Edinburgh: Looking for Scotland’s Water of Life—Whisky

In the eyes of Scots, whisky is their indispensable “Water of Life”, which originates from its Gaelic: uisce beatha (Water of Life). In fact, distillation technology that first appeared in Ireland and Scotland can date back to 15th century or so, and Ireland’s earliest written record of whisky can date back to 1405; in Scotland, the earliest brewing of whisky that can be found in historical records in 1494.

Not only does Scotland feature picturesque scenery and a long history, but it has also won its reputation across the world because of its precious Scottish whisky. Large numbers of people visiting Edinburgh for its fame only wish to have a taste of whisky in the hometown of it. More than 100 breweries are scattered all over Scotland. If you wish to get your favorite whisky, you always have to conduct many explorations and trials.

Scottish whisky can be categorized as malt whisky, grain whisky, and blended whisky. Malt whisky and grain whisky are completely made from grain, with the same raw material fermented in the distilling furnace; malt whisky usually takes the malts of the barley that has germinated as its raw material; grain whisky’s main raw materials include barley, wheat and rye. Over the past 50 years, some breweries have also used corn as their new raw material, and combine it with other materials into the distilling furnace.

Located at the starting point of The Royal Mile Avenue, The Scotch Whisky Experience, with a history of 30 years, has a very good knowledge of the brewing craft of whisky. The center shoulders the industrial mission of Scottish whisky, and tells the most classic stories of the drink to tourists from around the world.

Only in this whisky experience center, you can have the opportunity to experience the different products from the top five whisky brewing areas in Scotland at one time. The experience center provides visitors with a great many unrestricted unique choices, so that you can fully explore the whisky flavor that you love. After the tour, you can also select one and bring it home as a memory and your collection or share it with your family and friends.

Another choice for the real small group of experts is the Single Malt Scotch Whisky. The single barrel whisky, placed in bottles when shipping, comes from the same brewery and the same oak barrel, makes different flavors because of the differences between whisky barrels in storage as well as reasons such as the differences of temperature, humidity, and other reasons when the liquid is stored.

Why is the single barrel whisky only for a so “small group”? Because there are only more than 200 bottles with the same flavor in the whole world. After all, there is only one barrel in the world. It is extremely difficult to find the whisky that has the same Scottish flavor elsewhere. Since the amount is so little, the label of each bottle always bears the mark of the number of the barrel, and the number of it among the hundreds of bottles. Many of the label numbers are hand-written, bearing the signature of the whisky brewer. It is very precious.

Several crazy fans of whisky from Edinburgh happened to taste the single barrel whisky produced by Glenfarclas Distillery, a time-honored distillery in Scotland. This whisky completely differs from the ones they have tasted in any bar or shop. Immediately, the aromatic liquid began dancing on the tips of their tongues.

If you wish to have a taste of the authentic single barrel whisky, you had better visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Although the society needs membership access, its Kaleidoscope Bar located at 28 Queen Street of New Town in Edinburgh is open to the public. Member or not, you can drink whisky at the bar.

If you wish to learn about different kinds of whisky with special flavors, you may attend the tasting meeting that the society organizes. The professional whisky ambassador of Kaleidoscope Bar will help you pick up the most suitable whisky year and characteristic for you, from the 12 flavor structure that the society has created.

For whisky lovers, if the Single Malt Whisky is the advanced blend of whisky, the single barrel whisky is bound to be the precious enjoyment only for a small group of people.