Whisky Writer Circle Profile - Davin de Kergommeaux, bird of a different feather...

Years ago I did a training session at work where we discovered what our conflict management style was. Any guesses as to what mine is? Well it wasn't the wise owl that's for sure.  It is the woodpecker... :/

Woodpecker: "They are clear on what needs to be done to resolve the situation, are not afraid to say so and will hammer away at their point until the other person agrees. They don't waste time on niceties and their main concern is getting the other party to at least see things their way." Pretty accurate, in the event you've never seen my passionate banters on twitter... So I'm considered a bit bold, in your face and not scared to say: Listen here A _ _ Hole, you are pissing me off. (Insert embarassed face here)

So in walks Davin into my life about 2 years ago: Calm, collected and cool as a cucumber. The wise "owl" that is spectacled, well dressed, verbally cunning and always tactful. What does he do, he befriends me. He sees the potential in me (somewhere) and provides much needed advice and guidance - not only on whisky related things. He is a life coach as well as fantastic mentor to me and I've never met anyone who emulates what the #whiskyfabric means as much as he does. 

A bit about Davin: He actually started his path as a trained wine sommelier, surprised?  Don't be, much of the same techniques are used when it comes to scents, flavours and appreciating the complexities. How did he fall into whisky, well let's just say he's been surrounded by Canadian whisky since birth albeit didn't taste any until well into his 20's. Davin's probably tasted & created 100's of Scotch notes over the years but his passion and love truly lie in all things Canadian Whisky. He owns and runs the only non-commercial website in our country that is dedicated to Canadian Whisky and has made it a mission to elevate our national treasure by sharing his knowledge and passion. 

www.canadianwhisky.org

What drove Davin to write a book about it? He saw the beauty in the story, the history and how it moulded our country as well as its people. If you don't believe me when I say Davin is passionate and loyal, let me add that he spent close to 8 years crawling through old dusty archive rooms, thousands of hours researching every distillery across Canada and endless days writing to create Canadian Whisky, the Portable Expert.

It has won several prestigicious awards and has elevated the portfolio of Canadian Whisky into the international limelight. On the side (hehe) he is the contributing Canadian editor for Whisky Magazine as well as a regular contributor to other publications.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present my next whisky writer:  Certified Malt Maniac, Canadian Whisky Expert, Mentor and best of all my friend:  Davin de Kergommeaux. 

 Thanks for including me in this series and sorry if I wrote more about others than I did myself. (My note: Davin at his core!)

Q1: So how did you get “here”? When you were a little boy, I’m sure you didn’t say: “When I grow up I want to be a whisky writer”?

"No, but I did always have a keen interest in writing. I had a regular column (pop music) in the high school newspaper, at different times edited two entertainment monthlies, took a journalism course as an adult, and have been publishing on the whisky web since 1998.

Honestly, most publishing opportunities have come to me. My great mentor (though he may cringe to hear it) is Dave Broom, who every now and then sends me an encouraging note. He was the first serious writer to take me seriously and he even acquiesced to having me write the Canada chapter in his World Atlas of Whisky. That is one of the most authoritative and engaging whisky books on the market today. Dave is not a hack and does not write cut-and paste-books, so his including me gave me a real confidence boost and real credibility. Dave is a brilliant writer who has chosen to write about whisky. Check out his piece in the Michael Jackson tribute book. It is a real lesson in descriptive prose.

Dominic Roskrow has also been a huge support. He and I were talking about an article for Whisky Magazine, then he left as editor, and the piece didn’t happen. Not long after he invited me to contribute to his 1001 Whiskies book. What an honour (and a challenge) that was. He was just super at guiding me through the process of writing a book. He taught me to work quickly, focus on key information and keep to a strict word count. He’s a real pro. I guess he liked my work because he came back to me when he was writing The Whisky Opus and asked if I could cover Canada for him. That was more fun and again, a great learning experience. I see both of my Dominic books in bookstores all over the world."

Q2: What motivates you to be in this part of the industry? Sometimes it can be quite unkind and very few can make a living doing this?



"I enjoy being part of the community. I have made so many friends and we talk about a lot more than just whisky. I say that the best part of whisky is the people we drink it with. It’s a really convivial crowd. However, wherever I am, whatever I am doing, I will be writing – whisky or not. Still, whisky is so interesting and there is so much to learn and so many stories left to tell (and myths to bust)."

Q3: What sacrifices or tough decisions have you made to get to where you are now? 


"The most important lesson I learned in grad school was to follow my nose. So, I really can’t call anything a sacrifice. If life hadn’t led me here, it would have led me somewhere else just as interesting. I will never be wealthy, but I don’t measure success in monetary terms. I try to take a positive attitude to life, I try to see the best in people, and that said, I do my best to avoid negative people and influences." 

Q4: If you could go back in time and talk to Davin de Kergommeaux in 1984, what would you want to tell him?

"Spend more time with your family."


Q5: Are you able to share some of your upcoming projects or plans with us?

"I have a new book in the works. I am very excited about it but it is premature to share the details. It is another piece that treads new ground and requires a lot of research, so it will be a few more years before it is finished."

Anything else you would like to share with everyone?

"I’ll end with my frequent advice to myself: Remember, it’s just whisky. Enjoy it and the people who you share it with. Don’t sweat it if you miss a great dram. There is always a better one coming. ALWAYS. Don’t let experts, self-proclaimed or otherwise, intimidate you. There is no correct way to taste or enjoy whisky. Or to put it the other way, there is no incorrect way to enjoy whisky, even if others might disagree. Question the received wisdom, it’s often wrong. Be open to new whisky experiences and don’t take your whisky or yourself too seriously."

End of interview...

One the things I've discovered about Davin as well as many of the other writers I admire is the way the handle the situations they are presented with. They are witty, smart and all have a sense of humor. I will certainly work on developing those characteristics. 

Davin recently appeared at our NB Spirits Festival and did a Master Class about World Whiskies: It was interesting, poignant and humorous.  A few participants told me afterwards it was one of the best classes they had ever attended and I know for a fact at least 5 of them went to buy the Red Breast 12 and Amrut Fusion he showcased. The man's got class, patience and carries a flask of Canadian whisky, what more could you really want in a mentor?

André Girard, myself & Davin = Canadian dream team #whiskyfabric

Our whisky roots and ancestors may come from Scotland, Ireland and England, but I assure you Canadian Whisky and Davin are quite unique and I for one am thankful for both.  

Tune into #DavinTT2 on Dec 1, 8, 15 and 22nd. Lots of fun, a grand prize and a chance to talk to Davin on Twitter.   

Cheers from the Canadian trail!

Johanne

Davin - a passion for all things Canadian Whisky

Happy 1st anniversary to me!  Well, actually I've officially been on twitter for a little over a year and a bit now but over that course of time I have racked up 17,600 tweets.  I've been teased quite a bit about it and was dubbed "twitter queen".  I don't mind because one of the things I have appreciated the most about being on twitter is how it has lifted me onto a much larger playing field.  I'm sure at first I must have been a bit of an enigma always talking about my passion and self proclaimed ambassadorship when it came to Canadian Whiskies and yes I was teased about that as well.  My favorite remarks from whisky imbibers thus far:  Canadian Whisky is "brown vodka" or "good Canadian whisky is an oxymoron".  And honestly no wonder when you see what we end up exporting to the States and overseas.  What gets sent away is the "mixing whisky".  The stuff people ask for when they want a rye & coke.  Hell, even Canadians have no idea how good some of our whiskies are?

I simply can't help who I am which is a very dedicated and serious ambassador when it comes to talking about Canadian Whisky so I started offering to send whisky samples from my own personal collection (I have over 30 bottles) to anyone who wanted some.  People from all over the world started receiving Canadian whisky some as far reaching as New Zealand (Hey Jay!)  I always asked for anyone who received them to be honest and let me know what they thought.  I'm a firm believer that most people were and what came back was 95% were amazed at the taste/flavor and profiles of some of the whiskies I sent.  No, it's not Scotch. So let's not try to compare two completely different whiskies. It's Canadian and that is what makes it unique.  Some people had never experienced the delicate but delicious flavors of 100% rye. Other whiskies I sent like Forty Creek (didn't matter which one I sent) often left people extremely perplexed with the nose/palate being so completely different than any other whisky they ever tasted.  Are all Canadian whiskies fantastic? Hell no but neither are all bourbons or scotches.  Let's be honest there are some real duds out there no matter what type of whisky we are talking about.

courtesy of www.canadianwhisky.org

Someone I was extremely fortunate to befriend very early into my whisky adventures was Davin de Kergommeaux.  It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that he is THE Canadian Whisky Expert.  He has been a great friend, a wonderful mentor and has added so much to my life when it comes to advice about writing and a myriad of other things.  Davin is a scholar, a true gentleman, a Malt Maniac and a passionate Canadian Whisky Geek (that is a huge compliment!!).  It was an honor to be a judge for the 2012 Canadian Whisky Awards and I made the trip out to Victoria where I met several other Malt Maniacs, drank some of the best whiskies and of course hung out with Davin and many others.  2013 has already become a year of leaps and bounds on my crazy but always fantastic whisky journey.  

In late winter a fellow whisky writer created a Facebook Page for Spirits Bloggers and I was invited to join. Yet another wonderful example of what the whisky fabric is about.  Great ideas and creative discussions take place in that group. So when "we" decided to have a huge and very successful Twitter Flash Mob Blog on March 17th it sparked a few more great ideas; one of which was Davin wanting to try something a bit different.  He contacted me and we began to brainstorm. The thought was to create a social media event that would not only promote his book but allow people to try Canadian whiskies for themselves.  We came up with a plan, put it out there to the writers/bloggers and what came back was overwhelming.  We anticipated getting 10-15 interested people but in the end we had 32 ask to take part.  I was gobsmacked!?   

However, with only so many pours in one bottle we had to apologize to 17 and went forward with fifteen.  We had folks from Israel all the way to Oregon USA.  So I set off sending samples, Davin set off sending a few books to those who didn't already have it and between us all we got organized and did something that had never been done on twitter before:  A weekly chat with an author about his book combined with a blind whisky tasting.  

This took place over the course of the month of May on every Sunday at 3:00pm EST.  

HIGHWOOD DISTILLERY

We had an assignment every week to read 4 chapters and then on said date/time we all had the opportunity to ask Davin questions about the book, the experience of writing it, Canadian whisky and/or the individual chapters.  At the 30 minute mark we would break open one of the mystery samples, nose/taste and try to guess what it was with of course the big reveal at the end of the hour.  I was happy to volunteer myself as the keeper of questions and moderator and Davin did a fantastic job fielding and answering the rapid fire questions in 140 characters!  STUPENDOUS feat in itself...  :)  

So what came of it?  Every week, our numbers grew. More people started to join us for the chat.  Some followers poured a Canadian whisky and bounced along with us while others went out and bought the book and joined in with questions/discussions. It was a great way to get people talking about Canadian Whisky the portable expert and walk people through a nosing/tasting of some really good whiskies.

By Sunday May 26th our numbers had almost reached 50.  One as far as Australia (up at 4:30am!?) poured a sample I had sent him and watched the twitter feed (#DavinTT).  It truly was an exhilarating experience to take part and what I came away with was how much fun it was to read and watch Davin breathe life into his book for all of us on twitter.   So many great questions came out of the sessions and I personally feel like "we" were getting the word out about the real history of Canadian whisky.  Debunking so many misconceptions and myths (don't drink the kool-aid as Davin always says).   The "tah dah" moment for me was watching people react to the 4 whiskies Davin chose:  Lot 40, Alberta Premium Dark Horse, Danfield's 21 and Forty Creek Portwood Reserve 2012.  Did everyone LOVE every single one of them, of course not?! Some thought a few were less then stellar but that is truly a subjective thing.  For me they ranked: Forty Creek, Danfield's, Lot 40 then Dark Horse which surprised me because I initially loved the Dark Horse and hated the Lot 40 about 6 months ago. Regardless, the point was to have people from all corners of the world have the opportunity to try read and then try these beauties and I'm beyond happy they did. 

LASSIE SAMPLE HQ

Canadian whisky can be GREAT.  The people like Davin who have a passion about them are making sure the word gets out and the people like me, well we share.  The old story goes:  Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish he eats for the rest of his life. Well, Davin is out to teach us all about Canadian Whisky and my belief is once you taste is you'll be willing to try/buy them for life. 

As a result of this great little event I have received many twitter, facebook and email messages from people thanking us for the experience.  My favorite so far is this one: "This has indeed quite broadened my horizons and has opened my eyes (and palate) to the wonderful world of Canadian whiskies, about which, I'm afraid I knew nothing about.
Because of your kind invitation to join in, I have made amazing discoveries ( I have yet to recover from the exquisite pleasure brought on by last week's Danfield's 21 year old Limited Edition) and learned that great whiskies are being made in our own backyard! Thank you again,  Maryse"

This is what fuels my passion.  Congrats Davin on a job well done, not only on the book which is a fantastic award winning read but on truly being the Canadian Whisky Expert!  If you haven't purchased a copy yet, I urge you to.  Available at book stores, online and in E-book format.  

Better yet, Father's Day is around the corner so tell your kids you want this:

COURTESY OF RUM HOWLER BLOG - Chip Dykstra

A) It's a very well written book about whisky.

AND...

B) It's way better than a tie!



Continuing my work/passion for all things Canadian Whisky, I remain...

The Lassie