Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capitol of Scotland and therefore have a lot to offer the whisky interested.

It has lots of other to offer as well, but I’m not going to bother with that in this blog, am I.

Pubs

Edinburgh has a lot of pubs, the highest frequenzy of pubs in the whole of britain, someone told me. After being there I can believe them. You really don’t have to wander far before you find one, and finding one to your liking isn’t that hard either. And all of them serve whisky, of course, and a lot of them have quite a few to choose from.

You’ll find a bunch down in Grassmarket, and among these, my favourite is The last Drop. My friend Tom is there as well, speaking on the phone with his wife.

Good advice there, for boys on the loose like this, allways speak with your loved ones on a daily basis, and be sure to tell them that you’re miserable without them, even if it isn’t true. They will know it isn’t true, but will appreciate the effort.

From an American in Edinburgh, dr Whisky, who spent several years in this city, a list of his top choises, here.

I would like to give my hounorable mention to…

The Stockbridge Tap

This was my first experience of a proper whisky bar/pub. They had such a selection of single malts that they where organized alphabetically on the shelves, three bootles deep, and the menu was several pages with three coloumns on each page.

It was also here that I tasted my first Port Ellen wich is an experienze I have returned to several times later. For those not in the know, Port Ellen was demolished in 1998 and does not excist as a distillery any more. Today, there is an industrial malting plant on the premises, and old stock is getting rare. I do have a bootle of it thogh, and am able to enjoy it when the whim comes over me.

Back at the Stockbridge Tap, I also remember it as a typical local pub, off the beaten track, but still a place to find your way to if in Edinburgh.

As I was writing this article, I checked on Google, and it seems this place has new owners and the food is not as it used to be. On Street View, the signs are down, so it seems this nice place is history. Too bad, but a great memory, none the less.

Distilleries

Even though Scotland has well over a hundred distilleries, there aren’t that many around Edinburgh. I have been too two, Glenturret, which is The Famous Grouse Visitor Centre, wich again isn’t quite as bad as it sounds and Edradour, among the smallest distilleries in Scotland. They claim themselves to be smallest but after visiting Kilchoman at Islay, among the youngest distilleries right now, I would have to disagree. In my judgement, the latter is the smallest.

I will make single posts on my distillery visits later, this post will be the hub on my Edinburgh visit and experiences there.