Around the year 1885, Alfred Barnard was secretary of Harper''s Weekly Gazette, a journal which featured facets of the wine and spirit trade. In order to provide his readers with the history and detailed descriptions of the whisky-making process, Barnard was determined to visit all the distilleries in Scotland, England and Ireland. The results of his tour were written up in Harper''s Weekly Gazette, and then published in this book, which includes entries on names which still inspire the whisky connoisseur to this day - Bowmore, Glenlivet, Highland Park, Macallan and Talisker - as well as others which, though popular at the end of the nineteenth century, have not stood the test of time. The appeal of Barnard''s book lies not only in his descriptions of the technical properties of each distillery, comparing equipment and differences in the distillation procedure, but also in the colourful descriptions of his journeys. Filled with historical references and anecdotes as well as details of
