"The future of whisky goes back to the past": Dave Broom

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Whisky expert and author Dave Broom explains how ancient Scots cooking techniques and ingredients described in 18th century recipe books are being redeployed in the hippest cocktail development labs across the land - and how the various ancient Scots micro-terroirs are being appreciated by a new generation …

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dave for a previous issue of The Keeper magazine and thought it would be interesting to share it ahead of his appearance at the upcoming Futtle Spots on my Apples organic festival at Bowhouse, St Monans, Fife.

If you were to be offered a tall glass of Talisker blended with dehydrated peach concentrate and extract of freshly-foraged fig leaf with a dash of ginger soda, a hurricane glass filled to the frothy brim with Singleton pina colada, or a Johnnie Walker Highball made with local seabuckthorn, rosehips and celery soda, would it send you running for the comfort of a quiet dram with just a dash of water? Whatever your preference, it seems the whisky cocktail culture is here to stay.

Some mind-blowing innovations - and more - were on show at the recent Diageo World Class Bartenders Final live event at Glasgow’s SWG3 in which delegates from 55 countries all over the world competed. Most were under the age of 40. New technology, paired with the passion of a younger generation, is enabling the disruption of the centuries-old Scotch whisky drinking tradition for the millennial consumer and beyond. The future, it seems, is in their shaker-clasping hands.

For all the breathless excitement around the new movement, though, it’s perhaps not so novel after all. Records show that fruits, herbs, spices and botanicals were being blended with whisky in 19th century Scottish kitchens and, although there is no reference to whisky in the oldest printed Scots recipe book – Mrs McLintock’s Receipts for Cookery and Pastry-Work, published in Glasgow in 1736 – some of the cooking techniques used are eerily similar to those being redeployed in the hippest cocktail development labs across the land.

Above and below: Some of the latest whisky-based creations showcased at the Diageo World Class Bartenders Final at Glasgow’s SWG3

Egg whites, clarified sugar syrup, citrus peel, fir tops, nettles, cream, gooseberries, rosehips, and spices such as mace, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger, all so familiar to the 18th century Scottish cook, are making a comeback in liquid form. Likewise, infusing, distilling and fermenting fruits and botanicals, so clearly described in Mrs McLintock’s tiny leatherbound tome, are all part of the cocktail future.

It was to be almost another century before whisky became part of the culinary conversation in line with its growing popularity. In her seminal tome The Cook and Housewife’s Manual, first published in Edinburgh by Oliver & Boyd in 1826, Isobel Christian Johnston - aka the fictional Mistress Margaret (Meg) Dods of the Cleikum Inn in Walter Scott’s novel St Ronan’s Well - gives fulsome witness to the innovative potential of whisky.

Here Dods provides early evidence of the whisky cocktail (Queen Victoria’s penchant for whisky mixed with claret notwithstanding.) Her recipes for alcoholic liqueurs made with whisky - which “should have no smoky or peat-reek flavour” - illustrate not only the technical accuracy and patience that was required to prepare them, but also a certain pride in using locally-grown plants and soft fruits, to which exotic imported flavourings such as saffron, almonds and citrus fruit peel and juice were added. All these infused ingredients were the modern alchemy of their time.

A Noyau, for example, required a quart of aqua vitae - the Latin for water of life, from which uisge beatha is derived - mixed with “clarified syrup, French prunes, peache, nectarine or apricot kernels, a few grains of celery seed and a drop or two of lemon or bitter orange essence”. For Cherry Whisky you needed to fill bottles up to three-quarters full with Morello or black cherries, fill up with whisky and leave for three weeks. Then you strained the liquid and added cinnamon and clove, adding clarified sugar syrup (laboriously achieved with egg white) to taste. Athole Brose, of course, was a long drink containing local honey and whisky and egg yolk. Raspberry, gooseberry and bramble wines are also described, though they required white wine or brandy and orange skins.

If this was a way of making whisky more palatable to the wider population, and even to women, then perhaps we are indeed coming full circle. For it rather eerily echoes the locally sourced botanicals-based drinks that are so popular today.

“The future of whisky is going back to the past,” agrees Dave Broom, the whisky expert and author. “In fact, increasingly it’s being seen less as an industrial product and more of an agricultural one. Modern consumers are intrigued by what’s going on around them, and local is very important.” Locally grown bere barley and rye whiskies coming onto the market are good examples.

In other words, the various and ancient Scots micro-terroirs are playing a significant role in the development of the industry.

He points to similarities with the 16th and 17th centuries, when whisky was being made in tiny private stills using local ingredients. “The uisge in Cromarty would have been very different from that made in Islay. So they were hyper-local,” he says.

When whisky was becoming fashionable in 18th century Scotland, so was punch and even if they favoured imported rum and brandy, they paved the way for the modern cocktail. 

Broom reckons the ongoing innovation across all spirit categories including gin, rum, vodka and vermouth has been good for the Scotch Whisky industry. Japan, for example, changed perceptions with the whisky Highball, and now it’s hugely popular poured ice-cold in draught half-pints or sold in individual tins.

“The modern consumer browses between different categories,” says Broom. “The vast majority are itinerant. So if it doesn’t innovate, the Scotch Whisky industry will get left behind.

“There is some fantastic work going on, and diversity in Scotch is being thoroughly researched. It’s no longer only an older man’s drink; it’s a spirit that sits alongside all the others. That realisation frees the imagination. Why not, for example, try making a whisky pina colada? It’s a valid option, so long as it recognises the inherent quality of the Scotch.”

That last point is shared by Stuart Bale, Scots-born founder of Crucible, the collaborative creative hub in London which had a prominent presence at the World Class finals. Futuristic Rotovaps for intensifying flavours, ultrasonic machines that integrate all ingredients into one new taste, and centrifuges that separate liquids and fats to change textures were all in action and producing drinks whose flavours were simply incredible – and actually enhanced the flavour of the whiskies.

“For a long time people saw Scotch whisky as a ‘sacrosanct’ category that you could not do anything with. But now it’s no longer seen as scary,” he said. “What’s exciting is that the industry is getting into the idea of doing more stuff with it - engaging people who aren’t natural whisky drinkers.”  

But he adds: “The fancy toys aren’t always the answer. Whisky is part of this whole movement because it has an amazing range of flavours. Flavour is everything. We can push it and push it if brands want us to, but you want to watch that you aren’t destroying the inherent properties of the whisky.”

No doubt Mrs McLintock and Meg Dods would agree.