If you have any interest whatsoever in whisky – or for that matter in literature, music or esoteric paraphernalia ranging from bird skulls to Buddhist statuary – you could not fail to be impressed by the basement in Dave Broom’s house in Hove. Diverse books and records line the walls. Floor-to-ceiling shelves on either side of the fireplace are stacked three deep with bottles, many of them of a rarity and excellence that would make your head spin. This is a creative bolthole to die for and just the kind of place you’d hope to find a spirits writer such as Dave – a Glasgow-born expert in rum, gin, sherry and above all whisky (and of course whiskey[footnote] Irish whiskey is spelled with an “e”, Scotch whisky without[/footnote]) – in residence.
Dave has spent the last two decades writing about spirits, publishing a dozen books (the most recent is Rum: The Manual; the next one will be about whisky-making in Japan) and developing contacts and friendships with distillers all around the world. “These are all stories,” he says, glancing over at his spirits library. “Everything there, I know the person who made it or the place in which it’s been made. It has that resonance.”
Over the course of a (hugely enjoyable) day making this film, Dave gives us an insight into his working life and how spirits writing became his full-time job. We hang in the background as he taps away at his laptop, as he tastes a selection of very good whisky that’s just been sent to him from Canada. When we ask Dave to pick out a few bottles that have had particular resonance for him over the years, his eyes light up. He goes over to his library and starts plucking stories from the shelves. Here are the nine whiskies and rums that end up on the tasting table:
– Wolfburn Aurora »
– Green Spot Chateau Léoville Barton »
– Suntory Hibiki 17 year old (high strength) »
– Convalmore 28 years old »
– Ardbeg 1990 Airigh Nam Beist »
– Port Dundas 1978 36 Year Old Xtra Old Particular »
– Plantation Pineapple Rum »
– Rhum Rhum 6 ans PMG Liberation 2015 Full Proof »
– Compagnie des Indes, Jamaica Navy Strength Rum »
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