Scotland/England '22: Day 11

Off to London in the middle of a heatwave

The Giraffes of Edinburgh - Found Everywhere

I’m finding it difficult to find a balance of what and how much to write in these blogs. My instinct is to write about less things and leave out miscellaneous detail in general, but the amount of time to get a post done is making that difficult. It’s hard to sit down for 10 minutes and write something interesting, so it feels like so far these are just short recaps of the day. If I keep trying this exercise, the posts will change in content and style quite a bit. It’s going to take some practice and learning I think. It certainly requires a different approach than just posting some interesting photos when there is time to do so.

I’m writing this the day after our uneventful day of train travel from Edinburgh to London and thought I would catch up on details from the past week.

• We’re heading into what may be an all time record breaking heatwave in London this week. Tomorrow is forecasted to be 100 degrees, and Tuesday at a 102! Sarah ordered a 2nd fan for her flat just in case so we could sleep.. No AC in London!!!

• The Vaults - We actually did a touristy thing last week by taking a tour of the Vaults in Edinburgh. It isn’t obvious by the streets, but many of the buildings along the South Bridge sit atop layers of vaults. Once intended as storage, their faulty use of limestone made them unsuitable to keep goods. They quickly turned into a grim place for vagrants, crime and disease. Yet another chapter in how crappy people can be to each other.

• Even though we’ve stayed in Edinburgh several times, this was the first time to be right in Old Town at the Grassmarket. Nice location, lots of pubs. Because the Tattoo is coming soon, the stands up at the castle were being used for rock concerts this past week. So there was some evening serenades going on!

• Whisky - Touring around Speyside was a blast but there are so many distilleries, it would take an effort to even see a decent portion of them. Nevertheless, we still are bring back 4 1/2 bottles of whisky home! I tried over 30 whiskies, but who’s counting, and none were undrinkable, some I wouldn’t buy though.

Graduation Dinner at The Cottage

Doune Castle with my nephew Grant - Used in Outlander, Game of Thrones, and all the castle scenes in Monty Python’s Holy Grail

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Greyfriars Bobby

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Whisky Scoreboard:

++ Distillery Tour/Tasting

** Distillery Bar (no tour)

• Glenfarclas 15 (++) - thumbs up, kind of spicy (bringing some home)

• Macallan 12 Triple Cask (**) - so so

• Macallan 12 Double Cask (**) - so so

• Macallan 12 Sherry Cask (**) - not bad, I would buy it.

• Macallan Edition No. 2 (**) - decent, alcohol forward, then kind of spicy

• Macallan Edition No. 4 (**) - decent - grasslike quality, don’t ask me what that means.

• Macallan Edition No. 6 (**) - ok, I’ve been drinking all day, it seemed ok now in hindsight

• Speyside Braden Orach - not bad, alcohol forward

• Singleton 12 - definitely drinkable

• Knockando 12 - not bad

• Glenrothes Whisky Makers Cut - after so many whiskies I’m not sure what to make of it. So different than the others, it is hard to be objective. Different for sure and I think decent. Might have to try again!

• Ledaig Sinclair - I like this one and it seemed to be perfect to go with a Smokey BBQ. It was Smokey for sure, but I like those kinds of whiskies.

• Caol Ila DE - Smokey but not a lot of body. There are better options for something similar. Still drinkable though.

• Singleton 12 (Dufftown)(++) - ok, tasted better before trying the nest 2 on the list

• Singleton 15 (Glendullan)(++) - the best of the 3 Singletons we tried at the distillery.

• Singleton Celebratory (Glen Ord)(++) - great nose, kind of spicy, only 3 thousand bottles made, would be nice around the holidays

• An Cnoc (Knockando Distillery) - Smokey and nice!

• GlenGrant 10 (++) - Not special, but also not bad. I’ll drink it if you serve it to me.

• GlenGrant Arboralis (++) - Light, perfect for summer Scoth drinking, if there is such a thing. Also really inexpensive for the bonus (bringing some home)

• Dailuaine 16 - Nice but not awesome. Alcohol forward then the sweetness from the sherry casking

• BenRiach 12 Sherry - We have drive past BenRiach so many times this week it seemed necessary to try this one. I actually liked this better than the Dailuaine 16.

• Glenfarclas 105 (++)

• Cragganmore 12 (++) Decent, great nose, modest flavoring compared to the others we tried (bringing some home)

• Cragganmore Distillers Edition (++) - Like this one and bought a bottle (bringing some home)

• Cragganmore Distillery Reserve (++)- Liked this one as well but it is a higher proof which I do not prefer

• Glengoyne 12 (++) - Decent but not overly flavorful

• Glengoyne 18 (++) - Really nice, we’re bringing some home

• Deanston 12 (++) - Alcohol hit upfront and on the backend, decent but again having trouble rating because my taste buds are getting confused

• Deanston Virgin Oak (++) - Did not really care for this one. It was made using a blend of 16 yr and 6-8yr

• Deanston 18 (++) - Drinkable, but felt like a decent 12, not an 18

• Lock Lomond 12 - Really nice actually. Only tried it because we took a lunch at Loch Lomond on our tour yesterday. But, I would buy this one. Smooth and a hit of sweetness up front. FYI, there is a Lock Lomond over the hill in Santa Cruz county, great hike. Not sure I can get this in the US, but we have too many bottles already to pack another…..