Profile

JIM MURRAY, described by the BBC as ‘the world guru of whisky’, is internationally renowned as a leading full-time whisky writer, and television and radio broadcaster.

He has written for a number of newspapers such as the Sunday, Daily and International Weekly Telegraphs, The Observer in London, The Chicago Tribune and the South African Sunday Times. He has written a number of books, including Jim Murray’s Irish Whiskey Almanac, One Hundred Malts, Classic Bourbon, The Complete Guide to Whiskey and Jim Murray’s Complete Book of Whiskey.

He is three times winner of the Whisky Writer of the Year in the prestigious Glenfiddich Award.

The 2006 Jim Murray's Whisky Bible is recently published.

Biography

Jim Murray, described by the BBC as 'the world guru of whisky', is internationally renowned as the leading full-time whisky writer, and television and radio broadcaster. Despite his outspoken views, he remains much in demand as a consultant to the Scotch, Bourbon, Canadian, Irish and even Czech, Swedish and Indian whisky industries.

Three times winner of the Whisky Writer of the Year in the prestigious Glenfiddich Awards he is a prolific writer for quality newspapers around the world. His work has appeared in the Sunday, Daily and International Weekly Telegraphs, The Observer and The New Statesman in London, while globally he has written for the South African Sunday Times, The Scotsman in Edinburgh, The Chicago Tribune, The Sunday Tribune in Dublin, De Telegraaf, Amsterdam and many more. He currently writes a monthly whisky column in Denmark's leading national newspaper, Jyllands-Posten. Jim has contributed to drink and lifestyle magazines around the world, from Decanter and Wine in the UK to the Malt Advocate in the US. His column 'The Whisky Guru' is found each month in Class.

His books include: Jim Murray's Irish Whiskey Almanac (1994); The One Hundred Malts (1995); Classic Irish Whiskey (1997); The Complete Guide to Whiskey (1997); his most important work yet, the coffee-table sized Jim Murray's Complete Book of Whiskey (1997), which is likely to be regarded as the definitive book on all the world's whiskies for many years to come; Classic Bourbon (1998); a Taste of Irish Whiskey (1998) and his highly acclaimed The Art of Whisky (1998) and Classic Blended Scotch (1999). His definitive guide, Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2004 was published by Carlton Books and the 2006 Whisky Bible is now available.

So well respected is Jim Murray's palate and understanding of the world's whiskies and rums, he is often invited to create new brands, some of which have already won awards. He does this on a strict consultancy basis only.

Jim travels the world lecturing on whisky to the industry and connoisseurs alike. In recognition of his deep knowledge of Kentucky Bourbon he has been made a Colonel of the state. He is much sought after as a judge for whisky and rum competitions and is a leading member on the whisky and rum panel of The International Wine and Spirit competition. When Jim was honoured as the Industry Leader of the Year 1998 by the USA publication Malt Advocate, their citation included these words: "Many people are passionate about whisky, and there are many excellent writers. However, few excel in both. Within this elite group, no one has furthered the cause of whisky more this past year than Jim Murray. Jim's qualities include: an extreme passion for and an overwhelming knowledge of whisky, the ability to express his thoughts clearly and concisely, and a sincere honesty which can be quite blunt."

Jim lives in Northamptonshire, England, and in Kentucky, with his 16-year-old son, James, and his reference library of over 6,000 different samples of whisky. When not writing he can be found travelling the world - either visiting distilleries, giving lively and hugely popular tastings or making television appearances where his humour and sincere passion for the subject is, like in his writing, left in no doubt.