Glasgow: Whisky Sampling

Royal mile Edinburgh is
a place to sample whishy for free

Having sipped only a handful of varieties in his life and attended only the Hiram Walker’s tour in Windsor, Rob considered that he had only a rudimentary knowledge of whisky.  After arriving in Scotland he felt the necessity to educate himself about this Scottish tradition.  As such he spent evenings reading literature online to find what to buy and where to purchase. This proved to be an overwhelming task considering the number of distilleries in Scotland and the varieties of whiskies each distiller produces.

Bowman's darkest-served
with chocholate

Edinburgh, he read, had many whisky boutiques of which only a few offered free tasting of high quality and rarer whisky, but sold these whiskies at inflated prices for tourists. Shop attendants, however, were only too happy to serve both Beth, who wasn't a fan of whisky, and Rob, who does appreciate the occasional good whisky.  To her surprise Beth enjoyed Scotch whiskies, particularly Islay region whiskies with their characteristic peat-smoked taste, and not so surprising to Rob, she enjoyed the finer, more expensive varieties.

Who has the money?

Following a day of tasting and touring, Rob returned to their flat and seached online for places to purchase the whiskies they liked for a less expensive price in their next destination, Glasgow. 

“There is an evening of tastings in two days at ‘In Good Spirits’, a retail store in Glasgow”, Rob mentioned to Beth. “Would you like to go when we get there? I don’t think this is a tourist tasting.”

Whisky: A Glasgow tradition.  

“Sure.  But I’m not really a whisky drinker.”

Distiller's selection. 

On the evening of the Glasgow tastings, Beth and Rob entered the back utility room of the ‘In Good Spirits’ alcohol retail store. Inside the room were four large tasting tables, each with a labeled place setting that included six filled snifters. The single ounce samples of scotch whisky that filled each glass ranged in colour, some a light golden straw colour, while others a richer amber. Beth, the amateur whisky drinker, was now preparing to complete the difficult task of consuming six shots over the hour and a half of the tasting.

On your mark...get set...

When the whisky representative began to present, both Rob and Beth felt out of their comfort zone as they watched other participants jotting down notes on their whisky place settings, observing the floral and tasting notes of each of the samples.  Everyone present, with the exception of the two Canadians, were Scottish and familiar with the regions and styles of Scotch whisky. The Scots carefully sipped each sample before making notes, while Beth and Rob finished the first of their samples with a gulp before realizing that perhaps they should consider conducting their tastings more like everyone else.  At one point between samples, the presenter ventured over to their table to get Beth’s and Rob’s impressions.  Stumbling over what to respond Beth said, “I taste something phenolic” (a term she learned the day prior while sniffing a sampling kit), while Rob responded with, “Hmmm....I think I taste something…ahh..” at which the presenter moved along to get impressions from other tasters.

The evening's whisky selections.

When the formal tasting was finished, Beth and Rob feeling slightly more relaxed and in a spending mood, selected two bottles of whiskey to bring back to Canada in their already stuffed suitcases.