Book Review: The Art of Whisky by Ernie Button

The exploration of whisky and art has been documented in the new book, The Art of Whisky, from Ernie Button. This beautifully compiled book features over 100 artistic photos of whisky, all in a whisky glass, and a forward written by Charles MacLean, Scotland’s leading whisky expert.

Ernie is an award-winning photographer based in Phoenix, Arizona whose work has been exhibited in the United States, China, Scotland, and Europe. This photographic project has appeared in The New York Times, NPR, Popular Photography, and Smithsonian, and is now available for the first time in a book.

The Art of Whisky is a book that shows whisky in an artistic way. With over 100 photographs scattered throughout the various whisky regions of Scotland, this book provides a bit of whisky knowledge on top of the mystifying photographs. Ernie presents single malt Scotch in a different light that’ll bring more drinkers to this nuanced drink.

In creating The Art of Whisky, Ernie spent many moments staring into the bottom of nearly empty single malt Scotch whisky glasses. During these glances, he noticed obscure patterns formed in the whisky residue at the bottoms of whisky glasses. Each one was different from the next. He then decided to photograph these images while using various creative lighting techniques.

The creative process of visually thinking to photograph nearly empty whisky glasses is an idea that many of us would not think of. However, it’s an idea that is creative and fun. It’s also something similar that Ernie has done in the past with his photography.

“Prior to discovering this project, my photography focused on macro photography so my studio was typically set-up to photograph small, table top items,” stated Ernie. “So when I saw this dried Scotch whisky phenomenon at the bottom of a glass left out overnight after enjoying some Scotch the night before, I was curious enough to take some images. The set-up of my studio made it easy to start experimenting.”

But it’s not just basic photographs that fill the 176 pages of The Art of Whisky. The lighting and effects that Ernie utilizes in his photographs creates a more scientific look that borders on creating celestial images from the whisky. It took a lot of patience and talent to find the best effect to use with each photographic shot.

“A couple years into the project, I noted that some of the images started to take on a celestial look to the final image,” mentioned Ernie when asked about how he came up with these effects. “With some experimentation and some study of Hubble Telescope images, I was able to better represent outer space, learning what I had to leave in the final frame to get that space-like feel. With some of the images that look like planets, there is a slight amount of distortion to get the sphere shape and a heavy emphasis on shading to render it into a planet.”

To create The Art of Whisky to be more than just a photo book, Ernie was able to bring on Charles MacLean, Scotland’s leading whisky expert to write the forward to the book.

Ernie explains on how he connected with Charles. “I had struck up an email conversation with him around 2015 about his books and writings. He had heard of my work by then and was curious about how I was creating my images. Then in 2016, I attended the Spirit of Speyside whisky festival in Scotland and signed up for a lecture and tasting presented by Charles MacLean and Dave Broom. Charles and I got to talking after the tasting and have kept in touch since. When the opportunity to create The Art of Whisky book, he and Dr. Stone were number one on my list to write for the book. Thankfully he agreed to write the forward to the book and introduce each whisky region.”

Since Ernie spent many nights looking into nearly empty whisky glasses, it was necessary to find out which are his favorite whiskies. “Oh, too many to choose just one,” exclaimed Ernie. “Typically anything from the Speyside region of Scotland. Some of the favorites are Balvenie Doublewood 12 and Portwood 21, Aberlour 10 and A’bundah, The Macallan Double Cask 12 and Glenfiddich 21. Not only are they delicious drams but the smell and taste of each dram reminds me of my travels to Scotland.”

Now it’s time to visit our cabinet and grab a bottle of Macallan for the evening!

The Art of Whisky is published by Chronicle Books and retails for $24.95 and can be purchased by clicking here.