Richard Betts was a few drinks in during a ski weekend with friends seven years ago, when a buddy told him, You should write a book about wine. It wasn't the first time Betts had heard that鈥攈e's a master sommelier and winemaker.聽But it鈥檚 a crowded canon with umpteen experts waxing philosophical on tannins and finishes. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 feel like I had anything to add,鈥 says Betts. A few drinks later, he came around to the idea of a scratch-and鈥搒niff format:聽罢丑别谤别'蝉听a way to learn about wine.聽Years later, in 2013, he published a hit聽鈥攊t鈥檚 sold a quarter million copies. Now, he鈥檚 back with . The book hit聽shelves in October.
Whiskey was an obvious sequel choice for Betts. 鈥淟ike wine, whiskey is well loved but not necessarily well understood,鈥 he says. The average drinker doesn鈥檛 have strong feelings on whiskey preference, let alone an idea of what flavors to look for. Betts wrote this guide because he thinks people should know those things鈥攁nd that they want to. 鈥淚 think this is the time of the anti-critic,鈥 he says. 鈥淧eople are more interested in drinking what they like than drinking what someone tells them to.鈥 Like most writers, Betts says he sampled hundreds of bottles during the penning of the book; in fact, he claims his entire advance was spent buying booze for 鈥渞esearch.鈥 But the investment paid off. The book is the best-smelling volume you鈥檒l read all year, and perhaps the most useful too.
鈥淚 think this is the time of the anti-critic,鈥 Richard Betts says. 鈥淧eople are more interested in drinking what they like than drinking what someone tells them to.鈥
It turns out that the secret to becoming a whiskey expert has been right in front of your face this whole time. Betts says that most of us have a terrific sense of smell鈥攊f we learn how to use it. 鈥淲hen we were hunter-gatherers we relied on our noses to make sure we didn鈥檛 eat spoiled meat or something awful. But it鈥檚 one of the first that we forget how to use in a powerful way.鈥 The book doesn鈥檛 actually smell like whiskey (sorry). Instead, it smells like the different scents that make a whiskey unique. You鈥檒l take in the aroma of smoke or vanilla as you learn about how these flavors are imparted. It鈥檚 like training your nose for what to pick up on the next time you鈥檙e poured a glass.
Tucked into the back of the book is a choose-your-own adventure map to guide novice drinkers towards specific bottles they might like. Pick the scents you liked in the book, and you鈥檒l work your way to the perfect bottle. Here, too, Betts was careful to focus on the drinker over conventional wisdom. 鈥淧eople always think older is better and that鈥檚 definitely not true; it can get to a place where it鈥檚 too old鈥攓uite tannic and physically hard to drink. People think more expensive is always better too, but that鈥檚 more about supply and demand and hype,鈥 he says.聽
Cardboard pages and bright illustrations make The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide To Becoming A Whiskey Know-It-All a fun and easy read. Whiskey crafting techniques and their effect on a spirit鈥檚 scent are explained simply and in a large, readable font. It鈥檚 the kind of content that you could digest even after a few glasses, if, say, you were drinking along with the book鈥攆or learning鈥檚 sake, of course.聽