The Whiskey Bible: A Complete Guide to the World's Greatest Spirit (the History, Secrets, and Lore Behind the Best Scotch, Bourbon, Irish, Rye, Canadi

A staggeringly comprehensive, entertaining, and approachable deep dive into the world of whiskey from an aficionado.

The Whiskey Bible is a user's guide to all things whiskey (including, Scotch, Bourbon, Rye, single malts, and blends). Author Noah Rothbaum has spent 25 years researching, reporting on, and and of course, tasting whiskeys from around the world. He brings an obsessive's passion to the topic, offering up a country-by-country examination of the prominent distillers and whiskey culture, and tasting notes from hundreds of whiskeys, from the well-known labels to the small batch craft up-and-comers. The book includes engaging histories and a look at the nuances between distilling practices and whiskey making styles that span the globe. It also includes a rich appendix of whiskey cocktail recipes from the classic (Old-Fashioned) to the modern (The Irish Flip).

The book contains full color photography and illustrations throughout. "Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough." --Mark Twain


Author: Noah Rothbaum
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Published: 09/09/2025
Pages: 640
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.82lbs
Size: 9.13h x 6.06w x 1.81d
ISBN: 9781523512706


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 07/01/2025 pg. 71

About the Author

From the Arctic Circle to the agave fields of Mexico to Scotland's whisky distilleries, Noah Rothbaum has traveled the globe in search of a good drink. He's one of the world's leading authorities on cocktails and spirits as well as a Kentucky Colonel, a James Beard Award winner and the author of the acclaimed drinks books, The Art of American Whiskey: A Visual History of the Nation's Most Storied Spirit, through 100 Iconic Labels and The Business of Spirits: How Savvy Marketers, Innovative Distillers, and Entrepreneurs Changed How We Drink.

Noah is also the associate editor of the Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, which won the American Library Association's prestigious Dartmouth Medal for the best reference book of 2021 and the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Book on Drinks Culture, History, or Spirits. The Washington Post called it "the drinking buddy you've been waiting for."

Previously, he was the editor of the Daily Beast's Half Full section. Under his leadership, the site won the 2018 and the 2020 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication. He also co-hosted the podcast Life Behind Bars, which the New York Times called "a perfect comfort listen for the curious drinker." The show won the 2018 and the 2021 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Podcast Series. In 2022, he became a Fellow of the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits at the University of Kentucky.

According to Chicago magazine's former chief dining critic, Jeff Ruby, "Rothbaum knows drinking like Newton knew gravity, but he's not all high and mighty about it, creating laws and whatnot."