Scotland/England '22: Day 4

Battlefield, Cairns and Whisky

Scotland/England '22 Gallery

At the Battlefield of Culloden

Ok, well it can’t be whisky all day everyday and yesterday had a heavy dose. But that doesn’t mean NO whisky either! We took a tour at the Singleton distillery at Glen Ord (more below).

Today’s touring about took us to the Culloden Battlefield (again) and the Clava Cairns (again). Yvette and I visited these places years ago after dropping off Sarah to University, but Maribel and Steve had not been there before, plus we had to be near Inverness to pick up my nephew (Grant) at the airport in the afternoon. The last time

we visited the famous battlefield where the Jacobites ultimately fell to the crown, ending the Jacobite Uprising, it was a damp, foggy morning that gave the battlefield a super creepy atmosphere. This time, hot and clear. One can only imagine what might have changed had the Jacobites taken the throne a couple decades before the Revolutionary War. It might have completely changed the course of U.S. history had the king been busier keeping his throne and less able or less interested in keeping the colonies in line.

Battlefield of Culloden

Right around the corner (literally a 2 minute drive) from the battlefield lie the Clava Cairns that date back to the Bronze Age. That’s 4000 years ago! I feel like you have to just sit and stare at them for an hour or so to soak up what that means. 4000 years is a long time, and even then humans were figuring out some complicated stuff.

Clava Cairns

PHOTOS: Still working on gathering the photos to populate the gallery link above. If I don’t catch up soon it’s going to be a problem!

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Inverness

Speyside: Whisky, Whisky, Whisky

Today’s whisky adventure was a tour at the Singleton Distillery at Glen Ord. They actually have 3 different distilleries each with a destination focus. Glen Ord for the European market, Dufftown for the Asian market, and Glendullen for the American market. Each with subtly different flavor styles, sweeter (American), fruitier (Asian), balanced (European). Our excellent tour guide, Colin, came by while we were grabbing a snack and chatted with for us for quite a while after the tour was done. He’s onto to something; he started a parallel club that meets for whisky during his wife’s book club meetings. They only read one page at each meeting, from the 101 whiskies to drink before you die! Oh, and they meet once a month instead of once every 3 months.

Whisky factoids: Have you ever had Monkey Shoulder? It’s a condition that the maltmen would get causing a sort of ‘dead’ shoulder’ where the arm would hang low, hence the nickname Monkey Shoulder. Anyone know what a Whisky Dog is? How about the Angel’s Share? I’ll leave these questions open to see if anyone comments. Answers in a later entry.

Whisky Scoreboard:

• Glenfarclas 15 - thumbs up, kind of spicy

• 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.

• Cool 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 (Glendullin) - the best of the 3 Singletons we tried here at the distillery.

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

• AnCnoc (Knockando Distillery) - Smokey and nice!