Richard Betts (1)

As promised, there aren't any fancy words in this picture book for grown-ups, so if you are looking to turn heads at a wine-tasting, this won't do it. However, it can still refine your tastes a little through "do you like this or that smell better?" Plus, it has a handy guide in the back to bring to the wine store.

Plainly, it is a fun grown-up scratch and sniff book. Fun!

If by "know-it-all" the author means a Cliff Clavin type, then yes, you'll be a whiskey know-it-all. I believe though that the title is meant as hyperbole because marketing demands it. That's not to say that the book isn't educational, far from it. There's a great deal of entry level information here, and I certainly learned a few things, and I'm sure that with what I gained I could certainly fake the rest (For the record, I have never considered myself a whiskey know-it-all).

The scratch & show more sniff tabs were a neat idea, but half of them didn't work. I found the wheel of whisky chart in the back of the book to be more useful, showing where various brands and varieties fit and thus leading to suggestions of others to try.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3 because of the scratch & sniff failure. show less

As promised, there aren't any fancy words in this picture book for grown-ups, so if you are looking to turn heads at a wine-tasting, this won't do it. However, it can still refine your tastes a little through "do you like this or that smell better?" Plus, it has a handy guide in the back to bring to the wine store.

Plainly, it is a fun grown-up scratch and sniff book. Fun!

Isn’t this fun? Yes, it’s a real scratch and sniff book. And, no, you probably won’t become a wine expert, but you will know lots more about this mysterious world. It’s not as tricky as you think. And it’s delightfully good fun.