I’m all about categorizing, comparing and putting things into a structured view. It helps me understand more, and it’s easier to add incremental new knowledge as I learn new bits and pieces. The world of spirits gives me plenty of opportunity for practice. One of the more densely populated kingdoms is whiskey. It can be a real challenge trying to keep straight the difference between Scotch Whisky, Irish Whiskey, Bourbon, Rye, single malt, single mash, and on and on and…
Recently Fastcodesign.com did a very detailed infographic on the topic of Whiskey. While it won’t explain the stylistic difference between different brands, it does a nice job of laying out the major categories and sub-categories and mapping them to specific brand families and labels. While a small legend would be helpful and the “leaves” can be small, I think you’d be hard pressed to make a better chart yourself. Check it out:
