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guide to becoming a

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] know your booze before you choose. ]

Richard Betts wants to

help the average Joe... NPR

so whats the big idea?

The idea is this: Were all on this planet for a short time, and while were here,

we absolutely positively must have a good time. Its my job to see to it that this happens, and one of the ways I do so is to make libations easy, accessible, and fun. As
Mark Twain famously said, Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey
is barely enough.
Nonetheless, these days, when we can saddle up to the bar or cruise into most stores
and find great whiskey from everywhere, the choices are overwhelming. Scotland,
Ireland, America, Canada, and Japan are all making excellent whiskey.
Adding to the confusion, tradition dictates that whiskey is spelled whisky in certain
places (note that sneaky e!). A great way to remember whats what is that if theres
an e in the name of the country, like America, its whiskey. No e, and its whisky,
such as in Scotland.
Where its from, how to spell it, how much it costs, how old and rare it is it turns
out theres a ton of info out there, no shortage of opinions, and a zillion choices of
what to drink. Its enough to make your head spin. Fear not, Im here to help:

] know your booze before you choose. ]

Instead of a long history about how whiskey is made (there are lots of those anyway), this is a book about how it all tastes (and smells), so you can figure out exactly what is going to tug at the strings of your heart and make you smile.
Essentially, this becomes a book about you. High Five!

taste 101.
Even though we drink the stuff, its
actually our nose we need to employ to
begin to get a handle on our own preferences. Its right there on the front of
our faces, and its incredibly powerful.
In fact, most everything that we perceive as taste, we actually just smell
and we only really taste sweet,
sour, salt, bitter, and umami (that
Japanese idea of savory). So, when
we think we taste vanilla, we arent
so much tasting it in our mouths as
we are picking up the sensations with
our olfactory sense and smelling it.

To make it easy, were going to narrow down all of the

potential smells (they say there are literally a trillion)
to a few categories that allow us to make sense of it all.
They are: Grain, Wood, and Place.

With this understanding, we can use

this scratch and sniff book to decipher
all of the smells and tastes in whiskey.

Together, these three are responsible for making whiskey taste

the way it does. Understanding which ones you like and which
you dont will allow you to decide what is exactly right for you.
Sounds good, right? Right.

but first, lets get some basics out of the way...

essentially, whiskey is
just distilled beer.
It really is that easy, and Making whiskey is
only a three-step process:

vs.

1) First, you make the beer. All you need is grain,

water, and a little yeast to ferment it all. Barley (mostly malted), corn, wheat, and rye are the predominant
grains used, and they each assert a unique influence on
the final product. Together in the brew theyre referred
to as the mash.
2) Then, the beer goes into the stillx for distillation.
This is where the beer is heated until the alcohol,
which boils at a lower temperature than water, and
some flavor evaporate, leaving the water behind. The
evaporated alcohol and flavor are then captured and
condensed to become liquid again in a more potent
form. This spirit is commonly referred to as new
make, white dog, or moonshine.
3) Finally, you age the concentrated alcohol in wood
barrels (aka casks) for a period of time. The longer you
age it, the more it changes.

pot still = more character

continuous still = more uniform

The type of still and number of distillations make a big difference in flavor too. One of the main
types, pot stills, are a little more hands-on, since at least two runs (boilings) are needed to achieve
the right amount of alcohol, but they also produce more character. The other main type is a
continuous still, which is automated and distills the liquid through successive evaporations in the
column, making a purer, more uniform spirit. Once the beer has gone through the distillation
process and weve captured the higher alcohol spirit, it is ready for aging.

do you like your whiskey sweet, mild, spicy, or smoky?

!

malt

corn

apple

Corn, for example, is

a sweeter grain and will
make a sweeter-tasting,
rounder style of whiskey.

Wheat is less sweet

than corn. Its mild and
aromatic and serves to
soften up the spirit.

!
!

rye

Rye, however, is a
spicier grain that can
add a pungent aroma
and kick to the booze.

Oftentimes barley is malted, which makes it smell like

cookies or malt in a milkshake (this is especially common in Scotch production). Malting involves sprouting barley and then heating it, occasionally over a peat
fire. Peat is compressed grass and plant matter cut
from the ground. When it burns, it makes a smoky fire
that flavors the malt. If you love the smoky thing, you
might just turn out to be a single malt Scotch fan.

cinnamon

People are playing with all kinds of

cereal grains these days, such as rice,
millet, quinoa you name it. Anyhow,
all of these grains make up the majority of what goes into the mash and is
the first step in determining the flavor
of the whiskey.

corn Whiskey. At least

80% corn, aged in either
used or uncharred new
oak barrels (hence the
clear spirit!)

sour mash. Refers

to the start of the
beer part of the production with a little bit
of the previous batch.
Kinda like sourdough
bread starter.

Bottled in Bond.
Aged in a bonded
warehouse, must be
a straight whiskey at
least 4 years old,
a single mash type,
single distillery, a
single vintage, and at
least 100 proof.

Straight Whiskey. At
least 2 years in charred,
new oak, with a minimum
51% of the named grain
(i.e. Straight Rye, Straight
Bourbon), carrying an
age statement if less
than 4 years old.

Lincoln County Process.

Required for Tennessee
whiskey production
in which the raw spirit is
filtered through 10 feet
of charcoal, thereby
making it smoother.

Tennessee Whiskey vs. Bourbon.

Both must be made from at least 51%
corn and aged in charred new oak
(usually 3 years or so). Bourbon can
be made anywhere in the U.S., but
Tennessee Whiskey must come from,
well, Tennessee and undergo the Lincoln County Process.

in the united states,

Proof. A fancy
term used to describe how strong
the whiskey is. Its
actually equal to 2x
the alcohol by volume (ABV).

non-chilled filtered.
Youll see this more and
more on bottles these
days. Essentially, it means
they didnt ultra-chill
the whiskey and force it
through a filter for the
sake of clarity. Its possible
that chill-filtering also
takes away flavor.
You decide.

Sherry & Madiera &

Port & Sauternes Finish.
These are all finishes that
describe the last type of
oak that the spirit was aged
in. They will impart their
own flavor based upon the
wine type.

Age Statement. You

might see 12 year or
some such on a bottle
which indicates that
it has been aged for at
least this long.

cask strength. Refers

to whiskey that has not
been rectified (i.e., water added to bring it to,
often, 80 proof) and is
left at the higher proof
at which it came out of
the cask.

Single Malt Scotch vs. Blended Scotch

Whiskey. Single malt means the Scotch is
made entirely from malted barley. Blended
Scotch can be a blend of malted barley spirit
and un-malted grain spirits. Both must be
aged at least 3 years.

and everywhere else.

Language of the Label

your nose knows!

Richard Betts, one of the worlds leading authorities on spirits, helps

you get smart by introducing you to whiskeys basic components
the grain, the wood, the placeso you can scratch and sniff your

Daniel Hirsch

way to learning exactly what you love and why.

One of thirteen people in the world to pass the Master Sommelier exam on
the first attempt, Richard Betts is a New York Times best-selling author of
The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert. He has
been featured in the New York Times, Wine Spectator, Food & Wine, Outside,
GQ, Details, and on national television, and speaks frequently on wine and
spirits throughout the world. He is the co-founder of Betts & Scholl Wines,
Sombra Mezcal, and My Essential Wines.

Crystal English Sacca is an advertising art director whose campaigns for Audi, Intel, and HBO have
won her an attic full of awards. When not designing best-selling scratch & sniff books, she is the
creative director at Lowercase Capital where she invests in, and advises, tech start-ups.
Wendy MacNaughton is the best-selling illustrator of Meanwhile in San Francisco, Pen & Ink, and Lost
Cat. Her work can been found in publications like the New York Times, Bon Appetit, and Lucky Peach.

big praise for the wine book

Those who are VERY VERY serious about wine may be insulted by the simple fun of
this book, and they should probably avoid it, just as they probably avoid stand-up comedy
and sex on weeknights too. Mario Batali, chef, author, media mogul
This book boils a lifetime of study down to 22 pages ... then makes them smell good. Genius!
Tim Ferriss, author, The 4-Hour Workweek
Fiendishly clever. Food & Wine
Smart, fun, enlightening, and refreshingly free of snobbery. Real Simple
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
A Rux Martin Book
Follow @HMHCooks
10"x8" 1 20-page board book 1 Full-color throughout 1 $22.00 1 ISBN 9780544520608
Publicity contact: Rebecca Liss 1 rebecca.liss@hmhco.com 1 (212) 598-5729
Art direction & design Crystal English Sacca 1 Illustrations Wendy MacNaughton

National Media 1 Author Appearances 1

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