Scotland/England '22: Day 7

Speyside to Edinburgh

Scotland/England '22 Gallery

Pump Organ - Blaine Castle

An uneventful day as we drove back to Edinburgh. Took a quick stop at Blain Castle (see the organ photo above). Beautiful family estate/castle with some history through the Jacobite Rising and a lot of modern history. The most interesting was Katherine “Kitty”. Marjorie Emerson, Duchess to the 8th Duke of Atholl. She seemed quite the modern woman. Being fluent in German, she even tried warning the English government that the English translation of Mein Kampf had been toned down and the Hitler posed a serious threat.

Blaine Castle

Pump Organ - Check out th bellows at the end

Hmmm - Military Discipline?

Driving all around Scotland, it is so nice to be surrounded by green everywhere. No dried out landscape or water problems, though even the locals have told me that winters seem different now than when they were kids. Still cold, but less snow. One interesting plant we have been seeing a lot of is Scotch Broom. Not sure they call it Scotch Broom or not, but is it is a nuisance in Nevada City. It’s a non native species that is hard to get rid of and dries out making it a terrible fire fuel. Maybe not a problem here in Scotland where it stays green and fire is not an issue.

Scotch Broom in it’s native habitat

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Whisky Scoreboard:

++ Distillery Tour/Tasting

** Distillery Bar (no tour)

No updates today. Check in again tomorrow.

• 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 (++)