Picture the scene: Rustic Caledonia, half a millennium ago. A monk meddles with water and barley. Alchemy fizzles, and the result is whisky. In shady brooding glens and by gleaming lochs, farmers and peasants repeat the trick a million times over. Amber liquid seeps across Scotland. It doesn't stop there. The humblest of people have created a colossus that will coil itself around the world. It will embrace craftsmanship, culture, identity, land, science, and marketing and tie itself to great historical events. The story of scotch is one of a multinational multi-billion-dollar super-industry. Here, for the first time, that story is told in detail. Scotch: The Story of Whisky marries the allure of scenic Scotland with engrossing storytelling, rich characters, and frequent revelations. The tale of whisky is the tale of Scotland's gift to the world, and so it travels to Sweden, Japan, and Australia. Could it be that such nations are threatening Scotland's status as the home of whisky?