His striking images, evocative prose, and hyperbolic one-liners have made Murray one of the most quotable and most celebrated sports columnists of the twentieth century.
Jim Murray, the dean of American sportswriters, entertained readers with writing that is so good and so funny that even people who don't like sports read him. The Jim Murray Reader gathers some of Murray's best columns from the height of his career and showcases the wit and the style that won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1990.
His inexhaustible talent and limitless range are on full display here: from the perplexities of tennis scoring (a game in which love counts for nothing, deuces are wild, and the scoring system was invented by Lewis Carroll) and baseball rules (The infield fly rule is about as simple as calligraphy. It might as well be a Japanese naval code) to Murray's Laws (The way to make a line move faster is to join the other one) and many of his colorful profiles (Richard Petty has climbed in more windows than 50 car thieves. . . . He wasn't born, he was assembled and modified).
THE MAKING OF WHISKY is an art in itself - distilling, ageing in cask, blending, all for the enjoyment of lovers of the complex blend or the noble single malt. But another art form is rediscovered in this superb selection of over 70 nineteenth and early twentieth century posters and showcards designed to advertise the Scotch and Irish whiskies of the time. With the charming naivety of an industry still in its infancy, these distinctive and highly-prized products spread through the British Empire and the rest of the world with the aid of kilted Scotsmen with flaming beards and Irishmen dressed invariably in green. And, to add to the romance, these nationalistic ambassadors worked to a backdrop of Celtic mists and mountains and with a nifty peg or wee dram in hand.
The story of whisky's rise from its beginnings in hidden pot stills to its public perception as a refined and stylish drink for all classes by the turn of the twentieth century is chronicled in a short introductory history. Jim Murray's witty and knowledgeable captions not only give an insight into the posters but tell the story of the whisky companies who commissioned them, the brands they were advertising and even allow glimpses into the social history of the period as it is reflected in these precious pieces of commercial art.
For eighty years the posters remained mostly unseen in the files of the British Public Record Office (now The National Archives) at Kew until reproduced, many for the first time, in all their glory in 1998, when a small print run of this book was published in paperback form. Updated and now in hardback these priceless posters can be enjoyed once more. Some are simple, some are sophisticated, but all will appeal to both the whisky and the art lover as immensely attractive examples of a now largely forgotten form of art: The Art of Whisky.
The Whisky Cubes Pack is the perfect gift for any lover of whisky.
Not only does the pack contain a book informing the whisky-lover about hundreds of whisky brands and distillers in Britain, Ireland and North America, there is a guide to the process of distillation and tasting notes. In addition to this, the pack contains eight soapstone cubes which can be placed in a freezer and dropped into a glass and used as a replacement for ice, one that doesn't dilute the golden liquid.The author, Jim Murray, is one of the most respected men in whisky, on both sides of the Atlantic and his passionate views about Scotch, Irish, Rye and Bourbon are respected by those in the know. He writes in a unique style, with his passion coming through as he explains why a distillery is different to its neighbour maybe only a few miles away and showing how a slight variation in the distillation and/or storage process makes for an entirely different tasting experience. If you are already a connoisseur of whisky, want to become one, or just enjoy the occasional tipple, Whisky Rocks is as welcome as your favourite dram.