Thank you Akami, I will definitely head that direction.
Interesting Scotch-related story; you guys might like this. Back in about '96 I knew absolutely nothing about Scotch, and I was really starting to get into the continental beer, real ale and craft beer scene which was just starting at the time. The wife was a travel agent and we won a trip to England, so I was excited to try as many beers as I could. We took the kids over, and took the bullet train from London to Glasgow after a few days. Then we rented a car, attempting Inverness, but only made it as far as Fort William, which turned out to be very nice actually; driving there was a whole 'nother tale best told over a wee dram by a fire, though. Let's just say we're lucky to be alive, but we did see some of the most beautiful land on earth. Breathtaking in early spring!!!
Anyway, we ended up in Edinburgh. Eventually. We toured the castle, and were walking down the hill where the touristy shops started, and I needed to further my quest for Scottish beers, which I really like. So a block and a half down, I see a little bar set below grade off in a narrow alley to the left. We walk in, and once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, OMG there easily had to be 300 bottles of Scotch in this place at the bar and on a high shelf that went all the way around the place.!
Silly me at the time, I asked for a beer, and the two guys behind the bar and the one customer there started laughing. The older one said: "Laddie, have ya any idea where ya arrrr?" All I could mutter sheepishly was "Scotch Mecca?" "Aye, indee(d). Now what do you want with yer beerrrr?" OK, I guess I'm going to have a Scotch! Correct answer!
So I figured, heck, might as well make it a good one, so I asked what I could get for L20 that was a good example, even then I knew rare ones were expensive. "Aye, tha'ull get ya a goodun." All thee were smiling, and I think they were actually pretty happy I went for something more rare. So the old guy pours a rather large shot out of an obviously older dusty bottle from the top bar shelf, along with my beer. Then they waited.
Holy freakin caddidlehoppers!!!!! I have absolutely no idea what I'd just drank, but wow it was intense!!! And I'm sure I reacted to it with surprise. I could still taste this stuff for the next six hours, and the aroma was in burps for a day!!! Possibly a cask strength, definitely smokey, extremely peaty (which I didn't understand at the time,) a huge iodine hit, rich, maybe a tad oily, a little salty, somewhat sweet, malt (I recognized that part!) and well, damn, SCOTCHY! I could swear it was like a 40 year old or something, but the memory of the name and details has faded away. "Now thot is a whisky, ma new friend!"
Dang, I wish I knew then what I know now!!! Perhaps I'll go back there some day; those guys may still be chuckling.
