Edinburgh, Scotland
I got my monthly email from British Airways and saw that I was a few points away from the next tier of status.. and my annual reset was coming in a week and a half. This prompted Lacey and I to take a look at all the direct flight options that would cross me over to the next tier… Edinburgh here we come.
Without paying much attention to the dates, we just booked a quick trip and flew off to the land of whisky, bagpipes, and haggis. We stayed at The Inn on the Mile, which reminds me of the old medieval style pub with a bar, kitchen, live music and rooms upstairs.
Lucky for us, we were in Edinburgh for Burns Night, which is a great time of poetry, music and drinks. Red lights adorned the interior and exterior of nearly everywhere we went. We stayed out at The Rat Pack piano bar, dancing and singing til about 4am.
Greetings from Lionel Richie as we sat down at a place cleverly named “Wings”
We wandered Queen, Rose and George Streets, toured the castle, felt transported to the world of Harry Potter (much inspiration was drawn from here for the series, particularly Diagon Alley) and drank all the things.
Stained glass of William Wallace in Edinburgh Castle.
Cistern? Secret entrance for an ancient society? Just.. bricks?
Speaking of drinking, a friend of mine who grew up in Edinburgh recommended a place called Scotch; again a cleverly named to find some nice whisky, which is the proper spelling in Scotland, Canada and Japan; whiskey is largely used in the USA and Ireland.
Scotch is a comfortable shrine to whisky. A massive, hand-crafted, oak-paneled case runs from floor to ceiling. There are comfy leather chairs and the seating is nicely arranged to feel like your group can have some space. Lacey and I, both former bartenders, have a tendency to sit at the bar. It’s where you tend to get the best service, it’s easier to strike up a conversation or ask questions, and occasionally you get to test or try something you normally wouldn’t.
We sat down roughly one minute after they opened (we have a tendency to be early) and wasted no time telling Cameron, barman extraordinaire, “My goal today is to have three drams of Scottish Whisky. My favorite regional is a Highland. Let’s start simple and if possible, something I can’t get outside of Scotland. Then we’ll take it up a notch in rarity and price. For the third… let’s get silly. Something to tell a story about.”
Cameron is a man who knows his business. He asked me about what I enjoy and what I don’t enjoy to get a read on my palette and narrow down the options. He brought out a few choices, cracked them open, let me smell them and told me stories about where they were from. We started with the Hazelburn 10yr. Then we went to the Daftmill 2008, which doesn’t ship outside of Scotland as far as I know. Occasionally you can find it on websites because people travel to buy it and re-sell it.
From right to left: Hazelburn 10yr, Daftmill 2008 (11yr), Tomintoul 1968, Strathisla 1957. I skipped the Gordon & Macphail/Coleburn.
For the third and ‘silly’ whisky, I was brought three options: Tomintoul 1968, Coleburn 1981 (Private Collection), and Strathisla 1957. The Tomintoul was the ‘the next logical step in the journey we’ve taken.’ The Coleburn was ‘something a bit richer, a bit deeper, not really in the same vein, but a really nice whisky.’ The Strathisla was ‘one of the older bottles we have, won’t clash with what we’ve done, is the last bottle we have, and is older than you are. This is they whisky to tell a story about, the last person who ordered it was Royalty.’
The Coleburn was out for me based on the smell. Just not what I wanted at the moment. I was ignorant of the price of all three at the time, on purpose, trying to make this decision based on the experience. I hemmed and hawed between the Tomintoul and the Strathisla and my wife, the glorious and magical creature that she is, simply asked, “Why not get both?”
Mashinter Travel Law #1.
So I did. They were both amazing. I’d get a dram of the Tomintoul again… probably not the Strathisla. It’s a good story and I’m glad I had it.. but I’m not sure my palette is quite discerning enough to warrant the price tag. The Daftmill, on the other hand, was one of my favorites of all time. I’d like to get it again to see if my experience was more related to the moment, the venue, the trip, or if it really is as special as I remember it.
I’m excited to return to Edinburgh. We did mostly the touristy stuff.. and loved it.. but I’d like to go back for longer than a weekend, spend a bit more time rummaging through shops, trying more of the local fare and maybe buy a new wand at Ollivanders.
