A tale of two Scotch whiskies short on spirit
Beverage specialist F. Paul Pacult adds to a small, growing list of impersonal biographies with this spottily written, if affectionate, account of the two most popular brands of Scotch whiskey.
Ashley Kahn writes history about jazz albums; a biography of Grant Wood's iconic ''American Gothic" has just been published, and histories of common objects like salt and chocolate fill current bookshelves. It's only fitting that world-famous expressions of one of the most popular drinks be put on a literary pedestal. Unfortunately, ''A Double Scotch," despite Pacult's rhapsodic approach, is less intoxicating than the spirits that inspired it.
Pacult spends far too much time on the family trees of The Glenlivet paterfamilias George Smith and Chivas founder James Chivas. It's only when both brands come into the kingdom of Canadian entrepreneur Samuel Bronfman that the story fully engages.
Even though the subtitle is ''How Chivas Regal and The Glenlivet Became Global Icons," their global nature gets shorter shrift than their local. All too often, ''A Double Scotch" reads less like history than preaching to the converted.
Until the final third, this is more a history of Scotland and its laws pertaining to alcoholic spirits than of The Glenlivet and Chivas Regal. Each has a distinct flavor, which Pacult goes into in welcome detail; his ranking of their varieties, in a thankfully terse appendix, is so sharp, you'll want to develop your own. Ultimately, however, it's their iconic nature more than their character that appeals to him -- along with what one might call their vernacular strength.
''Amid the present day consumer clamor for product authenticity and impeccable credentials, Scotch whisky epitomizes the soul of its country of origin more accurately than any other fermented or distilled alcoholic beverage," Pacult writes. ''Blended Scotch whiskies, like Chivas Regal, reflect Scotland's bold, hearty national character while the single malt whiskies, such as The Glenlivet, identify and evoke specific Scottish Highland, Lowland and island locations."
His largely fascinating tracking of the Smith and Chivas families coincides with the rise of commerce, the Industrial Revolution, and the shaping of the modern city -- in the Chivas case, Aberdeen. In addition, his take on the Bronfman family fortunes and strategies is interesting.
Unfortunately, Pacult's style doesn't go down as smoothly as his subject. Here, James Chivas enters the employ of a grocer nonpareil:
''Young James Chivas must have been more than slightly overwhelmed on his inaugural day in Edward's well-stocked grocery shop located near the quick-beating heart of Aberdeen," Pacult writes. ''Still not having cleared all the strands of hay and buds of barley from the linty pockets of his heavy, dark, woolen clothes, James's initial weeks with William Edward had to be frustrating one day and exhilarating the next, a delightfully agonizing period of tough enlightenment."
Maybe this transmits a sense of the times courtesy of ''color" Pacult strains to convey. But its construction and the way Pacult stacks his adjectives call for judicious editing -- at least.
