A lovely cover, interesting (albeit cliche) anecdotes, and a blatant bias toward whiskys and industry leaders (sponsors?)combine to make this one of the least interesting options to the person looking for a comprehensive guide to spirits. One rather obvious example: when ranking a list of over 70 rums from almost 20 different regional sources somehow every single rum from Puerto Rico & the U.S. Virgin Islands was listed as "superior". Considering that Bacardi was included in the list as one of these exceptional nectars one must raise a skeptical eye. 88 of the just over 200 pages are devoted to whisky making all of the other "high spirits" seem little more than an afterthought.