Notes from Scotland, Part Two

The Winking Owl Wine

We’d been to The Winking Owl pub before and thought it was only average, but since it was under new ownership (the Cairngorm Brewery was now running it) and it is getting good reviews, we thought we ought to give it a try.  

Cullin Skink for me and Seafood Chowder for Anne.

Glad we are that we did, uhm (May the farce be with you).  Service and food were excellent.  The interior had been redone and was bright and inviting.  But this story is really about what happened at the next table.

The waitress brought a bottle of screw-top wine to a couple.  She asked, “Do you want to taste the wine tonight?”  I held it together enough not to break out laughing, but several scenarios came immediately to mind:

1) No, we’ll wait until tomorrow at breakfast to taste it.

2) No, I don’t want to taste it.  I’m just going to stare at the bottle while I eat my dinner.

3) No, I’m a tea-totaler and I just wanted to make you go through the motions of pulling the cork, which of course you didn’t have to do because it’s such a f…ing cheap wine.

4) Yes, thank you.  Sip, sip.  Ugh! this is very off…I’m afraid the wine has been metaled.

The Ugly Americans at Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle, which is 10 miles east of Inverness and 5 miles SW of Nairn in the Scottish Highlands, is a castle we hadn’t visited since our first trip to Scotland in 2000.  The 15th century tower house is in the hands of the Campbells and is now home to Dowager Countess Cawdor, stepmother of the 7th Earl of Cawdor.  The castle is often associated with Shakespeare’s Macbeth (“the Scottish Play”), but really has no relationship to the 11th century King Macbeth of Scotland.  

      The castle and grounds are lovely to tour (though not much was yet in bloom) with between eight and ten rooms open to the public.  Each room had printed information about the history of the room and furnishings and a docent was available in most rooms as well.

Anne in the Maze Garden

Our arrival at the castle was poorly timed—we were sandwiched between two tour buses.  One of the groups was a group of the rudest Texans you would ever want to meet.  Tour members seemed to have spent too much time eating in the castle’s tearoom and now had to run through the castle rooms, some loudly saying: “Why is everyone so slow!” “Hey, up there.  Stop reading and get a move on.”  “Let me through, I’ve got a bus to catch.”  One lady said to a companion as they shoved by us, “Oh, it’s just another bedroom.”

Thankfully we don’t see too many examples of the Ugly American, but this was one of the most egregious examples we’d ever come across.

The Whisky Train

For the first time in our Scotland adventures our stay in the Highlands coincided with the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival which is a week of various whisky related events at numerous local distilleries.  

A Dufftown pipe band drummer must concentrate.  

On the day we were to book in at our Timeshare unit we listened to a pipe band concert in the town square at Dufftown and did some tasting in the local whisky shop. When we arrived in Aviemore we had tickets for a Celtic rock concert by Skerryvore, 

Skerryvore in concert

a group originally from one of the smaller Scottish islands, Tiree.  Then on Sunday I had booked tickets for a special Whisky Train.  

The Strathspey Railway is ten miles of preserved railway from Aviemore to Broomhill (the Glenbogle Station from the BBC TV show “Monarch of the Glen”) via Boat of Garten.  On this particular run of the tourist train a special dining car was assigned for whisky tasting sponsored by Speyside Distillery in Kingussie.  

Setting up for the whisky tasting.

Once we had our seats in the dining car paired with a very nice couple from Holland, 

we were introduced to the distillery manager Pamela and her assistant.  

Serving a 12 year old whisky from Speyside Distillery.

      On the two hour trip (this is a very slow train) we were served five flights of whisky for tasting as well as high tea (tea or coffee, a selection of small sandwiches, and a tray of scones and cakes).  

The sweet part of High Tea on the train.

We were each given generous pours of a 10 year old single malt whisky, a 12 year old, the Chairman’s Choice at 17 years old, and a 20 year old Spey Royal Choice which is exclusively served to the the Royal family in five special residences including the Tower of London.  

The Chairman's Choice at 17 years old.

The final tasting was of a yet to be released special black whisky, sweeter than the other offerings.  Anne’s favorite was the 12 year old (about £40 a bottle), while I preferred the Royal Choice at £175 a bottle or about $250).

When we got off the train back in Aviemore, we wished our Holland table mates good luck with their more than two hour drive to their next destination, and we were thankful that I only had to drive about a half mile to our digs. If there’s another chance to ride the Whisky train…sign me up!