Steadman, Ralph
Still Life with Bottle

Ebury Press London, ISBN 0-09-178409-3, First Published 1994, 160 Pages, 28,5 x 22,5 cm, Hard Cover (also available as Paperback)

Asked to create a book on malt whisky and its way, Ralph Steadman embraced the subject with characteristic passion and zeal. What resulted from this initial foray was a fascination for an industry rich in folklore, steeped in mysterious tales as dark as peat, and, even more so, for the magical liquid that it produces. And so he embarked on the whisky trail. Traveling the length and breadth of Scotland and its islands, Ralph Steadman visited distilleries and explored the landscapes upon which their whisky depends. He talked to the characters behind them, and on the workers and distillers whose nose for the nuances of every inhalation brings them 'as close as a human being will ever get to emulating the homing instinct of salmon'. He looks at the art of blending and the craft of cooperage, at the skill required to choose just the right amount of peat to fire a kiln and at the cunning needed to smuggle an illicit dram in a pair of Wellington boots past a watchman. The truly great whiskies are here, but also the more unexpected finds which Steadman makes along the way. 

What really distinguishes this book, however, is its author's inimitable eye and unique approach to the subject. He also charts the wild days of smuggling and the indelible mark they left on the character of whisky distilling; he considers the element of alchemy involved when the dents in a pot still are so important that they are replicated in each new one that is made; and he explores the origins of distilling in an intriguing jaunt through prehistory. Informed and irreverent at the same time, Still Life with Bottle approaches its subject with the knowledge and passion of its creator for the magnificent human achievement that is malt whisky.