Maturation of Distilled Spirits: Vision and Patience Paperback – April 7, 2021

What is most prominent about this document is the realisation that craft distilling is a combination of art, experience and science. Best book on the topic in Amazon. Athors I salute you! From a seasoned craft distiller in South Africa.

This book covers so many topics not discussed in intricate detail for cellar master management techniques.

I had high hopes for this book because as it is a subject critically important to craft distillers.At $35.00 a copy you’d expect some new insights. There are 129 pages to this book. Of those 129 pages approximately 35 are blank or have no text. Of the remaining 94 written pages about 15 of those pages are mostly blank. So this is in fact a small sized book (~9 inches by 6) with about 85 written pages.At this point you may be thinking – OK maybe it’s quality over quantity. Unfortunately the actual content is weak at best. Let’s start with the Forward; which misapplies the French word élevage so as to compare carrying offspring in the womb to using an alembic pot still – that’s a stretch.Chapter 1 (about 4 pages) discusses the entire world’s oak species. In that brief discussion the author's able to contradict information written by experts and professionals on the various types of oak found in North America. He does all of this without even mentioning that his four pages contradict existing expertise.Chapter 2 is one written page and not worth reviewing.Chapter 3 covers oak barrels. The data contained in this chapter is covered in more detail in magazine articles and Internet content. There is nothing insightful in this chapter. In fact what surprises me is what the author has left out in this important subject.Chapter 4 is only one written page and not worth reviewing.Chapter 5 covers maturation. Here again there is nothing new and much left out. For example the author briefly presents the aromas and where they’re sourced. In being so brief, he leaves out important factors and sources that affect aromas in distilled spirits.Now at this point I could go on but then this review would be longer than the book.To sum it up don’t waste $35 and the 15 minutes it will take you to read this book. If you read the reviews of the author's other book you'll begin to see a pattern. The author seems to prefer form over substance.If you want quality information on maturation, the International Barrel Symposium offers much better research. The Independent Stave Company has printed versions of these important symposiums and they’re worth every penny.

Good for a coffee table or people that are really new. He mostly talks about how important it is to distill products exclusively like he does because he is the matter of all things. No disrespect to the author, he is good but it comes off as a "the only right way is the old way" while shunning anything that challenges the status quo as fraudulent.

This was an interesting read with an understanding of the chemistry, but not very specific on advising how tonnage your spirits - probably because aging and taste are a personal preference.

met expectations

Good

Very little info. Many chapters are only one or two paragraphs long. I would NOT recommend this book to others.I was expecting alot more. Very Disappointed.

Great book written by a very knowledgeable author. Easy to understand. I used this book to further my education, I am taking an online Master Distiller course.