Reviews for 99 Drams of Whiskey: The Accidental Hedonist's Quest for the Perfect Shot and the History of the Drink

The average rating for 99 Drams of Whiskey: The Accidental Hedonist's Quest for the Perfect Shot and the History of the Drink based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-02-09 00:00:00 Ralph Francis In reality, I give this book 2.5 stars, but because my wife recommended it to me, I rounded up. I love whiskey and I jumped at the chance to read more about it in the hope of learning more. And I did learn more, it just wasn't as much as I had hoped to in 270 pages. Hopkins does one thing really well throughout this book: she's a natural storyteller. While she tries too hard to be funny at times, the genuineness in her stories tend to balance that out. What she does not do well is cover history. The historical aspects of this book felt rushed and not researched deeply enough. It's clear that the focus of this book is her trips to Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the U.S. to learn about whiskey, but the other half of the book is supposed to be about the history of the drink. This made for a disjointed read, as half of the book flowed well (the stories) and the other half felt forced and not very enjoyable (the research). If you want to read one person's trip through whiskeys on both sides of the Atlantic, then pick up this book and ignore the historical portions; you'll be doing yourself a favor.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-06-08 00:00:00 Duncan Peters I found this to be a complete delight. There are some reviews that really put this down, I have a feeling they might be a whiskey snob. I actually am not a fan of whiskey, yet after reading this book I might have to try it again. The descriptions of the whiskeys were playful and actually was giving me a memory that I could identify. Very delightful read that hinted a bit about history & culture but mainly a trip full of delightful memories as well as some self-discovery. A really fun read.