Thad Vogler

Thad Vogler is a Slow Food frat bro of San Francisco. This is a book about his exploits, with a fair bit of information about the some of the world’s major spirits, how they used to be made, how they’re dominantly made today, and how they could be made.

Some readers may find it difficult to get past Vogler’s crassness, and I won’t begrudge them such boundaries.

The title of the book is sourced from an Irish, and later Appalachian, folk song about distilling, sometimes called “Rare Old Mountain Dew.”

The book documents seven spirits from various regions of the world, as told through Vogler’s trips to these regions:
1. Calvados (France)
2. Cognac (France)
3. Armagnac (France)
4. Rum (Cuba)
5. Scotch (Scotland)
6. Mezcal (Mexico)
7. Bourbon (USA)

As you might expect, multinational cartels dominate these industries. Although we have these corporations to thank for the renown of these spirits, we also can place the blame on them for producing a product that is homogeneous and almost entirely divorced from place. Vogler’s expeditions, (and the products in his bars in San Francisco) offer a view of a different world, of those few artisans that have gone against the grain, making spirits that carry with them both their heritage in production, and let the tastes of their agricultural foundations come through.

Much of the processes in modern distilling—the addition of caramel coloring, the column still, commodity-grade feedstocks, chill-filtering—remove the eccentricities that remind us of the unique place from which a spirit arises. Luckily, similar to the trends seen in the craft brewing movement, we’re seeing a resurgence of distilleries willing to make something that not only distills the alcohol, but distills the essence of a place.

This book leaves much to be desired, but also gives a taste of another world.… (plus d'informations)

Received this book as a Goodreads giveaway and I'm so glad I did. This was an excellent read! I don't know very much about spirits and I learned so much about spirits and small distilleries from this book.
The only disappointing part of the book was the author's praise of the totalitarian system in Cuba. Then later in the chapter he talks about Cuba not having any independent rum producers and how they were not able to arrange any tours of the government run distilleries. Why does he think this is?
His politics aside this is still an excellent memoir.… (plus d'informations)