Book Corner: A Sense of Place, A Journey Around Scotland's Whisky

Who doesn’t love a great road trip?

“A Sense of Place, A journey around Scotland’s whisky” is a road trip. Falling in love with a road trip is easy when that road trip is to one of our favorite places and is painted with such vivid words, colors and overall emotions from author Dave Broom and photographer Christina Kernohan. A Sense of Place is the quintessential road trip that many of us would love to take, but may never be able to, or if we do, never be able record it such an illustrative fashion.
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This is a book that’s more about the people and the places than it is about the product of Scotch Whisky. And, that’s why we fell in love with this book. If whisky is the reason then the people and places are the connection to this magical journey that Broom takes us on. So, for those looking for a treatise on the making whisky, filled with formulas, recipes, flavor profiles and the like – you may be disappointed. But for those looking to learn about the lives and the land behind the liquid, you’ve come to the right place.

​From Dufftown to Islay, with many stops in between, A Sense of Place gives that feeling of great friends that you haven’t met yet. Friends like Dennis McBain. Dennis was born in Dufftown, close to the distilleries there, and you learn that while officially retired, he never quite gets away from the world of whisky where he worked for 50 years.

Like many of his other family members, the distilleries were a way of life and in A Sense of Place, you get to eavesdrop in on the author’s conversations with Dennis and the others you will meet along the way, feeling as though you may be right there in the room with them.

While well-known for our wine glasses, the Stölzle brand also has a wide variety of whisky glasses to add to your book reading pleasures.

When you get to Islay, you are introduced to James Brown, whose everyday seems built around thoroughly enjoying a life well lived and having a special knack for seizing opportunities both personal and business. From lighthouse keeper to rugby player, from farmer to supplier to the distilleries, Brown seems like that person from our hometown we all may know who just keeps rolling on, doing a bit of whatever needs doing all along the way.
And, maybe that’s why we like A Sense of Place so much.

While reading A Sense of Place you will learn much about the world of Scottish whisky, but you will learn this through the stories and through the everyday lives of those whose entire years have been intertwined with the spirit and the industry. Honest and straightforward, often in their own words.

And, for us, it’s those human stories of everyday folks that Dave Broom is able to bring to us through his words and descriptions, that we enjoy so much. Combined with Kernohan’s images, A Sense of Place offers us an opportunity to escape to Scotland and to connect with the people and the places that make the whisky produced there so special.
Some readers may think it all is a bit romanticized, but if that’s ok because that’s how we prefer our journeys.
After all who doesn’t love a great road trip?
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So, pour yourself a dram and get ready to meet a few new friends.
​Slàinte  mhath!
(Good health!)

To learn more about A Sense of Place or to pick up a copy, you can visit:
https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Place-journey-Scotlands-whiskies/dp/1784726710/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LHU1RT14EAPG&keywords=a+sense+of+place+a+journey+around+scotland%27s+whisky&qid=1674331481&sprefix=A+Sense+of+Place%2Caps%2C84&sr=8-1

​Disclaimer:
Our thoughts and opinions on the books we write about are just that – our thoughts and opinions. Therefore, we share them freely about books that we feel are relevant to us and our readers. Finally, we absolutely  appreciate the time, effort and resource required to produce a book so hats off to all the authors and the many other people it takes to bring these books forward to us.