Drinking in Scotland

Scotland’s national drink is Whisky. There is no “e” in scotch whisky. Whisky can be had as a single malt, meaning it comes from only one distillery; or as a blend, which consists of many single malts and grain whiskys to create a signature flavor.

There are only 3 ingredients in whisky: Water, barley, and yeast. Yet each single malt tastes SO different. There are many factors which include the water source, the barley and how it is dried, the shape of the still, etc. etc. etc. Elyse and I just had fun trying as many as we could!

We did manage to go on a distillery tour while on the Isle of Skye. The smell of a distillery is like nothing else I have ever experienced. It’s a combination of bread factory (the fermenting mash) and ethanol. They really need to bottle this smell.

We also visited a whisky shop while in Edinburgh. The Cadenhead whisky shop was unique in that they will bottle whisky for you straight from the cask! No extra coloring or filtering. Needless to say we got a bottle and sampled a few casks to make sure it was the right one (and got buzzed in the process).

The bounty from the trip:

Scotland’s other national drink is a soda called Irn Bru. It outsells Coke! It’s very orange in color but doesn’t taste orangey. It’s vaguely fruity with a little vanilla and gum inserted. It also has a bit of quinine.

And a few more favorites:

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