If you read the posts where I tagged along during Haydens candyland adventures back in Ireland, you witnessed a portion of the Guinness brewery and Jameson distillery. Considering we’re in the land of scotch, there are many specific options here, but he decided to participate in the tour that gave an overall lesson of the land and all that’s produced here.
It’s called the Scotch Whisky Experience. When we arrived, they sat us down in a barrel shaped booth and sent us off on what reminded me of a slow carnival ride. It was guided by an automated character that, for lack of a better description, was kind of creepy. It simulated ghosts of times past that explained how it all began.
The photos aren’t the best of quality considering the dim lighting and quick moving characters. I just wanted to give you an idea…
After the tilt-o-whirl lesson, they directed us through a few rooms that went into further detail of the mystery of Scotch making.
The peak of the tour had us all sitting in a room like school children to watch a narrated video. This part was easy for me to absorb and I actually learned quite a bit about the regions, flavors and facts that go into scotch. After the video, we each got to pick a flavor to sample. It was cute to watch the room turn giddy when the bottles came out.
The last step in our informative day was the room in which impressed everyone. Almost 3,500 different bottles of Scotch have been collected and displayed here.
The end of the “Scotch experience” differred for everyone depending on which level you signed up for. I chose the minimal which landed me a glass of water and extra time to take photos of Hayden who signed up for the platinum package. Here’s a kid at Christmas again!
After the tour, food was priority so we headed to a popular pub called Ushers. Hayden ordered a meat pie with chips (french fries) and peas. Suggested by Alan, we ordered a scotch egg which is a hard boiled egg breaded with a meat covering then deep fried. Yeh… umm, not for me but thanks!
Dessert was an easy choice since it’s one of the only things everybody mentioned to try while we were here. A deep fried Mars bar. Yeh… umm not for me but thanks! 
After our experimental day, we met up with sweet Mel and friends for a nice moonlit walk and casual drink.
Early the next morning we headed to the Edinburgh airport with enough time for one more handstand shot and a sweet farewell to Scotland.
Funny fact(ish) – Most Scottish people pronounce a “T” sound if it’s in the beginning of a word. If it’s in the middle, they leave it out.
Example: Tatties (mashed potatoes) should sound like “tat-ees” but they say “ta-ees” and “beautiful” comes out “beu-ee-ful”.
Also different is the “R”. They either roll it or leave it out completely. I couldn’t get a store clerk to understand me whatsoever when I clearly asked where the “fruit” was. Poor fella kept asking me what I was talking about. I finally said “like an apple or banana”, he said (what sounded like) “Ohh, foot!”
Her Happy Trails 