Raw Spirit: In Search Of The Perfect Dram (2003) - Plot & Excerpts
Originally published on my blog here in May 2004.Iain Banks' first book length non-fiction writing is on a subject which has little interest to me, and is certainly a book I would not have picked up had it not been for the author's name. The subject is whisky, and I have been a teetotaller for over fifteen years. So a book about scotch is not really one calculated to appeal to me, and indeed I did find the parts of Raw Spirit which are in fact about the drink rather dull (there is clearly a limit to the number of ways that even such an inventive writer as Iain Banks can find to describe the tastes of the different malts - "peaty" is a word rather lacking in synonyms). The book really only takes whisky as one theme among several, as it describes a series of journeys motivated by the idea of visiting every Scottish distillery; it is basically a travel book. So quite a large proportion of Raw Spirit - more than half - is about other things: Scottish scenery, Scottish roads, Iain Banks and his friends, his cars, and how he feels about the Iraq war. This is all much more interesting, if repetitive in places.So what's in Raw Spirit for the reader? That depends very much on what the reader wants to get from it even more than is the case for most books. A whisky connoisseur would probably have more detailed and systematic information about single malts available from reference books they already own, even though here they have the information recorded in a more individual manner. As a travel book, it could do with illustration - Banks often mentions photos being taken, but only two are used, and a map showing the distilleries and itinerary would make the logic of the journeys easier to see. The trips themselves lack the epic of unusual quality one expects from a travel book. The main interest in the travel sections comes from the various friends and relatives who accompany Banks on his trips, modern car journeys not that interesting to read about. (Scotland is not to me a particularly unfamiliar country; to others, this may be more interesting.) This leads to what is probably what most readers will get from Raw Spirit - autobiographical anecdotes from a favourite writer. In the end, this is a book for fans of Banks' fiction, for those who want to know more about the man behind the novels. Like many writers, the creator is less interesting than his creations. (This is exemplified when Banks compares his own happy childhood with the abuse and neglect many readers expect to have been necessary to produce The Wasp Factory, as though, as Banks points out, people can only write from their personal experience.) This really is a book strictly for the fans.
This is a book you should read in preparation of a visit to Scotland, during your visit or shortly after. Although the title suggests it's a book about Scotch whisky, I would say that only about 25% of the text is dedicated to the history and making of the drink, to tasting some and to distillery visits. Because this is the venture Iain Banks undertakes: touring scotland to visit distilleries and taste whiskey. The other themes in the book are: roads and cars and an occasional motorbike, an overview of Iain Banks' friends and their history together, his opposition to the second war in Iraq (he was writing the book at that time), information about places in Scotland Iain Banks has spent time in.So whether you will like this book will depend on your interest in and level of knowledge of the topics. I enjoyed his whiskey comments but learned little new. The behaviour of BMWs, Porches, Jaguars or Defender jeeps on Scottish Roads is not my cup of tea, although part of discovering Scotland must happen through moving through its magnificent scenery and this either by motorised vehicles or on foot, if you ask me (Scotland is not for biking). So his comments on how to travel in Scotland, places to stay and visit are indeed interesting. Iain Banks knows his own country and gives you an appetite not only to taste whiskey but also to follow his footsteps.The stories about his friends, acquaintances, family and publishers gives a good impression how Scottisch intellectuals got along in the past decades and how they experience their social and political environment. But some of it is just too long in my opinion to remain interesting. And there are just too many stories about getting drunk and having hangovers. Banks sounds like a naughty 16 year old when he describes the stupidities undertaken under the influence of alcohol. The notion that alcohol is in drinks, -certainly in whisly- to enhance flavour and not to get drunk seems unknown to him.Think I will try one of his fiction novels, to see what kind of writer he was.
What do You think about Raw Spirit: In Search Of The Perfect Dram (2003)?
I started this book because I thought it was going to be about Scotland and whisky. And, while it was notionally about Scotland and whisky, in the end the overwhelming impression I took away was of a book about driving and roads, secondarily about whisky, and thirdly about Scotland. Banks, a self-professed petrolhead, seems to spend a lot of time talking about the virtues of this road or that, or this car or that. Perhaps it would have seemed less pervasive, or at least more accessible, if my Scottish geography were better or if I were more interested in cars and driving.That being said, the bits that *were* about whisky and Scotland - and anecdotes of times past - were generally informative and usually amusing. Banks introduced me to a few whiskies that I'd never heard of and now want to try, and gave a good overview of the distilling process and the whisky industry. So, all in all, I don't feel that I wasted my time reading this book, but at the same time, it's not what I had expected - and I think it's probably a good thing that Banks stuck to fiction and sci-fi, rather than trying to blaze a second career as a travel writer.
—Julia
I never read any Iain Banks before and didn't really know what to expect. The booked was passed to me because my well known love for whisky and books.This book i weird. It is more the "making of" rather then the real book. It starts by describing how his agent calls him and asks if he wants to write a book about whisky (a case he gladly accepts because he is getting paid for it; post-hoc judging how many whiskies he tasted, he was paid dearly). The book proceeds by describing his "research": driving around with friends to visit whisky distilleries. In between a lot of anecdotal stories about errands involving drinking with friends. Real whisky talk? No. Anecdotes about whisky and cool trivia? In that case the book would only be 20 pages.In the end not a bad read. More or less an autobiography of Iain's whisky-drinking adventures. He is a good writer. But the book is dissatisfying because so little is told about the majestic drink; no trivia, anecdotes, stories.
—Ben
I should have loved this book. It has whisky, my favourite poison, and Iain Banks, a writer I enjoy, visiting all of Scotland's distilleries in search of the perfect dram. The book had featured on my wish list since forever, before a good friend sent it my way. And still I couldn’t enjoy it.That is a shame because there is some excellent writing to be found here. A passage on countryside upbringing or an imagining of the walk to a secret still, yet another on Banks’ novel Complicity and his writ
—J.C. Greenway
