Explore the people, discoveries, and innovations that created the "water of life" in this compelling narrative. In this beautiful volume, renowned whiskey educator Robin Robinson skillfully chronicles the dynamic evolution of whiskey. In the Middle Ages, monasteries distilled spirits initially to make medicine. After King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, production shifted from clergy to farmers, and the route to whiskey began. Over the centuries, taxes and prohibitions took their toll. In the 1700s and 1800s, as the British Empire colonized the globe, waves of European emigrants brought the beverage to Australia, Canada, India, Japan, and elsewhere. Surveying the evolution of Scotch, the birth of bourbon and rye, and the importance of family ties, quality control, corporatization, and marketing, this comprehensive compendium details the global impact of the beverage conglomerates, the world's most expensive Scotch, the 2011 curveball of aging bourbon in ex-port barrels, and more. This is an inviting tribute to your favorite dram.