Whiskey on the go-go

If you've spent any time thumbing through travel books, no doubt you've cooed over Dorling Kindersley's "Eyewitness Travel Guides" - the Cadillacs of guidebooks, with beautiful illustrations and maps, helpful diagrams and elegantly edited information.</p><p> We were pleased to learn that DK is (very) gradually expanding its colorful, comprehensive guides to food and drink, most recently with the pocket guide "Great Whiskeys: 500 of the Best From Around the World" (DK Publishing, $15), edited by Charles Maclean, who's been writing about said spirits for 30 years.</p><p> Unlike the cumbersome, encyclopedic coffee table books on the subject, of which there are many, "Great Whiskeys" is as user-friendly as DK's guidebooks, with large photographs of bottles both familiar and foreign, organized alphabetically with thoughtful kernels of history, notable releases and tasting notes.</p><p> There are five geographical guides to the spirit's top stomping grounds (Islay, Speyside, Ireland, Japan and good ol' Kentucky), with itineraries broken down by distilleries per day.</p><p> The book's downfall is the fact that many new and notables were too new to make the cut. Then again, given Dorling Kindersley's timely updates of popular releases, there's no reason we shouldn't expect an appendix in due time.

If you've spent any time thumbing through travel books, no doubt you've cooed over Dorling Kindersley's "Eyewitness Travel Guides" - the Cadillacs of guidebooks, with beautiful illustrations and maps, helpful diagrams and elegantly edited information.

We were pleased to learn that DK is (very) gradually expanding its colorful, comprehensive guides to food and drink, most recently with the pocket guide "Great Whiskeys: 500 of the Best From Around the World" (DK Publishing, $15), edited by Charles Maclean, who's been writing about said spirits for 30 years.

Unlike the cumbersome, encyclopedic coffee table books on the subject, of which there are many, "Great Whiskeys" is as user-friendly as DK's guidebooks, with large photographs of bottles both familiar and foreign, organized alphabetically with thoughtful kernels of history, notable releases and tasting notes.

There are five geographical guides to the spirit's top stomping grounds (Islay, Speyside, Ireland, Japan and good ol' Kentucky), with itineraries broken down by distilleries per day.

The book's downfall is the fact that many new and notables were too new to make the cut. Then again, given Dorling Kindersley's timely updates of popular releases, there's no reason we shouldn't expect an appendix in due time.

What is better: the eyewitness travel guide to Japan or the Lonely ...

Personally I like the Time Out Guides best of all but that wasn’t one of your choices.

Out of the two you mentioned I would select the Eyewitness but it really comes down to what you intend to get out of a travel book. One of the others was right in saying that it’s a bit kindergarden. The Eyewitness guides are typically heavy on the pictures and a bit light on the deep details. If you’re more of a visual person then I would go this route since it will give you a good idea of what there is to see in a particular place.

The Lonely Planet guides seem to be more targeted at the budget traveler or the backpacker as a general rule of thumb and they’re an excellent resource if that’s the kind of travel that you do. While these guides also include pictures, the text seems to be more of the focus.

If you can afford it I would go for both since they kind of fill different needs.

Happy travels!

I prefer Lonely Planet because I like the info – not just the basic traveling info but the info on history, culture, and festivals.

Eyewitness would be a better book to look at before you go to help you determine what you want to see.

Lonely Planet would be better to use while you’re traveling to aid you in hotels, restuarants, transportation, opening/closing times, etc… while also learning a bit of the background.

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