Magnifying glass, anyone?
Capn's Note: this post was originally the "Pre-Review". The actual review is next...
Just received my very first copy of Murray's bible, and I'm glad I did. It's a roughly 4" x 8", 383 page manual. If the print were in a typically sized paperback font, I'd bet this manual would run over 1000 pages, for over 4500 whiskys from all over the world.
When I first received the book, I adjourned with a dram of JW Red to my comfy couch, and my God! The print was so small I couldn't read it - an issue I've never had. So I got my trusty magnifying glass and tried again. Between trying to hold this stiff backed manual in one hand, the mag glass in the other - plus jockeying for the focal point, my impression...
This may be a great book, but literally too hard and too much trouble to read. The print ran too close to the stiff binder for my two-handed approach to work. I managed to read enough to conclude the format was a loser.
Back here to post this, a discovery...
As I fired up my laptop to compose this pre-review, I decided to check the Bible for the number of pages, etc. Now as it happens, like any good working desk I have nice desk lamp providing a nice bright and focused light. Thank the godz! To my great pleasure, reading under this lamp at my desk made all the difference.
Small, yes but now decently readable, and without a magnifier. Readability and books go together. Now I happen to like good margins to accomodate my notes, but this was minor tradeoff for the handy size and massive content of this manual...
Stay tuned for the full review, which I'll bump here when it's ready - but so far, so good. One teaser: I thought I was controversial...
Book Review: Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2014
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Capn Jimbo
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Book Review: Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2014
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:17 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Capn Jimbo
- Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
- Posts: 3550
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
- Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
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The Review...
Despite the small print, I really like this book. A spoiler alert - for better or worse - it's a must buy for anyone who enjoys whisky, or even for those buying a nice gift for me, I mean someone special. Let's start with the format...
This is small, extremely well constructed 4"x8" carry along kind of reference guide, that can accompany you to a tasting or spirits shop. If you'd have the joy of touring Scotland, this book - and Jackson's - will need room in your travel bag. The trade-off is a loss of droning review copy, and the need for the smallest possible but still readable font size. And the trade-off for that are reviews in Murray's now famous, let it all hang out capsule reviews.
The very best reviewers - think Pacult or Broom - don't hide behind blizzards of words; rather, they have a real talent for getting to the core. Murray does that. Still, a truly exceptional spirit may be described in detail. He's not afraid to call moose droppings exactly what they are.
Critics claim that he has some commercial ties, and speculate this affects his judgments, but I think not. No other reviewer has been so outspoken pro or con. When Murray is excited, he says so and vice versa. No fooling around. Critics also claim his scores push the bell toward the high end. I'm not ready to disagree with that, but as Davin de Kergommeaux noted, even if that fault exists, it's not by much. He notes - and I agree - that it's always good advice to compare your own favorites and scoring to get a comparative handle.
As per the reviews themselves, the need for brevity leads to the use of shorthand, eg "n(25)" indicates a score of 25 for the nose. Murray gives nose a possible 25 each for nose, taste and finish, and the remaining 25 addresses the unity of the spirit - overall balance and complexity. I am not alone in rejecting such dissection, on reflection the limited space available accounts for this. When you don't have the space to drag on about nose in great detail, the score is helpful, particularly when evaluating balance.
There's a TON of other valuable symbols and abbreviations that address coloring (which he despises) and chill-filtering. This is remarkable! Because this book is the sum total of his thousands of reviews, both old and new.
Although this can be confusing, Murray's abbreviations work to identify older reviews, retastings and the like. Although some are critical of his failure to completely achieve this, would you have him exclude reviews? Not me. With a project of this magnitude it will never be perfect, but in a project of this magnitude this is impossible. The trade-off is that if you buy the latest edition, you'll get the whole of his work.
Other neat stuff...
Like Pacult, Murray does the reader the great service of explaining his scoring, which is the usual 100 point scale, 75-79 being "average". There's a very useful table of contents with categories for Scottish malts, grains, Irish, American, Canadian, Japanese, and "World" whiskys. These too are subdivided, eg American into bourbon, Tennessee, corn, single malt, wheat, microdistilleries (including Balcones), Kentucky blends, from different mashes (bourbon, rye), and "other". Because the guide is mostly alphabetical it's easy to find your tipple.
There's lots of fun and educational reading from a detailed introduction, and a good how to best read and use the guide. For example he goes into great detail about what nose, taste, balance, et al is all about. Superb. He does not report price, as he considers it immaterial to quality. Great. Like Pacult he thoroughly discusses his method for tasting which does NOT include water, ever.
Of special note - in Murray's special fashion - are two fascinating pieces. "Renewing Vows" where he reaffirms his commitment to the general public, to honesty without compromise, and his independence from influence. No spoilers, but a moving read. This is followed by this infamous "Bible Thumping" section - thanks to the small print, this is a huge piece of an amazing soul baring rant about color, additives, denial in the industry, the state of whisky reviewing and on, and on. This long article alone is worth the price of the Guide.
In sum...
To say that Murray is controversial would be an understatement. I certainly can identify, as he has been the target of bon mots as well as tomatoes. When you take on the task of reporting the world of whisky there are so few that are up to the task and you know who they are. For better or worse - and mostly better - you simply have to own this book and sleep with it...
Despite the small print, I really like this book. A spoiler alert - for better or worse - it's a must buy for anyone who enjoys whisky, or even for those buying a nice gift for me, I mean someone special. Let's start with the format...
This is small, extremely well constructed 4"x8" carry along kind of reference guide, that can accompany you to a tasting or spirits shop. If you'd have the joy of touring Scotland, this book - and Jackson's - will need room in your travel bag. The trade-off is a loss of droning review copy, and the need for the smallest possible but still readable font size. And the trade-off for that are reviews in Murray's now famous, let it all hang out capsule reviews.
The very best reviewers - think Pacult or Broom - don't hide behind blizzards of words; rather, they have a real talent for getting to the core. Murray does that. Still, a truly exceptional spirit may be described in detail. He's not afraid to call moose droppings exactly what they are.
Critics claim that he has some commercial ties, and speculate this affects his judgments, but I think not. No other reviewer has been so outspoken pro or con. When Murray is excited, he says so and vice versa. No fooling around. Critics also claim his scores push the bell toward the high end. I'm not ready to disagree with that, but as Davin de Kergommeaux noted, even if that fault exists, it's not by much. He notes - and I agree - that it's always good advice to compare your own favorites and scoring to get a comparative handle.
As per the reviews themselves, the need for brevity leads to the use of shorthand, eg "n(25)" indicates a score of 25 for the nose. Murray gives nose a possible 25 each for nose, taste and finish, and the remaining 25 addresses the unity of the spirit - overall balance and complexity. I am not alone in rejecting such dissection, on reflection the limited space available accounts for this. When you don't have the space to drag on about nose in great detail, the score is helpful, particularly when evaluating balance.
There's a TON of other valuable symbols and abbreviations that address coloring (which he despises) and chill-filtering. This is remarkable! Because this book is the sum total of his thousands of reviews, both old and new.
Although this can be confusing, Murray's abbreviations work to identify older reviews, retastings and the like. Although some are critical of his failure to completely achieve this, would you have him exclude reviews? Not me. With a project of this magnitude it will never be perfect, but in a project of this magnitude this is impossible. The trade-off is that if you buy the latest edition, you'll get the whole of his work.
Other neat stuff...
Like Pacult, Murray does the reader the great service of explaining his scoring, which is the usual 100 point scale, 75-79 being "average". There's a very useful table of contents with categories for Scottish malts, grains, Irish, American, Canadian, Japanese, and "World" whiskys. These too are subdivided, eg American into bourbon, Tennessee, corn, single malt, wheat, microdistilleries (including Balcones), Kentucky blends, from different mashes (bourbon, rye), and "other". Because the guide is mostly alphabetical it's easy to find your tipple.
There's lots of fun and educational reading from a detailed introduction, and a good how to best read and use the guide. For example he goes into great detail about what nose, taste, balance, et al is all about. Superb. He does not report price, as he considers it immaterial to quality. Great. Like Pacult he thoroughly discusses his method for tasting which does NOT include water, ever.
Of special note - in Murray's special fashion - are two fascinating pieces. "Renewing Vows" where he reaffirms his commitment to the general public, to honesty without compromise, and his independence from influence. No spoilers, but a moving read. This is followed by this infamous "Bible Thumping" section - thanks to the small print, this is a huge piece of an amazing soul baring rant about color, additives, denial in the industry, the state of whisky reviewing and on, and on. This long article alone is worth the price of the Guide.
In sum...
To say that Murray is controversial would be an understatement. I certainly can identify, as he has been the target of bon mots as well as tomatoes. When you take on the task of reporting the world of whisky there are so few that are up to the task and you know who they are. For better or worse - and mostly better - you simply have to own this book and sleep with it...
-
Capn Jimbo
- Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
- Posts: 3550
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
- Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
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Review: Part Two...
Oops! And all was going so well until I did a preliminary analysis of the scores.
Murray made this easy as he lists all of his scores of 94.5 or better. Still a must buy book, but now in spite of his scores. Murray is dramatic, fun, interesting and outspoken. His enthusiasm is infectious. He really loves whisky, but more than a little too much, as is reflected in ratings that just like the Whiskey Advocate, are heavily skewed.
A rough take
With over 4500 reviewed whiskys, a complete analysis will take some time. No doubt I'll pick a section at a time, and see what the trends are. However, I already know the results will be heavily skewed. Here's why.
So what does this mean?
This wonderful Bible remains a must buy despite the scores, which should be taken with a handful of salt, a bag of lemons and a fifth of Tequila, lol. Just a guess, but you could probably deduct a good 7 points - or more - from Murray's hyperbolic scores And I'm not alone in this: Davin de Kergommeaux was bothered by the fact that his own ratings were consistently around 5 to 7 points lower than Murray's. Davin states that knowing that made Murray's excitable ratings more usable.
I believe Murray is well aware of his own bias - the godz know he should be - and offers the weak defense that whiskys are just "getting better". That of course is nonsensical as has been repeatedly made clear here. It's just like darts. Move the target higher, lower, right or left, and the darts will still exhibit a normal distribution around the bulls eye aiming point. Based on his assertion, if we compared today's whiskies to the swill of Prohibition times, they'd all get 5 stars.
Frankly you sure don't need me to know this, as a quick scan of your favorite whiskies should easily confirm this, as it did for me. A shame really as it then forces us to translate his reviews and scores into a form useful back here on Earth. Still - at a measly $14.95 - it remains a must buy. Love Murray, love the book, just dial him down for the way, way top heavy scores.
Score (ten is best): 9 for attitude/entertainment, 8 for reviews, 5 for scoring. A master class.
*******
Want to read what Broom, de Kergommeaux, Serge and others think about Murray and reviewing? Click below, it's fascinating...
http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2008/1 ... sky-bible/
Oops! And all was going so well until I did a preliminary analysis of the scores.
Murray made this easy as he lists all of his scores of 94.5 or better. Still a must buy book, but now in spite of his scores. Murray is dramatic, fun, interesting and outspoken. His enthusiasm is infectious. He really loves whisky, but more than a little too much, as is reflected in ratings that just like the Whiskey Advocate, are heavily skewed.
A rough take
With over 4500 reviewed whiskys, a complete analysis will take some time. No doubt I'll pick a section at a time, and see what the trends are. However, I already know the results will be heavily skewed. Here's why.
- 1. Murray has claimed to have reviewed about 12,000 whiskys, with about 4500 appearing in his book (no doubt the better ones).
2. Based on 12,000 tasted, it is a given that with that many trials, his distribution - if normal - should be very close to a nice smooth bell curve.
3. This implies roughly 1.6% would receive scores of 95 or higher, or about 192 whiskys. So how many of these extremely high, 95-100 scoring whiskies made the Bible? Oops - 511 or a few more! That more than two, almost three times the number expected.
4. Put another way, if his distribution were anywhere near balanced, his 511 tip-top whiskys would indicated a total sample of about 32,000 whiskys tasted, about 20,000 more than he boasts of tasting.
So what does this mean?
This wonderful Bible remains a must buy despite the scores, which should be taken with a handful of salt, a bag of lemons and a fifth of Tequila, lol. Just a guess, but you could probably deduct a good 7 points - or more - from Murray's hyperbolic scores And I'm not alone in this: Davin de Kergommeaux was bothered by the fact that his own ratings were consistently around 5 to 7 points lower than Murray's. Davin states that knowing that made Murray's excitable ratings more usable.
I believe Murray is well aware of his own bias - the godz know he should be - and offers the weak defense that whiskys are just "getting better". That of course is nonsensical as has been repeatedly made clear here. It's just like darts. Move the target higher, lower, right or left, and the darts will still exhibit a normal distribution around the bulls eye aiming point. Based on his assertion, if we compared today's whiskies to the swill of Prohibition times, they'd all get 5 stars.
Frankly you sure don't need me to know this, as a quick scan of your favorite whiskies should easily confirm this, as it did for me. A shame really as it then forces us to translate his reviews and scores into a form useful back here on Earth. Still - at a measly $14.95 - it remains a must buy. Love Murray, love the book, just dial him down for the way, way top heavy scores.
Score (ten is best): 9 for attitude/entertainment, 8 for reviews, 5 for scoring. A master class.
*******
Want to read what Broom, de Kergommeaux, Serge and others think about Murray and reviewing? Click below, it's fascinating...
http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2008/1 ... sky-bible/
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:33 am, edited 2 times in total.
-
Capn Jimbo
- Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
- Posts: 3550
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
- Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
- Contact:
More impressions...
After having spent a few weeks with this tome I'd like to add the following...
1. Despite the fact that the print is small enough to require a good presecription and a better light, I like the size and sturdy construction of it. It begs to be carried about, whether to the coffee shop or the liquor store.
2. His introductions to the categories and observations of trends are invaluable and worthwhile. His rants on sulfured ex-sherry barrels and on the degradation of the bourbon category are spot on. It's clear now that bourbon is the next ruined rum.
3. I'd first thought a lot of the reviews were short and rather too encapsulated, but often are simply earlier or later reviews of different releases. Many reviews are amazingly long. It's clear that when there's something worth saying, he'll say it and vice versa.
4. The much respected Buffalo Trace is covered in immense detail with perhaps a hundred of all their releases and experimentals reviewed. Murray even includes codes for:
1. Mash type (rye or wheat forward)
2. Tree grain (coarse, average or tight
3. Tree cut (top or bottom)
4. Warehouse (rick or concrete)
5. Entry strength (125 or 105)
6. Seasoning (6 or 12 months)
7. Char ( 4 or 3 minutes)
All of these of course are represented by letters, numbers or symbols, eg "r2xKA1*" which means rye, average grain, top cut, rick, 125, 6 mos., 3 char. Amazing!
Flat Ass Bottom Line
Although you will quickly deduce that Murray's ratings are hyperbolic, and considerably too high, these are easily ignored or mentally translated. The real value are his writings, rants and descriptions. Jim Murray is no idiot. He like Pacult seems to be one of those with a huge, huge body of experience, and like Sue Sea with a near photographic memory of everything he's tasted.
What I find particularly interesting are his asides in the reviews which allude to the distilling, aging or other factors that attributes for the end result. His reviews also give a luscious sense of that releases' history and development, whether positive or negative and why.
In reading these you begin to get a sense of what reviewing is all about. At $14.95 its cheap thrills. Buy it!
After having spent a few weeks with this tome I'd like to add the following...
1. Despite the fact that the print is small enough to require a good presecription and a better light, I like the size and sturdy construction of it. It begs to be carried about, whether to the coffee shop or the liquor store.
2. His introductions to the categories and observations of trends are invaluable and worthwhile. His rants on sulfured ex-sherry barrels and on the degradation of the bourbon category are spot on. It's clear now that bourbon is the next ruined rum.
3. I'd first thought a lot of the reviews were short and rather too encapsulated, but often are simply earlier or later reviews of different releases. Many reviews are amazingly long. It's clear that when there's something worth saying, he'll say it and vice versa.
4. The much respected Buffalo Trace is covered in immense detail with perhaps a hundred of all their releases and experimentals reviewed. Murray even includes codes for:
1. Mash type (rye or wheat forward)
2. Tree grain (coarse, average or tight
3. Tree cut (top or bottom)
4. Warehouse (rick or concrete)
5. Entry strength (125 or 105)
6. Seasoning (6 or 12 months)
7. Char ( 4 or 3 minutes)
All of these of course are represented by letters, numbers or symbols, eg "r2xKA1*" which means rye, average grain, top cut, rick, 125, 6 mos., 3 char. Amazing!
Flat Ass Bottom Line
Although you will quickly deduce that Murray's ratings are hyperbolic, and considerably too high, these are easily ignored or mentally translated. The real value are his writings, rants and descriptions. Jim Murray is no idiot. He like Pacult seems to be one of those with a huge, huge body of experience, and like Sue Sea with a near photographic memory of everything he's tasted.
What I find particularly interesting are his asides in the reviews which allude to the distilling, aging or other factors that attributes for the end result. His reviews also give a luscious sense of that releases' history and development, whether positive or negative and why.
In reading these you begin to get a sense of what reviewing is all about. At $14.95 its cheap thrills. Buy it!