指南

曾經在知乎上有過類似的話題「單一麥芽威士忌有哪些推薦？」，從現在的角度看來推薦的內容弱爆了。因為大家都不是expert，更不是professional，這個緣由讓我萌發起去購買最專業的品酒指南。

其實那本書，買的很偶然。我只是在那一次的念想後，無聊之際，在http://Amazon.com以「single malt scotch」做為關鍵詞看看有啥好玩的玩意。於是Amazon就列出一堆有關scotch的購買指南。從書的封面，看不出所以然，之前買過台灣譯本《開始享受單一麥芽威士忌》，作者是日本的「田中四海」和「吉田恆道」，前者出過《用英文占卜你的運勢》後者是《Straight.》男性雜誌的編輯。說到底兩人都不專業，啃爹貨。

很有緣分的，我在Amazon點到了《Michael Jacksons Complete Guide To Single Malt Scotch》，這是該書的第五次再版（2004年），最新一版是第六版次（2010年）。但是老外寫書評那是一個相當認真嚴謹，粘帖如下：

(This is a review of the latest 6th Edition, published in 2010)

Michael Jackson died in 2007 and his book had not been updated since 2004. The malt whisky industry has changed greatly since then. The goal of these three editors was to update Michaels classic book while trying to do it as he would have himself.

The layout of the book is in alphabetical order by distillery. There is a short half-page introduction to each distillery, a sentence on the distillerys house style, followed by very short reviews and ratings of several whiskies from the distillery. Many reviews also include a picture of the bottle label. The beginning of the book starts with a general introduction to whisky, left mostly untouched from how Michael wrote it.

The editors say that their goal was to keep as many of Michaels original reviews as possible, while updating them with reviews of new whiskies and removing outdated whiskies. The introduction says that two-thirds of the reviews are new, but I also found many of Michaels iconic tasting notes still in the book. The authors have intentionally changed very little in The Macallan section due to Michaels special affection for The Macallan, although they have added reviews of the Fine Oak series.

When it came to reviewing the whiskies, the editors say that they tried to stay true to Michaels style. This means that the reviews are terse, ratings are rarely above 85, and also that the editors tried to put aside their own opinions of the whiskies and tried to rate them as Michael would have (based on their reading of his past reviews). They spent 18 months updating the book, each working on reviewing separate distilleries without consulting each other on the reviews.

Overall I am satisfied with this book, although I do not own the previous versions. Many recently released modern whiskies are reviewed now, while I was also able to find some reviews that I know to be Michaels originals.

The editors hope to continue to update this classic and release new editions, but there are legal issues surrounding Michael Jacksons estate; therefore, future editions of this book are still uncertain.

總得來說，第五版（2004年）是MJ指導書的絕版，至第六版（2010年）開始，這本指南或多或少加入新編輯的個人評價。已經不算100%原味的MJ指導聖經。不知道哪根筋接錯，我硬是買到了MJ指導聖經的初版（1994年），而且才花了10刀……加上運費總計20刀。書被發到澳洲旅遊了一圈飛到我手上。因為是初版，許多近幾年才推出的new scotch自然沒有收入其中，但是無所謂。

自MJ的指導聖經到手後，沖著Islay的泥煤和MJ評分85以上的索引，收酒變成了一種目標明確，預算可控，性價比特高，玩味十足的興趣愛好。

(唉，高中同學又來勾引我，The Glenlivet 25yo，含稅200鎊。它目前是北美銷量最大的蘇格蘭產scotch，評分85以上）

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