"“The light music of whiskey falling into a glass – an agreeable interlude.” - James Joyce

'The foodie' has the worst luck when it comes to arriving at her destination 

on the same flight as her luggage. 

Fortunately, her bag was in hand the following morning 

and we were able to get back on track with our Fringe Festival festivities and  

enjoying a few days in Edinburgh before making our way north

to Pitlochry...

the heart of Scotland...

and the gateway to the Scottish Highlands.

Along with castles, this quaint town is the perfect spring board for a few Scottish gems,

and for Ren Man to have lived here for almost two and a half years and NOT toured a distillery...

well...

it is quite unbelievable.

So we remedied that little snafu...

 with a private tour of the Blair Athol distillery.

Not to be confused with the Blair Atholl Castle with an extra 'l'.

While we are on the subject of spelling, 

this is a great time to mention the spelling of whisky here in Scotland, 

while elsewhere you will see whiskey.

I wouldn't want you to think I'm an inconsistent speller or anything.

Seeing the process up close...

sheds some light on the importance of the aging process and a...

yielding a few impressive single malts...

 while the majority is sent away for blends.

Ren Man was relieved to hear we would be tasting single malts only...

after seeing the Bell's name everywhere...

and not being a fan of blends.

Since Scotch is not my thing...

I was the natural designated driver and did a lot of sniffing 

for smells my nose could never identify 

as he explained the geographical factors affecting each batch.

I did taste the 1986 in honor of our anniversary year...

while the 1993 single cask was shared with our group and one of the favorites.

A couple on their final tour of a ten day Scotch Distillery tour 

were part of our group and their knowledge of the different distilleries was impressive.

I mean...

they could remember.

Of course, a few drams later...

the tour ends in the distillery shop...

which is never a good idea.

We made it out of there with a few memories for later.

Happy Thursday.