January 6, 2025
I think I’ve told this story a few times by now: my initial understanding of a “Driver’s Dram” was completely incorrect – and idiotic. When going to distilleries and attending tastings, for those participants who are drivers… the distilleries bottle up their whisky into take-away bottles, named “Driver’s drams.”
It didn’t quite click in my brain that this process was designed for the driver to consume them later, after everyone had gotten home and… you know… no longer driving.
To me, a “Driver’s Dram” meant that anyone who was a driver would just get smaller portions during the tasting. Because… they were driving.
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May 28, 2023
While I’ve had so-so success with text prompts adding things to images, I’ve found it pretty amazing when I just leave the prompt blank. And what Firefly does is more or less try to fill in the blanks (fun thread on expanding album covers).
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May 12, 2023
Interesting tidbit 1: I think a while ago, Liz got to meet Joe for the first time at this very restaurant. And it’s also where she got to taste different scotch whiskies that were outside of the peaty/smoky realm. And I daresay that’s when she got the spark to start exploring scotch whisky a lot more, and started going down her sherry bomb phase.
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December 27, 2021
It was a fun thing to revisit, stepping through our vacation and all the various places we went. We used a mixture of receipts, notes, blog posts, and regular old memory to try to revisit the whisky we’ve tried, the ones we’ve forgotten, and the ones that still stand out to this day.
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December 15, 2021
The place I was talking to was The Strong Water Company. I decided to just buy the bottle (since it was their last), and we’d figure out the shipping somehow. And that’s when I heard some magical words: “My friend is actually flying in to Chicago tomorrow.”
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September 19, 2021
A lot of logistics for us today. We fly out of Glasgow, so this meant driving the hour from Edinburgh to Glasglow, stopping to add petrol to the car, before then dropping it off at the airport.
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September 18, 2021
Our last day in Edinburgh (and Scotland), Liz and I decided to just wander around a bit.
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September 17, 2021
We learned a bit more about the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, and both Liz and I were quite floored by the selections that our server, Francesco, pulled for us.
We had several drams here, and each and every single one was absolutely delicious. I think right here and now is where I started to really lean towards cask strength Speyside whiskies, very bright and fruit forward.
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September 16, 2021
We arrived a little harried (and of course were the last to sit down). But everyone else was hanging out, having drinks, and getting ready for the evening. We were lucky the first 30 minutes were open like this, as we were so incredibly, terribly, late. But it all ended up working out.
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September 15, 2021
This morning we were leaving Archiestown, heading to our final destination of Edinburgh. We decided to stop off to get some coffee before the long drive (a bit over 3 hours). Which actually was more like 4.5 hours, as we decided to re-route and stop at a distillery on the way.
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September 14, 2021
Shortly after our visit to the bridge, Liz and I had a choice: go on the Glenfarclas tour or try to visit Glenturret Distillery (we had heard really great things about the grounds at the distillery). We opted to skip the tour, and chose instead to walk around in the final hour Glenturret was open.
And boy, am I glad we did.
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September 13, 2021
At one segment: there were Highland Cows in the road. And I mean literally in the road. At least two of them were actually taking a nap, right on the road.
Our guide drove up to them slowly, and stood up on her ATV as a means to get their attention and to get them to move. A few did (begrudgingly and slowly) move along.
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September 12, 2021
There was another couple, seated at the table next to us: Ian and Susan. Towards the end of the evening, we got to talking with them… and found out that they had won a contest for their charity work, during Covid. And as part of that contest, they chose to have dinner here, tonight.
The reason? It was also their wedding anniversary. And to top it off? It was ALSO their 12th wedding anniversary! What are the odds!?
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September 11, 2021
One of many fields we passed by. I say again without hyperbole, if I stopped every time I wanted to take a photo… we would have never gotten very far.
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September 10, 2021
We took a random road on our way back to the city, and it was one of the most enjoyable moments so far. Small roads, lots of small houses and farms.
Looking back, I absolutely love everything about driving in Scotland – particularly outside of the main cities. Getting lost and wandering around, I could have done this for hours on end.
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