The Complete Whiskey Course...goes live!

Today's the birthday of The Complete Whiskey Course, the day the book goes live and is dropped nationwide as well as Canada, Europe and Australia. Barnes and Noble already picked up a few thousand for distribution and its alive on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.org. It will be generally available at a bookstore near you. Thank you to everyone who pre-purchased and if I can make one more ask, please leave a review at one of those sites you purchased from. The publishers like that and so do other consmers.

I copied this passage from the Acknowledgements on Pg 286 and it pretty much sums up the process I went through:

"The intimidating task of writing a book on whiskey comes from the over forty books I have on the subject from whiskey writers I admire. Many of them are mentioned in these pages and are, for the most part, my peers. Along with the historic Alfred Barnard (whom everyone owes a debt to) and the late Michael Jackson, I slavishly followed their books, articles, blogs, and musings, seeking out more information, data and stories on the spirit that I love so well. To all of them, I owe an enormous debt of knowledge and wisdom and hope that I’ve kept their integrity.

With all this talent and wondering what I had to offer on the subject, it was Dave Broom who unwittingly helped me focus. Encountering him soon after I started the project, I whispered sheepishly that I was writing a book on whiskey. Dave was excited and full of congratulations but his was the widest book in the library, and I admitted that I was indeed intimidated by his breadth and scope on the subject. “But Robin,” he said “out of all of us, you may be the only one who’s actually sold whiskey.” That rang like a ship’s bell in my head.

I’ve been in the field, working with distributors, retailers, bartenders, and consumers. I pulled a roller bag down the streets of every city in the U.S. filled with sample bottles; loaded up my car and set up countless tables, stands, and kiosks in stores, bars, and event halls all over the country.

I’ve poured thousands of samples and flown tens of thousands of miles. I’ve cajoled consumers, trained bartenders, motivated salespeople, and negotiated for an empty shelf slot with busy retailers. I’ve delivered cases and moved numbers. I was at Ground Zero of the whiskey explosion—and that is the story I can tell."

Thank you all for your continued support to make The Complete Whiskey Course a standard reference for the category. I'm looking forward to seeing you all out on the road as I do my part to sell the hell out of this book. I'm very proud of it. I've got lots of events planned, first one in NYC at American Whiskey on Oct. 14. Slainte!