Make it a Double: From Wretched to Wondrous: Tales of One Woman's Lifelong Discovery of Whisky

Shelley Sackier has taken her love of whisky, skills as a novelist, and her wonderful sense of humor and created a thoroughly entertaining memoir of her relationship with Scotland and its most famous drink. She’s never pedantic, though she has opinions, but she frames everything as part of her journey, her learning experience in this often arcane world, so her expertise feels earned and she comes across humble, even when she is skewering the deserving (which, sometimes, felt like she was calling me out personally.) She crams witticisms into every sentence, only stretching a few an extra syllable or two, but, hey, a long finish is sometimes desirable. I love the early works of P.J. O’Rourke and while this is not remotely political and certainly not about automobiles, though a Peugeot takes a few zingers, Sackier sounds a lot like him when describing places and people, and I love it. Whether she is swooning over a hairy-legged kilted Scotsman, lamenting Gaelic’s unfortunate overuse of letters, or rhapsodizing on the making of the elixir of life, she is consistently humorous, charming, and readable. Clanlands, by the lads from Outlander, is similar in tone, but they rely on their readers being predisposed to loving them. They are also “of the place” when it comes to Scotland. Sackier earns her likability and, in the first section, she tells of Scotland from an outsider’s perspective. And it works. She saves her smartest smartass comments for herself and her (future…) ex-husband. An excellent book for the whisky lover, whisky curious, and fans of Scotland and Virginia. Highly Recommended.

I’m not a whisky fan, so I found this book to be a happy surprise. My opinion: Jump into it for the memoir (the stories of a hands-on stint in a Scottish distillery: the upside-down rain, the peat-slicing, the nose-training, the realization that you don’t have to spend the rest of your life with the condescending guy back home) — keep reading for the uber-nerdy fun of knowing how this all works: the farming, the chemistry, those copper kettles, the mysterious and entertaining human nose. 
I may not be a whisky fan, but after turning the last page today, I’ve been thinking of getting myself a bottle of peaty Lagavulin — just to whip up a batch of killer butterscotch sauce, I swear.
 This is a great read, with more than a few laugh-out-loud moments.

This book not only helped me understand scotch in a whole new way, but was like going on a vacation. Great fun read!

As one might deduce from the title, I learned a lot about whisky while reading MAKE IT A DOUBLE, both from a tasting and nosing perspective but also about its history, traditions, and production. I have been lucky enough to visit Scotland once, but boy did this have me yearning to go back! Shelley's prose is witty and engaging, and what sets MAKE IT A DOUBLE apart from a more traditional "Whiskey 101" is that the spirit is viewed through the lens of her personal experience getting into the business and how her pursuit of what started as an unexpected interest turned into a passion that gave her confidence in all areas of her life. A must read and a great gift for anyone who enjoys travel, humorous memoirs, and of course, whisky (or wishes they did!)