The walls in the reception area and portions on the walls in the visitors area were lined with boxes and crates full of bottles of scotch. Alcohol based trivia and a distillery dollhouse were available to entertain us as we waited for the actual tour of the life sized distillery to start. I've been a bit of a fan of whiskey, especially when mixed with ginger ale, since I acquired the legal right to consume alcohol so I was genuinely excited about learning a bit about scotch. The process of actually making scotch is far more and just as complicated as I imagined it would be. Producing anything in vast amounts sounds a bit difficult. Producing alcohol seems to be a generally complicated process. However producing something that is consumed constantly and almost exclusively for the purpose of getting a bit drunk, how sophisticated could that possibly be? At least that was what I was thinking as stood staring at very old piece of whiskey making machinery after a night of consuming quite a bit of the product once produced by said machine. I soon got my answer; It's pretty darn sophisticated. One in about seven-million things could go wrong and completely ruin an entire day's if not a few years worth of work.
We were first led to a small room with a bench and a few bottles on display in lighted cases where our guide introduced us to the distillery and went over a general history of scotch. It was riveting. She went over the basic recipe for the scotch made at Glenkinchie which was surprisingly simple; water, barley, yeast, copper pot and old barrel. After the introduction we were led from room to room, ran into a few workers, and successfully absorbed the scent of whiskey to everything we were wearing. There are several distilleries throughout Scotland, and well versed scotch connoisseurs could tell you that each one has a specific flavor unique to the area of that distillery. The "Edinburgh Malt" has been made in Glenkinchie since the 1800's and while the equipment now includes computers the process has not changed. We saw every step of the process first hand, from the machine that grinds the barley to the big hot copper stills. Our second to last stop was to one of the barns where the scotch sits in giant old barrels for at least 12 years. The guide ran through a few of the rules distilleries must follow in order for their whiskey to legally be called scotch, one rule being that the whiskey must be aged on Scottish soil for at least 3 years.
Finally the moment everyone had been anticipating was upon us as we were lead from the barn to Glenkinchie's bar to sample some of Edinburgh's finest scotch. My friend and I gratefully accepted our first tiny tumblers of 12 year old scotch and tried to smell all of the wonderful fruity aromas our guide insisted were there. We were then instructed to take tiny sips so none of the subtle flavors would escape our pathetic mortal palates. Exactly five drops of water were then added to the remaining scotch in our cups to enhance the flavors. We toasted George and John Rate and downed our shots like real men. Surprisingly, the whiskey tasted like whiskey. Good whiskey, but whiskey nonetheless. We were then given some of the distillery's special 22 year old whiskey that was aged in not one, but two barrels. Admittedly this scotch, while much more painful, tasted a lot better than the first. We smelled it, tasted it, had some water added, toasted John Napier and finished off our glasses before slamming them down and demanding another round. I gave myself a pat on the back for being able to taste the difference between the two and smiled smugly to myself, despite the fact that to me it still smelled surprisingly like whiskey and whiskey alone.
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| Behold! The Malt of Edinburgh! |
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Great update, keep up the good work.
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