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Laphroaig There's little doubt that you've arrived in peat country when you drive into the courtyard at Laphroaig and the kilns are on. Ardbeg may be more heavily peated, Lagavulin more smoky

Regional categorisation is a vexed issue in whisky: it may be a handy way of grouping distilleries together geographically, but it can be a tricky business identifying a stylistic continuity between all the whiskies in Perthshire or Speyside.

Glen Ord At a glance, the fertile plains of the Black Mr Horn a pretty fine site for a distillery quality supplies of barley, some peat from illy hansons ground, pure water..

Aquavit Aquavit, genever, gin, and whiskey (or whisky as the Canadians and Scots spell it), as well as vodka and the unflavored German schnapps called korn

Jim Beam is one of the big names of bourbon, so there's no surprise to find a big man behind it all. Booker Noe isn't just physically huge, he is one of the foundation stones of the modern industry. Booker is Jim's grandson and still lives in Jim's old house in Bardstown.

It would be appropriate for a people-based profile of whisky to begin by naming the first whisky maker. Sadly, no-one knows who he was. In fact, no-one knows who the first distiller was

Glen Garioch Despite being one of the most fertile parts of Scotland, Aberdeenshire has very few distilleries. In 1995 it looked likely to have one less when Morrison Bowmore (MBD) mothballed Glen Garioch, in the little town of Oldmeldrum.

Trying to get a blender to explain what his or her job involves is never easy. Not because they are secretive, far from it. They're almost relieved to have a chance to tell their story.

Glenmorangie Single Highland Rare Malt Scotch Whisky Few distilleries have been as transformed I the malt explosion as Glenmorangie. 'In til 1970s there were two stills and we were selling five cases of malt a year," says manager Graham Eunson.

Tullamore Dew The roll-call of distilleries and brands which disappeared when the Irish industry imploded is an extensive one. Locke's Kilbeggan (now revived under Cooley), Dundalk, Allman's Bandon, Comber and Tullamore are just some of the famous and respected distillers who simply found it impossible to carry on, no matter how good people thought their whiskey was.

Dewar's was the first blend to be advertised by electric sign and the first to produce a cinema advertisement - both products from the fertile mind of the irrepressible Tommy Dewar.

This bizarre lemon-coloured confection of a Mexican-style ranch seems incongruous with Kentucky's gentle rolling grasslands and tree-lined hollows. Thankfully, master distiller Jim Rutlege is more hospitable than the patriarch in Sam Peckinpah's violent film classic.

Unlike many everyday aperitifs, absinthe was historically almost always prepared and drunk in a highly specific way - this, the so-called "absinthe ritual" was part of the reason for its popularity and for the unique position it's always held in the pantheon of drinks. All true absinthes are bitter to some degree (due to the presence of absinthin, extracted from the wormwood) and are therefore usually served with the addition of sugar.

Bushmills Driving along the spectacular Antrim coast you can just tell that this is good whiskey-making country. Soft pasture land, small rivers, natural harbours and a people who know that good things take time. It's a land where legend and fact become easily blurred, where folk tales take on the mantle of truth. Who knows when whiskey was first made here?

Aniseed-flavored spirits Some 1,500 years before Christ, these licorice-flavored spirits were valued as healing agents by the Egyptians. In the nineteenth century, absinthe, a potent aniseed

There is practically no variety of fruit that cannot be enjoyed in alcoholic form, from cactus fruits from the desert or berries from the Arctic

Irish Whisky Jameson The fact that there are only three distilleries in Ireland would suggest that this has always been a small-scale industry. Take time to visit the Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin or the Jameson Heritage Centre in Midleton,

One of the Scotch whisky industry's greatest secrets sits at the foot of the Ochil Hills. You may notice some warehouses close to the road as you drive past,

Jello Shots - Back In The Day How did anybody back in yester year get their Jello Shot to set properly?

As the whisky industry continues to consolidate, the days of family-owned distiller/blenders is fast becoming a memory. William Grant & Sons is one of the few noble exceptions, proving that a family firm compete with the UDVs of this world by being as self-sufficient as possible.

One of the more intriguing aspects of bourbon's revival is the way in which its stubborn old guardians have been proved right. None more so than Wild Turkey's Jimmy Russell. A glance at the Wild Turkey distillery confirms that this place doesn't abide by convention.

The origin of Irish whisky is a little cloudy, no one is actually sure when it was 1st created, it is summised that brewing started sometime in the 12th century.

The Jack Daniel's legend starts with the eponymous founder of the distillery, who allegedly owned his first distillery at the tender age of 13, having learned his skill at the knee of Dan Call

SPRINGBANK The decline of Campbeltown as a distilling capital came suddenly. Of the 21 distilleries that Barnard visited, only two are still in existence and one of them, Glen Scotia, is open only intermittently. The good news is that you will soon be able to buy five different Campbeltown malts; four from one distillery - the legendary Springbank.

Bells Caol Ila is an exception though. Most distilleries are stubborn individuals. 'If we seriously wanted to change Mortlach could we do it?

Sometimes when you are thanking a long-dead distiller for building his still in such a stunning location, you wonder at the insanity that led him to settle on such a remote spot.

Every country has a different approach to making whisky, which will be discussed in detail at the beginning of each chapter. However, all are basically variations on the following rules.

Famous Grouse Ask the Edrington Group's master blender, John Ramsay, what makes his drams different and he immediately proposes marriage. In the whisky-making sense, of course

There was a time you could spot a distillery by the smoke belching from its chimney. Now, most chimneys have been demolished as distilleries have switched from coal to steam.