Make it a Double
From Wretched to Wondrous: Tales of One Woman's Lifelong Discovery of Whisky
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
A witty and immersive look at the history, mythology, science, and magical touch that makes whisky taste like a drop of gold.
Braving the “all boys” clubhouse of the world of whisky has not been easy, but Shelley Sackier has managed to do just that out of her love for the drink. By turns funny and poignant and filled with vivid insight into this ancient craft, Make it a Double will persuade even a teetotaler to want a wee dram.
As a woman whose first sip of whisky created the female doppelganger of a Mr. Yuk sticker, that experience produced a sharp realization that the liquid was foul, poisonous, and needlessly dirtied a previously clean glass. And then she met Scotland. Her curiosity and growing passion lit a fire—igniting a desire to learn more about this craft’s rich and vivid history and the need to break out of an old life and to become the mother, partner, and woman she has always sought to be. After completing a course in Scotland’s famed Bruichladdich Distillery, Shelley begins her path of writing about—and working within—the world of whisky.
There has never been a better time for Shelley's inimitable voice to shed light on this intoxicating realm. Women are not only impressively contributing to the burgeoning sales of the spirit—making up nearly 40% of the whiskey-drinking population in the United States—but they are also growing in number as they enter in to, train within, and lead the industry with their determined creativity and innovation. In the tradition of Blood, Bones, and Butter, Make it a Double establishes Shelley Sackier as a fresh new voice in the lush world of culinary narrative.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sackier (The Antidote), director of distillery education at Virginia's Reservoir Distillery, details her "unquenchable thirst" for all things whisky in this spirited and witty blend of memoir and booze history. After "develop a mad crush for whisky" upon a visit to Scotland in her 20s, Sackier found herself "pulled into... a history enrobed in devotion, pain, and deep desire." She dives headlong into a personal and cultural look at whisky, from her first whiffs of burning peat to learning of a new vanguard of women whisky makers and drinkers staking their claim to the pleasures of a spirit long marketed to men—including "boozy broads" Lady Gaga and Mackmyra Svensk Whisky's Angela D'Orazio, "who probably has the coolest job title of master blender and chief nose officer." Along the way, she provides the basics of whisky tasting and "nosing;" elucidates why "it's whisky with a Y not an E" (as opposed to its corn-based counterparts in America and Ireland, the "whisky" she refers to comprises only water, malted barley, and yeast, and is made in Scotland); and stirs in a moving narrative of her own whisky-fueled adventures, including an edifying internship at Bruichladdich Distillery in Scotland. The result yields an exhilarating taste of the world of whisky.
