Alcademics

On the fifth day of our trip, we headed to the Glenmorangie distillery. They use the tallest stills in Scotland, as the original one was a former gin still. The taller the stills, the lighter the particles have to be to reach the top during distillation, and the resulting scotch has a lighter, more floral character than the heavier, oilier ones from lower stills.

We had a lovely barrel tasting of some Glenmorangie that was first aged ten years in an ex-bourbon cask, then an additional seven in a sherry cask. (The finished whisky line by Glenmorangie is ten years in bourbon plus two extra in a sherry, port, etc. cask.) The stuff came out a dark vermouth color, and tastes like pecan walnut maple ice cream-yummers.

After that we headed to the Culloden Battlefield Visitor's Center, a new museum on the site of Bonnie Prince Charlie's last stand. It was built in the modern museum style, with high-tech displays interspersed with historical photographs, maps, and artifacts from the time. Cool stuff.

Then it was off to the Culloden House Hotel, where I am currently typing this. They have a bag pipe player wander around the front lawn of the estate before dinner time, so that brings our Pipercount up to three! As you can see from the picture, the place is incredible. I tried to convince the trip's sponsors that I "didn't get the right material for my story" so I'd need to stay on a few extra days here, but it didn't work.

Usually when people say that their hotel room is bigger than their apartment they're exaggerating, but in this case it's true. Walking back and forth between the rooms to pack is wearing me out. But then again, I'm still tired from the midnight croquet game on the front lawn of the estate. Ahh, country life.

Labels: scotch, travel