Getting it right is no accident.

June 29, 9:41 PMChicago Drinks ExaminerCharles Cowdery

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Kate Hopkins, aka "The Accidental Hedonist," takes a familiar approach with 99 Drams of Whiskey. She decides to learn about whiskey by writing a book about it. She and a companion visit distilleries in Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the U.S. and the book is largely an account of their travels.

However, unlike most writers who have tried something similar, Hopkins is not just a good reporter, she is a good thinker. She doesn't just parrot what she's told (a hazard, since producers will feed you a lot of hooey), she thinks about it and inquires further.

There is so much hype surrounding beverage alcohol products that a writer’s best tool may be his or her BS detector. Hopkins has a good one, but she never lets debunking make her cranky. She is open-minded without being a sucker.

In the end, she gets almost everything right. So many others have faltered on this path that I began to wonder what it was about whiskey that seemed to make mistakes inevitable. Hopkins will have none of it and has written a surprisingly authoritative book as a result.

Hopkins is a good writer. She has fun on her trip and the reader does too. 99 Drams is an unexpected and fresh take on whiskey. I highly recommend it.

To order 99 Drams of Whiskey through Amazon, go here.