The Philosophy of Whisky

From illicit distillation to worldwide export, whisky has a powerful and multi-faceted history. Writers including Robert Burns, James Joyce and Haruki Murakami have all mused on it, and there are strong opinions on every aspect, even down to how the word itself should be spelled.

A staple of the classic cocktail, whisky is at the heart of diverse cultures around the globe, both in the established whisky traditions of Scotland and Ireland and in newer practices, such as the first Swedish malt whisky dist