Author Talk: Noah Rothbaum, "The Whiskey Bible"

There's never been a better time to become a connoisseur of whiskey!

Darien Library welcomes world-renowned drinks expert and award-winning author, Noah Rothbaum, who will talk about his new book, The Whiskey Bible: A Complete Guide to the World’s Greatest Spirit. Noah will be joined in conversation with Dave Savona, executive editor of Cigar Aficionado and editor-at-large of Whiskey Advocate.

In the book, Noah reveals the history, secrets, and lore of whiskey, including a breakdown of major whiskey distilling regions and 60 classic and modern whiskey cocktail recipes from top bartenders around the world.

Learn what makes whiskey whiskey, from the fundamental grain types used to produce your favorite dram to how and why everything from water to soil to yeast affects the taste of what’s in your glass. Noah breaks down the whiskey making process, including detailed information about each step, including malting, mashing, fermenting, distilling and aging.

Join Noah on a centuries-long "boozy" trip around the globe as he solves some of the biggest whiskey mysteries, settles a number of the biggest whiskey debates and busts many of the biggest whiskey myths.

Armed with new-found knowledge of whiskey’s back story, you'll realize that a "Blue Blazer" or a "Flannel Shirt" isn't just clothing hanging in your closet!

About Noah Rothbaum

From the Arctic Circle to the agave fields of Mexico to Scotland’s whisky distilleries, Noah Rothbaum has traveled the globe in search of a good drink. He’s one of the world’s leading authorities on cocktails and spirits as well as a Kentucky Colonel, a James Beard Award winner and the author of the acclaimed drinks books, The Art of American Whiskey: A Visual History of the Nation’s Most Storied Spirit, through 100 Iconic Labels and The Business of Spirits: How Savvy Marketers, Innovative Distillers, and Entrepreneurs Changed How We Drink. 

Noah is also the associate editor of the Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, which won the American Library Association’s prestigious Dartmouth Medal for the best reference book of 2021 and the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Book on Drinks Culture, History, or Spirits. The Washington Post called it “the drinking buddy you’ve been waiting for.”

Previously, he was the editor of the Daily Beast’s Half Full section. Under his leadership, the site won the 2018 and the 2020 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication. He also co-hosted the podcast Life Behind Bars, which the New York Times called “a perfect comfort listen for the curious drinker.” The show won the 2018 and the 2021 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Podcast Series. In 2022, he became a Fellow of the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits at the University of Kentucky. 

About David Savona

David Savona took an early interest of cigars (I'm not really sure why, as his father never smoked them, nor did any other relative) and he tried various smokes in his college years, sampling as good a cigar as he could afford on a very lean budget. When he started working, he branched out, savoring each new discovery.

After writing a freelance piece in 1995 for Cigar Aficionado magazine, he was hired by M. Shanken Communications that summer as the senior editor of Cigar Insider, which launched in January 1996. Over the years his responsibilities grew, and soon he was a senior editor of the magazine, charged with writing feature stories on the cigar industry. In 2014, he was named executive editor.

David has walked through tobacco fields in Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and even his home state of Connecticut. He has visited cigar factories around the world and spent time with virtually all the major players in the premium cigar world.