Scotland, Day 17: Wandering Edinburgh, Exploring Victoria Street, the Scotch Whisky Experience, a Return to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a return to Devil’s Advocate

September 18, 2021

Our last day in Edinburgh (and Scotland), Liz and I decided to just wander around a bit.

Walking back to oru hotel after breakfast, we happened across several stalls at Grassmarket Square.

Looking up at Victoria Street (believed to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley).

And of course, there’s a Harry Potter store here. With all manner of wands and books and things.

We got a recommendation to visit the Scotch Whisky Experience – the bar underneath the tour/gallery being a potentially good place in terms of selection and price.

Liz was debating the tour, but we ultimately decided to just visit for the whisky (and a late lunch).

Sadly, though we tried a few new things… we weren’t too taken with our recommendations or service.

Trying to get a menu to order food (and to get our bill when we were ready to leave) was like pulling teeth.

Back for a late afternoon/early evening visit once more at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. We really loved our experience so much, we wanted to stop in again to taste some more bottles.

We did get to see Francesco again, but had someone else waiting for us this evening. I continued to enjoy the recommenations, and we were both really debating becoming members on the spot… just so we could purchase some bottles.

I’m still thinking about “Pine Apples,” honestly.

Back at Devil’s Advocate, where on our first night… Liz discovered that they had a 25 year old Mortlach bottled by Adelphi.

It’s… a fairly pricey dram. And on hearing Liz ask about this, our bartender got very excited. He asked if she was interested in starting off with something else, or if she wanted to just dive right into the Mortlach… and Liz demanded the dram like a boss, right then and there. To the delight of the bartender, who then just leapt up to go and fetch the bottle for her.