of pot-stills, from mashing materials consisting of malted barley and nothing else, dried in kilns by peat or other fuel according to the locality; and of their Irish whiskey that it should be pot-still, from malted barley, either alone or with unmalted barley, oats, rye, or other indigenous cereal. By accommodating themselves thus far to modern conditions, they will assure themselves of a whisky which it will be possible to drink without a grimace (with a heroic determination to overlook the means for the sake of the end), and even - granted discrimination - with delight.
Blending (p71-72): The old single malt whiskies of the Highlands were, on the whole, too powerful and heavy for sedentary town-dwellers. Blending made it possible to make a whisky which would suit different climates and different classes of patrons. For by adding the lighter Lowland malts and the neutral or almost neutral grain whiskies, in greater or lesser degree, a whisky could be evolved of a ‘weight’ and a strength of flavor and bouquet to suit the taste or the commercial requirements of the blender.
Regional styles (p72): The great export trade in whisky is almost certainly due to the adaptability and elasticity which blending lent to the industry. Even today the aesthetics of whisky have a very definite geographical aspect. London likes a milder, less pronounced whisky than Lancashire. Lancashire in its turn affects a whisky which is lighter and less pungent in taste than that which solaces the east winds of Edinburgh. But Edinburgh is surpassed by Glasgow, where they revel in the ‘denser’ and fuller-bodied joys of the Campbeltown malts. In the Highlands, malt whiskies are still drunk, uncontaminated by the diluting, chilling alliance with grain.
Marriage of vattings (p73-74): The blended malts are run into a vat and mixed with more or less Lowland malt and more or less grain whisky. The resulting blend is then drawn off and left in the cask to marry for a minimum period of six months…In this manner, a surer and more intimate mixture is obtained and the horrid possibility of a subsequent failure of marriage banished. But no technical device affects the supreme clause in the matrimonial legislation of whisky, that time is of the essence of the contract. Whiskies are capricious, sensitive creatures; they are not to be flung at one another like goats. Rather are they to be compared to fillies which are highly likely to plant iron heels in the belly of the too-forward stallion. They must grow accustomed to one another and, unless they have been carefully chosen, no amount of time will persuade them to live together in amity.
Kentucky rye whisky during prohibition (p120): It may be presumes that the ingenuity of the American people is finding its own remedies for the perils of Prohibition and bootleg whisky, though, as a matter of fact, having observed the effects on the health of the population of several hard-bitten Scottish cities, of a few ‘dumped’ shiploads of Kentucky rye whisky, I am inclined to doubt whether the present regime can hold much greater terrors than the old. Prohibition has added two more names to the nomenclature of whisky: ’Squirrel’ whisky, so called because it induces in its devotees an irresistible desire to climb trees, and ‘ Rabbit’ whisky which creates an impulse to leap and run....more
Heavy with Details on Rabbie's Life and Work After doing a Burn's Night Celebration with my whisky club last year, including memorizing and performing Heavy with Details on Rabbie's Life and Work After doing a Burn's Night Celebration with my whisky club last year, including memorizing and performing a lesser-known poem of his called "A Lass with a Tocher", I felt like I needed to know more about the life of Scotland's National Bard. We even took a tour down to Ayrshire and saw Alloway Kirk and his cottage and the Burns Museum.
However, as an introduction this may not be the ideal book for beginners to Rabbie's life. As noted in other reviews, it's loaded with biographical details, endless references to different poems, friends, acquaintances, lovers, sponsors, and prominent people in his life, but the sheer amount of detail makes it read more like a dissertation than a biography.
So I had to just chip away at it over 4 months in little drips and drabs. I certainly learned a lot about this very complex, troubled, and yet often brilliant poet, full of passion, conflicted feelings about political equality and class, great national pride in Scotland's traditional songs and music, and a strong streak of manic depressive episodes.
In addition he was almost uncontrollably besotted by every woman he encountered, from sophisticated upper class women (who he courted heatedly with florid letters and poems) to maidservants (who he bedded as a substitute), and his long-suffering wife Jean Armour, who bore him 9 children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. He was frequently courting all these other women and professing his undying love while his wife was pregnant and stuck at home. He was devoted to supporting his family even to the point of accepting a job as an Exciseman of the British Crown, seeking illegal bothies and collecting taxes to feed him family.
The more you know of him, the more you realize just how complex and messy his life was, but as is often the case with artists and poets, much of this must have inspired his incredible range of work. And his lifelong work in collecting songs and setting his poetry to it in the Scots vernacular was an invaluable service in preserving Scottish oral culture for future generations.
He even dabbled in political egalitarianism, promoting Scottish heroes of independence like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce in order to disguise his support for democratic and republican movements for independence like the French and American Revolutions. This was quite dangerous to balance with his position as an Exciseman, but he was very clever in publicly voicing his support for the Crown while hiding various sentiments in poetry and comments to others.
In the end, this was well worth reading though it takes some concerted effort....more
A Great History of Irish Whiskey, With Loads of Pictures and Stories I flew through this book in a single weekend - it's perfect for those who know theA Great History of Irish Whiskey, With Loads of Pictures and Stories I flew through this book in a single weekend - it's perfect for those who know the basics about whisky, especially Scotch whisky, but want to know more about the origins of the Irish whiskey industry, its rise to dominance, collapse to near oblivion, and recent resurgence.
There is plenty of interesting historical background on how it arose, how it related to political and military struggles with England, and the huge setbacks it faced from the two world wars, prohibition, the Irish war for independence, and of course the potato famine. It also shows how the Irish Distilleries Co got so complacent that it ignored the Aeneas Coffee's invention (not entirely him, but he perfected it) of the continuous still, aka column still or Coffee still, which revolutionized the industry by allowing continuous production of a super-high alcohol neutral spirit that could be cheaply blended with more flavorful Scotch malt whiskies to create more accessible blends. These blends appealed to a much broader drinking audience and supplanted Irish pot-still whiskey.
It's only been in the past two decades that the Irish whiskey industry has been reborn with a plethora of new craft distilleries, and the founding of the Teeling Distillery in Dublin by the sons of John Teeling, creator of Cooley Distillery. After a century of hard times and decline, at long last the Irish whiskey industry has risen from the ashes and is producing so many exciting new artisanal offerings. ...more
A Great Virtual Visit and Trip-Planning Guide for 2021 when the Pandemic Ends 2020 has been a pretty dreadful year for everyone is almost every way, esA Great Virtual Visit and Trip-Planning Guide for 2021 when the Pandemic Ends 2020 has been a pretty dreadful year for everyone is almost every way, especially for whisky distillery visits and pubs. No way to put a positive spin on it really. But I wanted to think ahead when things finally turn the corner, so much of the year was spend watching YouTube videos about Irish distilleries, classic old pubs, and charming country villages.
I read From Barley to Blarney: A Whiskey Lover’s Guide to Ireland during the holiday, pinning each pub and distillery on Google Maps for a future tour of Ireland. It’s the closest I could get to traveling. It's a great book, written with great charm and humour and love for whiskey-making, drinking, and all the people who are involved distilling it. It has great glossy photos of so many charming classic old spirit grocers and the publicans who have served as caretakers for these community meeting places, often for generations. It's a story as much about local community as it is about whiskey. And it really fired up my desire to go around the corners of the Emerald Isle and experience some authentic Irish craic and music over a few pints and wee drams.
Turns out a friend of mine here in North London is from Fethard, County Tipperary, and grew up just 4 minutes away from McCarthy’s, a classic Irish spirit grocers where plenty a horse trade was discussed over pints. Small world indeed....more
Best Snapshot of Whisky Industry - Loads on Handy Info If you're looking for an impartial guide to the current state of the Scotch and world whisky indBest Snapshot of Whisky Industry - Loads on Handy Info If you're looking for an impartial guide to the current state of the Scotch and world whisky industry, this is the book for you. It has profiles of all the current distilleries, both Scottish, English, Irish, along with a section on upcoming craft distilleries, descriptions of up-and-coming regions like India, Australia, Europe, Taiwan, Japan, and even a section on silent distilleries.
It also has a series of articles on hot topics in the industry by various experts, and pictures of the distilleries themselves, their vital stats, histories, still capacities and setup, and recent official bottlings. One of the most useful pages shows all the current distilleries grouped by corporate owners, which is super handy when trying to keep track of who owns what as they change hands quite often.
The amount of effort Ingvar has made to research all this content and keep it up to date even amid the pandemic in tremendous and admirable, and he is a very unbiased admirer of the industry and its wonderful people.
This would make a handy guide if you were planning to do some distillery tours of Speyside, Highlands, Lowlands, Islay, Campbeltown, or the Islands....more
Niall's view: Britain's colonial legacy wasn't all bad, in fact it left former colonies better off in terms of democratic structures, civil services, Niall's view: Britain's colonial legacy wasn't all bad, in fact it left former colonies better off in terms of democratic structures, civil services, education, commerce, and so forth It occurred to me as I wrote my review for another book, David Landes' "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are Rich and Others Poor", that I have been reading that book at the same time I listened to this audiobook, and since their themes and views are similar, I've gotten the content thoroughly mixed up. Hardly a surprise as I listen to audiobooks while walking the dog, resting in bed etc, then read text books during the weekend. So a good portion of my review of the Landes book probably was inspired by Empire, and I can't untangle them at this point.
(From Wikipedia): Niall Ferguson is a well-known contrarian historian and public figure who studies the economic and political history and is a defender of the legacy British and American Imperialism. He was raised in Scotland but has taught at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and NYU, and writes column for news outlets such as Bloomberg and Newsweek, and in 2004 he was named as one of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.
(My views): So his views are well known, and there are plenty of supporters and detractors, and he is quite eager to court controversy and debate. I will admit that I had never heard of him until recently, but partly because I was reading the Landes book, I got curious to hear what this guy had to say about the British empire and the legacy of its imperial/colonial empire. This is a direct result of having lived in the UK for the past three years, and slowly coming to understand the extremely complex nature of the British Empire in all its glory and arrogance. I've still just touched the surface, but it's been quite an illuminating look so far.
In Empire, Niall gleefully attacks head-on the politically-correct view of British imperialism and exploitation and cultural chauvinism (White Man's Burden, Manifest Destiny) not by denying the wrong-doings of the past, but by re-examining the view that the West has exploited much of the developing world for its own benefit, while smugly justifying itself by claiming to be bettering the lot of those colonial subjects. He concludes this aspect is absolutely undeniable, so he is no apologist for British imperialism, providing copious examples of the condescending and exploitive attitude Europeans have had towards India, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East as they expanded their economic and political spheres of influence through empire-building.
However, and this is the crux of the book, many of the ideas that took root in modern Western countries also deserve credit for fueling their rise in economic and political power, not to mention promotion of less oppressive political systems than in the pre-industrial world, and though Western nations were often happy to celebrate enlightened intellectual and cultural ideas in their own societies while withholding them from their vassal states, these innovations did in fact improve the lot of millions of people that would potentially have remained trapped in feudal and religiously oppressive regimes for many more centuries without that disruptive Western interference and domination.
Does that make Western Imperialism justified, if the end-outcomes were positive? That would be far too simplistic a conclusion, as there is plenty of morally-dubious claims at play, but Niall goes to great lengths to show how British rule in India, for example, led over time to rapid political and social and economic development there that would almost certainly not have happened under Mughal or native rule (though we'll never know of course, this being an intellectual exercise). But I really respect his unflinching examination of the casual arrogance and superiority of the British colonial regimes and civil workers, along with the well-meaning urge to bring the 'light of civilization' and Christian ethics to dark continents, as they might have seen themselves. We can certainly decry this cultural chauvinism in our modern, global, and diverse society, but there are undeniable economic and political benefits that were bestowed through example from the British rule of many of its colonies, self-serving and exploitive though it may have been....more
