The Essential Spirits Guide
When I was a boy, one of my favorite times during the year was when the new baseball card price guide came out. Every year I would beg my parents to buy the new book and then spend hours sorting, looking up, logging on a pads of paper, then adding with a calculator (long before the days of Excel) the “value” of my card 
collection. (Got it, Got it, Got it, Need it, Got It, Need It, Need It…if you collected cards as a kid you should be very familiar with this method of reviewing a page of cards). At the end of this multiple week process…I WAS RICH! (at least in the eyes of 5th grader). What a sad day it was when I realized for your cards to have this “value” someone would need to be willing to pay you that price for them. I was smacked in the head at age 11 by the economic principle of Supply and Demand.
Dave recently let me borrow his copy of F. Paul Pacult’s Kindred Spirits 2. For those of you who don’t know Paul’s work, he is the author of the Spirit Journal, a quarterly newsletter of articles and reviews of a variety of spirits. The newsletter is a bit pricey but, what a great publication. Kindred Spirits 2 is aggregation of 2400 reviews of Whiskey, Brandy, Vodka, Tequila, Rum, Gin and Liqueurs from the Spirit Journal from 2000 – 2007.
As I started reading through the book I couldn’t help flash back to my childhood chant of Got it, Got it, Got it, Need it, Got It, Need It, Need It…
I highly recommend this book as the starting point for anyone who enjoys trying new spirits, before you head to your favorite liquor store. I don’t know about you, but I am always hesitant about the reviews posted in the store. Kindred Spirits provides a expert unbiased opinion to help in your decision making.
–Tom
TAGS [ KINDRED SPIRITS | KINDRED SPIRITS 2 | LIQUOR BOOKS | ALCOHOL BOOKS | SPIRIT JOURNAL ]
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July 21st, 2008 at 8:52 am
I was leafing through this book at a friend’s house around Memorial Day. I’ve never laughed so hard as I did reading reviews in this book. Pacult holds no bars when reviewing spirits - especially his negative reviews. Great book!
July 24th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I also had the chance to flip through this book and some of the reviews had me in hysterics. Not only is it entertaining, it is honest and to the point. As someone who knows their liquors, I am thrilled to have finally found an unbiased assessment for every spirit you could think of.