Going Deep not frequently enough

All ideas are a blend;?inspiration and imagination.

One supports the other. But both essentials to support my role in Woven.

Good thinking is a mixed drink and one I like to swirl around the glass. I like to go deep on stuff, possibly due to a combination of dyslexia and a philosophy degree. I only really understand something if it makes sense to me.

It takes time and a hectic world means it rarely happens.

There's a book called the Way of Whisky by Dave Broom, which I read just as I was considering the transition from big corporate to my own project. It took a subject I'd experienced over years in fragmented (internet based) form and presented it in a large analogue volume. It was a brilliant mix of information and opinion that I found hugely inspiring. The act of reading it was like an alchemical reaction as hundreds of fragments of thoughts, interactions, pieces of insight I'd obtained during tastings and blogs suddenly galvanised as the words on the page in front of me entered my brain. It's a hard sensation to describe, but gave me a reminder on why I loved the category so much to start with. I felt revived by it somehow.

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Dave Broom has spent twenty years going deep on a subject and his gift as a writer means he can weave the complex narratives into clear, I think inspiring) thoughts, beautifully articulated.

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I just had the same experience again with his most recent book; a sense of place. Firstly, it took me over a year to set aside enough time to read it properly. Which, given the knowledge I had about how much I'd get out of it and what I do for a living is pretty embarrassing.

Todays world sees us constantly engaged, but only sometimes inspired. And rarely nourished. I spend hours per day in the online whisky world either creating, interacting with or consuming 'content'. Frequency has replaced quality and I'll admit that sometimes Woven's feeds are guilty of it too.

Whisky deserves and rewards deep thought and contemplation. Micro dosing curated feeds is fragmenting the information?we're absorbing and altering our relationship with it. I know the experience of reading Dave's first book transformed by appreciation of Japanese Whisky, a subject I felt that I was knowledgeable on, and I have experienced the same feeling with A sense of place.

For me, the pressure to 'always be doing' has eroded the opportunity to imagine through being inspired. The success of Woven depends, in part, on the quality of the thinking that I'm able to do. Time to think is the ultimate luxury, and possibly even a competitive advantage.

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So whilst the the most in vogue and potentially even authoritative influences now exist on micro dosing platforms like Instagram, the combination of the relative scattering of opinion and the metrics that drive 'success' have changed the experience of discovering whisky as a consumer. They're driving us toward a homogenisation of binary opinions on a range of subjects within the category and we don't dwell for long enough with these opinions to challenge them or decide on their value. Narratives regarding brands sweep the industry and even the language we use to describe what we're tasting follows the same patterns. Springbank good. Ardnamurchan hot. Loch Lomond on the rise, cult peat losing its cool... I track these ideas from the first time I encounter them and quickly find validation as they proliferate and then fade away, replaced by the next thing.

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As someone operating in the 'thinking' side of the industry it’s a reminder for me that time to think is the ultimate luxury. And that quality in will at some point bring quality out. Dave Brooms book is excellent and I hope others can take as much from it as I did. There's a deep joy to be found in going deep into a subject that I spend 60+ hours a week thinking in fragmented form. The experience of spending time with that book and the excellent photography by Christina Kernohan has delivered me out the other side with a head full of inspiration. The consequence is that the new ideas now forming that relate to Woven feel fresh, nimble and energised.?

It's inspired me to do more deep thinking about the subject, and carve out time to let thoughts settle and form rather than simple fizz. And I suppose that's why I wrote this, as I attempted to understand what it was I had experienced.

Also, a personal highlight was to discover Woven's small mention for what we're attempting to do with the blending category. Can't believe it took me over a year to discover that.