Me and single malt scotch

I forgot to tell about one of the great bits of our trip to Scotland! We passed many, many distilleries on our way around Scotland - including Glenlivet, which most people know. Unfortunately, since we were touring around by CAR, which involves driving, and the fact that we were in kind of the 'off' season as far as opening hours are concerned, we weren't able to go to too many.

The goal became finding one that did a 'free' tour with a tasting. But we let it go too long (meaning the trip was coming to an end) and finally one sunny day, we stopped at a small one called Ben Nevis. If you are like me, you've probably never heard of it. Because they produce a smaller amount than some of the big names you know, they mostly export to Europe and Japan. Anyhow, it's a privately owned distillery and while it wasn't free, it was only £2 to get the tour and tasting. AND, we each got £3 off a bottle with our ticket stubs. Not bad.

I'm a huge fan of single malts and I have to admit I do like a smoky taste. I drink it neat, with a glass of water on the side. I acquired this taste for scotch when I was in my late 20's, I dated a 40 something guy and we used to go out in Seattle, listen to jazz piano, drink single malt and smoke cloves. Tres chic! Or poseurs. Depends on which way you look at it, I guess. LOL

I learned quite a bit about 'single' malt, which is really a misnomer. The guy who did the tour was a wealth of knowledge. He kept teasing my dad and I (being the only Americans on the tour) that we probably had more of a taste for Johnnie Walker and that sort of thing. While my dad DOES drink that stuff, I've never actually liked blended whisky unless it's the end of the night, I'm drunk and it's mixed with Coke or something. I was slightly offended and told him I never drank the stuff. I think I rose in his estimation and we started to hit it off after that. LOL

After the tour, we were fortunate to get a tasting. The guide poured us all a tiny amount and I tasted it. It wasn't bad, I had to admit, even after learning that most 'single' malts are actually blended (blended meaning, different ages, different casks and different areas where aged might be in the same bottle. the 'youngest age' of the scotch added to a bottle, gives it it's 'age') and I was tasting a blended scotch. He gave us tips about tasting and actually said that it's okay to use a 'little' water (after the first sip) because the water will bring out different flavors in the scotch. I was the only one still standing there listening to him (as it was the end of the tour) so he brought out a few more bottles of older scotch and poured me the more expensive stuff!

Of course, the best was the 12 year I think it was... At £23, it should be. (I'm sure even older was better but I didn't managed to get him to pour me any of that!) I was fairly buzzed by then but fortunately they had a little cafe where my parents and I got some lunch. I was hoping to buy a bottle but something about being unemployed, having my parents footing the bill on my Scotland trip, and it just being odd to buy alcohol in front of them stopped me.

It wasn't until later that evening that we remembered the 3 tickets at £3 each (must've been the alcohol clouding my thought processes!)... I could've gotten my nice bottle of Ben Nevis for £14! Damn. They don't sell it in the stores. They don't sell it in duty free.. So, I guess I have to wait until my next trip back to Scotland.