Not Your Average Joe: A Biography of Joseph William Hobbs (18911963), Whisky Entrepreneur

In an industry littered with great characters and extraordinary personalities, Joe Hobbs stands out as one of the whisky worlds most colourful and interesting entrepreneurs, a man who packed more into each decade of his life than most people manage in a lifetime. Whilst individual episodes and activities of his life are quite well known, his fascinating and wide-ranging full life story has not been told before, despite the fact Joe features in Whisky Magazines list of Top 100 Most Influential Whisky Figures of all time.

Not Your Average Joe tells the fascinating story of how the son of a bankrupt English farmer rose to be one of the leading figures in the history of the Scotch whisky industry, making two fortunes and losing one along the way. The book explains Joes pioneering exploits as one of the first military aviators during WW1; his controversial rum-running activities into the USA during Prohibition in the 1920s; his leading role in designing and building the city of Vancouvers first skyscraper; his rise as one of the leading Scotch whisky barons; and his pioneering transformation of a derelict 10,000 acre Scottish Highland estate into the UKs first cattle ranch during Britains battle for beef in the lean years after WW2.