This May Be The Whisky Talking
“I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”
“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough.”
Today was all about our The Scotch Whisky Experience tour at 4:10 pm; however, we had three items to check off Pam’s are to-do list before we left the city.
#1: Have Gelato—Pam was watching videos on must-do things when visiting Edinburgh and one was enjoying gelato. We stopped in Artisan Gelato Edinburgh on Cockburn Street—yummy!! 🤤
Pam had pineapple 🍍 (vey refreshing) and Amanda and I had dark chocolate (rich and velvety). ✅
Then she was off to complete #2: take picture in front of the lighted Edinburgh sign and Christmas tree on The Mound.
✅ ✅
On our way to see the final item—the Ross Fountain—we took a peek at the stage where The Pet Shop Boys will play on Hogmanay (what a backdrop!).
And then she finally made it to The Ross Fountain.
If you hadn’t guessed it yet, this part of the Princes Street Gardens was set up as a kid’s play area—thus Santa’s sleigh and the North Pole, uh, pole.
✅ ✅ ✅
On our way to the bus for The Scotch Whisky Experience, we found another dime!
Scotch Whisky Experience
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t eager to do this tour. I expected it to be an easy way to grab money from tourists who are enamored with Scotch whisky. In reality, they put a lot of time and energy into the presentation and it was both informative and fun.
Cool image that changes as you move past it, showing the different flavor profiles of Scotch.
Ah yes, the charcoal, floral, iodine, peat, and smoke that is uniquely Islay malt!
You start the tour with a ride through the Scotch-whisky-making process, a la the Haunted Mansion from Disneyland. Like I said, they really went all out.
In this room we learned more about the unique distinctions of the 5 regions where Scotch is made—Lowlands, Highlands, Campbelltown, Islay, & Speyside. We selected a region and they brought us a wee dram, that we took with us into the next room before drinking.
And this is the next room—Sláinte!
In the 1970s, Claive Vidiz, a whisky enthusiast and founder member of the Brazilian Association of Whisky Collectors, started to acquire Scotch whisky of varying type, cost, and rarity.
He amassed almost 3,400 bottles over 35 years.
The six original bottles:
The two oldest bottles: c. 1897 & c. 1904
Almost 3,400 bottles!
Glen Vegan 😂
Amazing bottles
Regal Langside
We took the Gold Tour so we had four additional tastings after the tour—Lowland single malt (Auchentoshan), Highland single malt (Glengoyne 10 year old), Speyside single malt (The GlenAllachie 8 year old), and Islay single malt (Bunnahabhain Toiteach A Dhà).
I have to say, I really did enjoy the peaty Islay Scotch from Bunnahabhain; although, we all agreed our favorite was the Speyside from The GlenAllachie.
This is our tour guide Matt and he really made the tour great. Afterward Amanda asked if he knew Callum Woodhouse from Durrells in Corfu and All Creatures Great and Small. He was wasn’t familiar. It may have been the whisky talking, but Amanda showed him a picture of Callum and he had to agree the similarity was uncanny.
Huh? Not bad eh? Actor by day and whisky tour guide by night.
This may be the whisky talking again, but we really had a lot of fun and even I have to say it was worth the money (now that’s saying something)!
