Articles by Dave Broom
The once was a young man who loved staring at the stars, picking his way through the map of the sky in the night with his friends. It would get chilly on these long vigils. The only central heating wa...
From Issue 79 in
Japan focus
published on 24/04/2009
Dave encourages us to embark on a year of education,whisky style. It happens on average once a year. Whether it’s mood, or season, or cosmic alignment I don’t know, but there will always be a period when the only music I can listen to is by Captain Beefheart. Mr...
From Issue 78 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 27/02/2009
Dave Broom talks innovation,metabolic pathways and obscure Scottish rock bands with Glenmorangie’s head of distilling & flavour creation,Dr Bill Lumsden. I want to see that again. It’s my favourite bit. Look at that! It’s like fireworks going off!” Bill Lumsden hits the button again and the screen ripples with images: honey, lemon blossom, incens...
From Issue 78 in
Glenmorangie Company
published on 27/02/2009
It was one of those clear winter days which only the north manages to deliver. At this time of year the sun, seemingly exhausted after its 12 months of effort, can barely pull itself above the hills a...
From Issue 77 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/01/2009
Dave discovers a little piece of England in a corner of Japan.
The cloak was the clincher. It’s strange enough arriving at a fantasy recreation of an England which never existed: Ye Shoppe, “where the staff always say Hello!’’, half-timbered barns, Narnia...
From Issue 76 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 28/11/2008
Dave looks at the links between rum and whisky – the two hottest premium brown spirits around
A quick scan of the Whisky Mag forum pages reveals that there has been some debate over the wisdom (or otherwise) of writing about rum in the previous issue. There’s two camps: the fundamentalists w...
From Issue 75 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 31/10/2008
Dave Broom takes a trip to Japan's latest distillery.
Despite its attractions, it is always a relief to escape from the gravitational pull of Tokyo.The 90 minutes it takes to get from the city to what I assumed to be the calm of rural Chichibu was theref...
From Issue 75 in
Distillery Focus
published on 31/10/2008
Dave Broom takes us on a trip through his Japan to discover inner peace and fabulous whisky.
I’m clean. In fact, I am cleaner than I have ever been. I never knew anyone could be so clean. Even my mind seems scrubbed. I’m imagining other guests inadvertently looking out of their windows an...
From Issue 75 in
Japan focus
published on 31/10/2008
Dave looks at the famous bird’s new clothes with an eye on past trends
Snow Grouse, eh? To begin with I thought it was a new ad campaign for its more famous cousin: you know, a blank white poster with ‘S’No Grouse’ as the tag, but apparently not. This, the latest a...
From Issue 74 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 08/09/2008
Dave looks at the increasing interest in rum.
The doors have just opened and Mansfield Traquair: ‘Edinburgh’s Sistine Chapel’ [TM] immediately fills with 400 whisky lovers. There’s angels soaring above our heads, which I suppose is approp...
From Issue 74 in
Rum
published on 08/09/2008
Travelling around the rum world, Dave introduces us to the various styles.
Distillers, as well we know, use what grows around them and rum is no exception to that rule. So,wherever you find cane growing you’ll be pretty sure to find a rum close by.
Its heartland however l...
From Issue 74 in
Rum
published on 08/09/2008
Dave tell's it like it is.
Quite when rum’s new boom first happened it’s hard to tell. In some ways, it just sneaked up on us. Let me start at the beginning, or rather my beginning as far as writing about rum was concerned....
From Issue 74 in
Rum
published on 08/09/2008
Dave reflects on recent changes announced in the whisky industry.
Amazing the difference a decent spin doctor can make. I open the Sunday papers to find Springbank being castigated for having to lay off seven employees amid talk of the distillery having to close dow...
From Issue 73 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 22/07/2008
Dave Broom concludes his indepth investigation of the Irish whiskey industry
For once in his life, Colum Egan is looking disappointed. “The waves are usually breaking right over the rocks,” he says, looking hopefully out at the sea for an oncoming squall. Not today. The wa...
From Issue 73 in
Irish Whiskey
published on 22/07/2008
Davereflects on recent column inches about the World Whisky Awards and
other announcements
Whisky and WAGs, who would have thought it? There I am, flicking through the United Kingdom’s topselling red top, The Sun, (I didn’t buy it you understand, someone had discarded it on the train) a...
From Issue 72 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 19/06/2008
Dave explores the delights of Cuba,its wonderful rum and a changing culture.
Someone has dropped mescalin into my mojito. At least it feels that way. Why else would there be white figures leading unicorns around a fountain in the dark, stones coming to life and bird people fla...
From Issue 71 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 17/04/2008
Davetakes a look at the United Kingdom market and finds himself wondering if the glass is
half full or half empty
The middle of January, when this is being hacked out, is apparently the most depressing time of the year. While at no point wishing to conform to stereotypical behaviour patterns, I can see why. The b...
From Issue 70 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on
In the second of three features asking ‘what is Irish whiskey? ’Dave Broom gets caught up in Cooley
Now, mind your head!” Just as well he said that. The roof beams could have delivered a nasty crack to the skull as we wander further into the gloom, the sonorous voice of the guide almost drowned ou...
From Issue 70 in
Irish Whiskey
published on
Dave visits the new rebuilt Hanyu distillery and takes in some Japanese culture.
“Would you like some octopus balls?” “Never knew they had any...but yes, thank you.” As ever, Japan had caught me unaware. Maybe I was just distracted by the explosions which intially I believ...
From Issue 69 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 18/01/2008
In part one of a three part series, Dave Broom looks at the changing face of Irish whiskey.
It used to be so simple. Irish whiskey, so we were told, was an unpeated, tripledistilled spirit. During the years, however, these certainties have been challenged. Today, Ireland has three distillers...
From Issue 69 in
Irish Whiskey
published on 18/01/2008
Dave has an epiphany while lion watching in the bush.
The audience said “Awwwwww”. It was a first, I’ll give you that. In this game you learn to cope with most eventualities.
Hecklers, fire alarms, technical breakdowns, singing (thanks Glasgow), s...
From Issue 68 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 07/12/2007
Dave Broom gives us his tips on places to go when in Japan.
The rise of Japanese whisky has been one of the most heartening aspects of the global whisky boom.
Here’s the second part to our guide bars and retail outlets to make the planning a little easier. ...
From Issue 68 in
Visitor Guides
published on 07/12/2007
Whisky Live Paris rekindles some fond memories for Dave,and sparks a few thoughts about pricing
Eating spaghetti with old whores in the cheapest restaurant we could find. Packing in sufficient fuel for the next round of wandering. Searching for a leather jacket in the flea market, scrawling orde...
From Issue 67 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 01/11/2007
Dave Broom concludes his two part investigation into the impact of climate change on whisky
production by examining how the industry is meeting the challenge.
As last month’s issue showed, the whisky industry will be directly affected by the consequences of climate change. Shifting weather patterns, drought, sea level rise, sea temperature change, coastal...
From Issue 67 in
Whisky Focus
published on 01/11/2007
Dave Broom gives us his tips on places to go when in Japan.
The rise of Japanese whisky has been one of the most heartening aspects of the global whisky boom.These days most whisky lovers will have tried at least one example and whisky tourists are beginning t...
From Issue 67 in
Visitor Guides
published on 01/11/2007
Dave lets us in on part of his tasting regime
His voice is slightly awry. Strong, yet fragile, it possesses a flawed purity, giving it a welcome honesty. It allows the words to come across more as timeless narratives, nakedly emotional, binding m...
From Issue 66 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 25/09/2007
In the two-part investigation Dave Broom examines the potential effects of global warming on the scotch whisky industry. Part 1 looks at the potential scenario for whisky production by the end of the century
The world is heating up. Carbon levels in the atmosphere are now higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years.
The 20th century was the warmest in the last millennium and the 1990s was the warm...
From Issue 66 in
Whisky concerns
published on 25/09/2007
Dave delves into a glamourous world of Highland gatherings,fast drams and racy women
She sits, swathed in silks, crosslegged showing a surprising amount of leg. Her hair is styled in what I believe is called a pixie cut. In her lips is a cigarette holder which looks at least 18 inches...
From Issue 65 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 20/07/2007
The recent World Whiskies Conference had its share of twists and turns.Dave gives his take on some of them
It only took five minutes into Vijay Rekhi’s speech for the ghost of old Karl to start whispering in my ear. You know, the old adage that history repeats itself first as tragedy the second as farce....
From Issue 64 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 01/06/2007
Dave Broom looks at the story behind this new Japanese whisky company which is upping the anté
There was a gasp around the room. It didn’t dawn on me immediately why the announcement of the World Whiskies Awards Best Japanese whisky under 12 years was so shocking. Memo to self: when in Japan ...
From Issue 64 in
Distillery Focus
published on 01/06/2007
Are we coming in to another golden period for whisky – Dave gives his views on the latest news
I used to stand, cold and shivering, in Hope Street (never was a thoroughfare so appropriately named) waiting for the No.3 bus to carry me home. Often this would be so prolonged that I’d seek refuge...
From Issue 63 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 20/04/2007
Dave uses four whiskies,the Washington cityscape and some stunning photography on a Celtic heritage trail
“Ah want to thank you, sir.” He has clearly enjoyed himself. “Ah never enjoyed Scotch before tonight - very much a bourbon man [‘brrrbn’ was barked in the correct American fashion] – but n...
From Issue 62 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 01/03/2007
Dave finds whisky and hip hop go well together in the Rainbow Nation
It has been a year of confounded expectations, (this, it must be said at the outset, is A Good Thing). Case in point.
Benriach, which came out of nowhere with a series of remarkable whiskies. The res...
From Issue 61 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 19/01/2007
Dave gives us his thoughts on the latest crop of new whisky
Another month, another ‘innovation’. Whose turn is it?
William Grant! Step up please and amaze us with the new thing you’ve done to whisky. I see... using roasted barley in the mash for a new l...
From Issue 60 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 10/11/2006
Dave takes us on a walk through the Glasgow
of his childhood
Where is home? The place of your birth, the place you live in now, somewhere else where you feel the most content? When people ask me where I am from, I say Glasgow even though I’ve been clinging to...
From Issue 59 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 11/10/2006
Dave Broom gives us his guide to staying ,eating,drinking and visiting in Japan
Japan is disorienting, bewildering, exciting and, occasionally, a little alarming. No matter how many times you visit the country, no matter how much you think you can more or less understand how it w...
From Issue 59 in
Visitor Guides
published on 11/10/2006
Dave finds a high flying attitude to malt whisky at altitude
He was about to walk past me when he paused and offered me some bread. “And may I have some wine as well please?” I asked. He was holding the very bottle I wanted to try.
“This is from the Lan...
From Issue 58 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 30/08/2006
Dave Broom is writing a book on distillery-related walks. Here he confronts Goat Fell
Arran is a compression of an already compressed country.
Scotland distilled.
Its northern hills are the equal of the best of the Highlands, its southern grasslands as gentle as those of the Ayrshire...
From Issue 58 in
Distillery Focus
published on 30/08/2006
Dave enjoys a spot of midsummer madness in Orkney
It helps to have luminous balls. This is as true a maxim as any I’ve heard tonight. Imagine the uses! Life would somehow be so much easier, especially if one is playing golf at midnight... as I was....
From Issue 57 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 21/07/2006
For this issue’s round table we hand over to Dave Broom, who recently hosted a live debate in Japan with representatives of three leading companies. This is his summary of that event
You probably know that the Japanese whisky industry is somewhat different to the Scottish. Given a business culture which is highly focused on loyalty to the company there is little chance of Japanese...
From Issue 57 in
Whisky debate
published on 21/07/2006
Gotemba Distillery enjoys special status in Japan. Dave Broom visited it
It is hard for any westerner to understand the role which Mount Fuji has within the Japanese psyche.
The highest mountain in Japan, it is the archetype of what a mountain should look like, rising fr...
From Issue 57 in
Distillery Focus
published on 21/07/2006
The small illegal stills of Speyside have been romanticised time and time again. But what was distilling really like way back when? Jim Cryle of Chivas Brothers decided to find out, and Dave Broom joined him
The thin trail of smoke was the giveaway. No matter how well the bothy was hidden, there was always the smoke. He’d heard of some who had built chimneys to draw it some distance from the bothy, othe...
From Issue 57 in
Whisky Experience
published on 21/07/2006
Dave Broom has a hairy experience in Moscow
Tatiana looked concerned. That in itself was not surprising. She had a spirits competition to organise, foreign guests to herd, dinners to arrange, tastings to mastermind. But that wasn’t what was o...
From Issue 56 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 01/06/2006
Dave Broom on why whisky needs to broaden out
Verviers Live consisted of an extraordinary journey through malt whisky’s upper reaches: a 1966 Bowmore which sat delicately on the tongue and slowly expanded across the palate; a 1959 Highland Park...
From Issue 55 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 14/04/2006
Whisky Live Tokyo has just taken place.Dave Broom tries to make sense of it all
Day 1: Being allowed into Japan isn’t like gaining entry to the United States where you get the notion that there’s an orange jump suit in your size under the immigration officer’s desk. A quick...
From Issue 54 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 03/03/2006
South Africa provided Dave Broom with a whisky magic triple whammy
It is hard to define what constitutes a great whisky moment.
They just sneak up on you. Suddenly the drink in your hand isn’t just an accompaniment, rather everything flows from it. It is place, pe...
From Issue 53 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 12/01/2006
Louisville,home of bourbon,is under threat from the globalisers. Its quirkiness needs defending
Every time I go to Louisville (which isn’t frequently enough now that the editor has discovered bourbon) I try and go to EarX-tacy, one of the finest record stores in the world.
There’s always so...
From Issue 52 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 30/11/2005
Compass Box's new product is a cracker. But will it upset the traditionalists?
A few weeks back, John Glaser took me on an oak hunt round the more obscure parts of Kew Gardens. It rained. Hard. Like a good Boy Scout he was prepared and put on an emergency poncho.
The walk in th...
From Issue 51 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 07/10/2005
Karuizawa is one of Japan’s smaller and lesser known distilleries.But as Dave Broom found out, it’s producing some fine and unusual whisky
The landscape is strobing past the train window. The concrete of the city has been left behind and we’re climbing.
House:tunnel:field:tunnel:orchard:tunnel: cliff:tunnel:bridge:tunnel:river:space.T...
From Issue 51 in
Distillery Focus
published on 07/10/2005
Talisker is an icon malt and it's celebrating its 175th anniversary. Dave Broom takes a walk on its wildside.
The Wild Spirit.
Saturday night on Scotland’s utter northwest coast. I was staying with a friend who was working on a fish farm and we were heading to a ceilidh in Ullapool.
Fortification for the ...
From Issue 51 in
Whisky Trends
published on 07/10/2005
Dave Broom on the demise and eventual death of Allied Domecq
So, farewell Allied-Domecq.
You were the No.2 drinks firm in the world.
But no-one knew what brands you had.
Someone said to me you didn’t either.
So you didn’t fare as well as you could have.
[wi...
From Issue 50 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 09/09/2005
Yellow submarines, talking horses – par for the course really
It had, apparently, broken loose from a naval vessel and was drifting aimlessly in the sea off the Mull of Oa. It was easily enough spotted though, the fishermen said, being bright yellow and all that...
From Issue 49 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 15/07/2005
Dave Broomon the worrying trend towards ruthless discounting
On occasion, I have been known to hum a ditty by Bertolt Brecht and Hans Eisler called Supply and Demand*. Acharacter, just known as ‘the businessman’, sings about rice and how he can maximise the...
From Issue 48 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 10/06/2005
Allied is rolling out its quarter cask range after the success of Laphroaig Quarter Cask. Dave Broom was given a sneak preview
THE LAST TIME Whisky Magazine encountered Allied Domecq’s master blender Robert Hicks he was still laughing at the ridiculousness of the experiment – and the fact that his hunch had paid off.
The...
From Issue 48 in
Whisky Trends
published on 10/06/2005
Dave Broom considers the case for clear, characterless, grappa-like whisky...
My three and a half year old won’t eat chicken... or pasta. To be honest, she won’t eat lots of things. “I don’t like it,” she says, to which we reply “but if you’ve never tried it how d...
From Issue 47 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 05/04/2005
Tokyo you expect the unexpected - most of the time
Scene: A shopping mall somewhere in Tokyo. Time: Night. The stores are filled with gangs of Japanese teenagers. Each store is playing a different soundtrack. Neon, eye-aching bright lights, the highpi...
From Issue 46 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 10/3/2005
The basic process of making whisky is similar throughout the world. But there are always some who have to be different. Dave Broom meets the misfits
There is something about the misfit which attracts me. Iconoclasts, outsiders, people who challenge the norm, look at it from an original, if skewed, perspective and who by doing so, make the field wi...
From Issue 46 in
Whisky Interview
published on 10/3/2005
Is the globalisation of drinks causing a rejection of regionalised products?
At least George Dubouef had managed to do what Napoleon so famously failed to do – get through to St Petersburg. A Beaujolais Nouveau party? In Russia? Are you mad? I might be. It was hard to tell. ...
From Issue 45 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 21/1/2005
A writer in every port or a port in every writer? Davie Broom visits Cape Town
Apparently the surf was sick, which means good in the same way as bad used to. So there you go. Travel broadens one’s linguistic skills as well as one’s mind.
I gamely resisted plunging in – fo...
From Issue 44 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 25/11/2004
Being Scottish isn't being depressed, you know. Not all the time, anyway
There was an intriguing story on the radio recently. A man claiming to be suffering from depression had been baffling psychiatrists, none of whom could work out what the root cause of his condition wa...
From Issue 43 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 23/10/2004
Dave Broom travels to the Sendai Distillery near Tokyo
We all have our obsessions. Some have more than others. One of mine is always carrying a number of books, no matter how short the trip. They’re not necessarily read, but they act as a sort of comfor...
From Issue 43 in
Distillery Focus
published on 23/10/2004
Dave Broom launches the resistance against the whisky terroiristes
Apparently supermarket lighting is engineered to make us blink less frequently, inducing a trancelike state which makes us more amenable to
suggestions. I suspect a similar thing goes on in airports.
...
From Issue 42 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 3/9/2004
Dave ‘The Brush’ Broom on potting, pirates and promotions
If the truth be told, I’ve never been particularly good at snooker. The myopia doesn’t help. Neither does the fact that I usually only end up playing it at the end of what has already been an extr...
From Issue 41 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/7/2004
At Yamazaki the distillery and church stand next to each other in harmony. Dave Broom witnesses whisky making at its noblest
Jet-lag does weird things to the brain, makes it seem as if you are existing in some dream state.
Though you’re screaming with tiredness, you’re wide awake. The mind is subtly dislocated from rea...
From Issue 41 in
Distillery Focus
published on 16/7/2004
Dave Broom gets all nostalgic while visiting the gents
So there I was in Rothesay, gazing at Zavaroni’s (as in Lena) fish and chip bar. For those of you who haven’t heard of the town, Rothesay is the capital of the Isle of Bute, though like most Glasw...
From Issue 40 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 4/6/2004
Dave Broom talks music with seminal 60s band and whisky drinkers, Love.
Brighton 2003. We don’t quite know what to expect. I mean, Arthur Lee and Love are about to play Forever Changes, in total, with horns and strings, something which is scarcely believable for those o...
From Issue 40 in
Whisky Trends
published on 4/6/2004
Dave Broom wryly observes the surreal lovefest that Whisky Live has become
Depressed? Down in the dumps? Visit Whisky Live and bring a smile back to your face! For sheer entertainment it is the best show in town,
attracting such a diverse bunch of people.
There were hippies...
From Issue 39 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 1/5/2004
Dave Broomon why all that’ s old isn’t necessarily good
A trifling 420 million years ago a millipede crawled out of the North Sea onto Stonehaven beach. No doubt its poor wee teeth were chattering. Have you ever had a dip in the North Sea?
As far as I can...
From Issue 38 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 7/4/2004
Dave Broom on good times and bad times with whisky
Mixed emotions on the way to Tokyo this year. I’d just heard of Elliot Smith’s suicide and one of the lines in his song Miss Misery: “I’ll fake it
through the day with some help from Johnnie W...
From Issue 37 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 23/2/2004
Dave Broom launches a campaign for clear labelling
Initially, the trade appeared to take the Cardhu/dow switch with remarkable equanimity. Maybe it just took a long time for the penny to drop, for now we have “Outraged of Speyside” protesting long...
From Issue 36 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 28/12/2003
Dave Broomdiscovers life on the ocean waves
That’s more like it.” Had I really said that? The bosun’s jaw dropped.
It takes a lot to render him speechless. Then he grinned – a more common occurrence. “Did you hear that? We have a con...
From Issue 35 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 17/11/2003
As crazy ideas go, pillaging malts on Islay for charity is pretty crazy. Dave Broomtracked down some of the guilty parties and asked them exactly what they thought they were doing
He remembered the barrel roll. The laughs they’d had, the too-late night on Jura and the push up the hill at Port Askaig the next morning with thick ringing heads. The way the island came together, ...
From Issue 35 in
Whisky Events
published on 17/11/2003
Frank McHardy has given his life to whisky. He’s now installed in the newest distillery in Scotland and he’s a proud man. Dave Broom spoke to him about his exceptional career
It’s hard to recall what it once looked like. The last time. When it was just a vast empty barn with no windows and a thick layer of pigeon guano.
Now we walk on a clanging metal floor hanging high...
From Issue 35 in
Whisky Profile
published on 17/11/2003
Innovation in the world of whisky? It’s all over the place, argues Dave Broom
There I was, reclining in my whisky chair squirting a dram into my tumbler filled with ‘Whisky Rocks’, musing on what a remarkably innovative
industry this has become. An entire subset of firms ha...
From Issue 34 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 5/10/2003
Dave Broomtries to discover the secret of Nikka by visiting its North Japanese Yoichi distillery
There’s a difference to the light. Clear, sharp. The sky is blue but it is a chill blue. The trees on the roadside hills are thin-trunked, their ranches making fine tracings on the sky.
The ground ...
From Issue 34 in
Distillery Focus
published on 5/10/2003
In the latest in an occasional series of matching whisky with food, Dave Broom compares and contrasts some sushi-whisky combinations
Scene I
An almighty shout had stopped us in our tracks. None of the diners seemed at all fazed by the entire staff of the restaurant stopping work to
bellow at a group of people walking through the do...
From Issue 34 in
Whisky and Food
published on 5/10/2003
When is a Cardhu not a Cardhu? Dave Broom investigates
Say you have the fastest-growing single malt in the world, but that distillery is at full capacity. How do you continue to increase the brand’s sales and not change its age statement?
That’s the ...
From Issue 33 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 25/9/2003
Dave Broomembraces a rock ’n’ roll lifestyle in Speyside’s hippest town
Things were going well. The VIP room was suitably dim – indeed it seemed to be suffused with that strange orange light last seen in the freak-out sections of 1960s films.
I was holding, pinkie rais...
From Issue 32 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 13/7/2003
Dave Broomconsiders a request to define how long a ‘long’ finish is
Tell me,” he said, looking at me gravely. “How long is a long finish?” I must have looked bemused. This isn’t unusual. He tried again. “How many seconds is a long finish?” There was a slig...
From Issue 31 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 9/6/2003
Dave Broom considers what kind of innovation is good for whisky
The terror of the blank page has gripped me. That’s the trouble with new editors. They always crack the whip in their first few issues and put we poor hacks under ridiculous pressure over such irrel...
From Issue 30 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 7/4/2003
Tequila, Italian death drinks, replica pubs and bad country and western …
Dave Broom discovers the surreal side of Japan
Do you eat many potatoes in Scotlando?” As a conversation opener it was up there with the very best. The fact that it came from a geiko who had just christened me Antonio and was now ordering a rou...
From Issue 29 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 24/3/2003
Dave Broom considers some unprecedented parallels between Scotland and Jamaica, and how drink is the key to exploring new cultures
The still bore the name Forsyth’s. Rain was falling on the stillhouse roof. Business as usual. Well, not quite. The rain was warm; and the racket it was making on the corrugated iron roof was render...
From Issue 28 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/1/2003
Dave Broom exposes the shady side of the antique, collectable whisky market
It was over two years ago when the rumours began that slightly dubious bottles of old whiskies were beginning to appear at auction and were being offered to private collectors. These claims weren’t ...
From Issue 28 in
Whisky Fakes
published on 16/1/2003
Dave Broom considers the reasons for whisky's lack of popularity among young people in norhern Europe, and what should be done about it
It was in Jerez where it was brought home to me. We’d been out for a meal and a few bottles of fino had been dispatched, leading us on to a nightcap … or three, which is how I came to be standing ...
From Issue 27 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/11/2002
Dave Broom and company survived a hike up the Paps of Jra to tell the tale. Just
Sheltering from the rain and the wind in the doorway at 7am, I was already wondering if this was such a great idea. The storm had been blowing for most of the previous two days, the wind had groaned a...
From Issue 27 in
Whisky Travel
published on 16/11/2002
Dave Broom speculate on the fate of the smaller whisky brands faced with today's globalised marketplace
The whisky industry is always rife with rumour, most of which is to be disbelieved. After a few drams, two and two often makes 25. Rival
firms are in regular contact due to blending requirements, and ...
From Issue 26 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/10/2002
Dave Broom reports on the challenges facing a determined new breed of independent bottle-distillers
Question: What do you buy the independent bottler who has it all? Answer? A distillery. Signatory’s recent acquisition of Edradour is the latest
in a series of purchases by independent bottlers. Gor...
From Issue 26 in
Independent Bottlers
published on 16/10/2002
Dave Broom talks to Davied Stewar, the unassuming yet innovative force shaping the Wiliam Grant's portfolio, and long-term colleague, Whisky Records controller Eric Robertson
Glasgow in the early ‘60s. An industrial city, its buildings soiled by the grime from the chimneys, a city with starlings blackening its skies every dusk, a place where ships still crowded the Clyde...
From Issue 26 in
Whisky Hero
published on 16/10/2002
Dave Broom takes a deep breath and plunges headlong into the wonders of Islay
If you stand long enough in an Islay bar the whole world will eventually come and stand next to you. The thought strikes me one night (or was it one week) at the Lochindaal Hotel. Archie McAllister’...
From Issue 25 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/8/2002
Dave Broom sticks up for the overlooked 'oddball' of the whisky world, with some expert help
It was halfway through the tasting for the last issue that it struck me that no-one really understands what a vatted malt is: it’s the poor relation of the whisky industry, not quite a blend, not qu...
From Issue 25 in
Vatted malts
published on 16/8/2002
Dave Broom talks to John Glaser, the man exploring the boundaries of whisky
There's three things I look for when I make my whiskies," John Glaser is saying to me. "Flavour, creativity and pleasure: by which I mean moreishness and drinkability." There's 10 glasses in a circle ...
From Issue 25 in
Whisky Interview
published on 16/8/2002
Drink writer of the year Dave Broom investigates what exactly makes up a blend- and how blenders are steering away from old-school terminology to describe their art
It all started at a distillery (names don’t really matter here, as we will see). A discussion that was meant to be about whether we can talk terroir in whisky had, in the way of these things, ended ...
From Issue 24 in
Whisky Production
published on 16/7/2002
Dave Broom decides it’s high time for Inver House Distillers to spill the beans
When you think of whisky distilling, Airdrie doesn’t spring to mind.
Situated in the industrial belt that runs between between Glasgow and Edinburgh it’s a tough, working class town which has str...
From Issue 23 in
Whisky Production
published on 16/6/2002
Dave Broom joins the rank and file as a late, late discussion reveals hidden treasures about life, the universe and where to find Iggy pop chez Broom
One of the hazards of this job is waking up in the morning to find a scrap of paper – sometimes it’s a napkin, occasionally a beer mat – next to the bed with vaguely familiar writing on it. Som...
From Issue 21 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/2/2002
Dave Broom takes you through the possible pitfalls, the complications and the cons of many a whisky lover's dream- buying a cask
At one time, most distilleries offered private customers the chance to own a cask of whisky. It was a link with whisky’s origins as a spirit made by farmers for their local communities. These days t...
From Issue 21 in
Buying a cask
published on 16/2/2002
Dave Broom mulls over recent world events, the stereotypes that influence first impressions and the ties that bind us all. The world to rights over a glass....
Even now it’s like a dream, the feeling you’ve been sucked into a film set. Then the papers come and reality thunders in. They reinforce the old saying that one of the first victims of war is trut...
From Issue 20 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/12/2001
Dave Broom considers the merits of the Flying Lure when fishing for bass and one-dimensional, ole-fashioned whisky advertising
...
From Issue 19 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/11/2001
"It's only through flavour that we'll understand whisky and maybe it's only by walking the country that we'll understand flavour," says Dave Broom after climbing Ben Rinnes and Lochnagar with distinguished company
Those moments of un-thinking bravado happen to us all. A year or so ago I was sitting with Alan Winchester in his leather-bound office at Aberlour talking casually about hill walking when he said: “...
From Issue 19 in
Whisky walks
published on 16/11/2001
Dave Broom considers why Scotch has become the chosen tipple for British soap opera characters hell-bent on self-destruction
Admission: I love soaps. I pretend it’s because I like the serious examination of the major themes of human existence, but really I’m just a shallow old gossip eavesdropping on other people’s li...
From Issue 17 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/7/2001
Dave Broom follows JBB’s Richard Paterson on a typical working day and learns much about blending, showbiz and living life at full pelt
It’s 7.30am and I’m heading into the centre of Glasgow, towards JBB’s offices which are close enough to my old school to cause a nervy shudder. The modern building sits on the cusp between old a...
From Issue 17 in
Whisky Interview
published on 16/7/2001
Dave Broom considers the implications of the industry's dog-eat-dog corporate strategy upon whisky's future
Getting out of drinks in favour of showbiz and sewage (now there’s a natural synergy) has allowed Pernod Ricard to become the third biggest whisky firm, while Diageo (which took the wine side) just ...
From Issue 16 in
A dram with Dave Broom
published on 16/6/2001
Dave Broom catches up with Jim Mcewan, the country-hopping Brand Ambassador whose life is dedicated to whisky and telling the world about the people who spent their working lives making it.
It all began in 1990 on the back of a banana. There was an altogether weird malt whisky seminar at Bowmore in which retailers, writers and producers attempted to thrash out a workable plan for communi...
From Issue 13 in
Whisky Interview
published on 16/12/2000
Dave Broom visits Aberlour Distillery, built in a magical location that's home to some of the most knowledgable whisky folk in the world.
Aberlour Distillery’s colourful history began in 1826 when it was built by the laird of Aberlour. He was the very man who gave John Smith, Glenlivet’s founder, the pair of pistols used to great ef...
From Issue 13 in
Distillery Focus
published on 16/12/2000
Dave Broom visits Orkney, the home of Highland Park, and discovers that there is more to this timeless island than exceptional whisky
Orkney is mystical and beautiful. Made up of distinctive flat discs of green, the islands sit in a watery silver light to form a northern floating world - a magical place where the past almost encroac...
From Issue 12 in
Distillery Focus
published on 16/11/2000
What makes Lagavulin great? Dave Broom goes in search of answers at the home of one the world's most elusive malts.
The first sight you get of Lagavulin from the rolling road from Port Ellen is of a place which looks more like an austere, whitewashed Scottish baronial castle than a distillery; the sort that the wri...
From Issue 11 in
Distillery Focus
published on 16/9/2000
The spirit of innovation has always been a part of distilling at Glenlivet. Dave Broom charts ahistory shot through with passion, rebellion and imagination.
And in the Highlands the A939, Cockbridge to Tomintoul, is blocked. This was the way that the onset of winter was traditionally announced in Scotland.
Travel this road and you can see why this would...
From Issue 10 in
Distillery Focus
published on 16/6/2000
Whisky is rock's decadent badge of credibility. Dave Broom rhapsodises about the bohemians whose primal screams reveal an inspired but tortured relationship with the bottle.
We’re at a party following a Primal Scream gig in Brighton. A friend presents guitarist Robert Young with a token of his appreciation, a 40oz bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Robert proceeds to spend the ...
From Issue 9 in
Whisky and Music
published on 16/4/2000
Dave Broom retraces an old smuggling trail and discovers why so many brigands got away with pedalling their illicit hooch.
I once killed a horse with whisky.” It was the casual way that John Christie, former blacksmith of Glenlivet, dropped this nugget of information into the conversation that made it so disturbing. The...
From Issue 7 in
Smuggling
published on 16/12/1999
The Big Apple has some star whisky bars as tried and tasted by Dave Broom
Not surprisingly, rock singer Jim Morrison’s refrain: "Show me the way to the next whisky bar" kept raging in my head as I tramped the streets of New York searching for that very thing. Actually, it...
From Issue 6 in
Great whisky bars
published on 16/10/1999
Making whisky is all about rolling up your sleeves and getting down among the peat as Dave Broom found out at Bowmore distillery
6 o'clock in the morning! God knows when I last went to work at the same time as the sparrows are breaking wind in the trees. Still, whisky doesn't wait for lazy journalists, so it was down the road i...
From Issue 6 in
Distillery Focus
published on 16/10/1999
Sixty per cent of the flavour of malt whisky comes from the wood in which it is aged, says Dave Broom-but what does American oak do that European oak doesn't? And what real effects does a fino cask have?
Virtually every malt distiller, these days, sends some whisky to finishing school. This takes the form of giving it a final polish in barrels made of a particular sort of wood. The influence of these ...
From Issue 2 in
Whisky Production
published on 16/3/1999
The character of Speyside malts has been forged by geography and geology. Dave Broom looks at how remote glens and freezing water combined to produce consistent quality moonshine.
Speyside is familiar territory. The names of the distilleries trip off the tongue with ease; we think of Dufftown, Rothes and Keith as if they were just up the road. The mind’s image is one not just...
From Issue 1 in
Whisky Production
published on 12/1/1999
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