This Gratitude Friday, we are grateful for seeing family.   My cousin and her husband live in Edinburgh.  We had wanted to visit Scotland for awhile and it finally happened last weekend.

We had the chance to meet up at their local haunt, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.     The society is a private club which purchases full casks of whisky from local distillers to provide a special and rare taste to its members.  Thus, as a member, you can come to the society and enjoy tastes of scotch by the glass, or order them via post by the bottle.

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Because of the agreements with the distillers, they don’t disclose which distiller/brand at the bar.  You simply have a guide indicating the characteristics of the whiskies, each given a very creative name.

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We got a kick out of the copy written to describe each.   Intense discussions were had on whether or not our whisky tasted like “a fine leather handbag”, “creme brûlée” or “a newly wrapped tin foil pack”.

My taste of “in a sweetie shop”

We were advised  by my cousin’s connoisseur husband that if you like something, you have to buy a bottle fast.  They have limited quantities and the good ones sell out quickly.

It was very nice to catch up with my cousin.  It occurred to me it has actually been about 16 or 17 years since we’ve seen each other.    She has been in the U.K. for quite awhile, having met her husband in London.  They recently settled in Edinburgh about 2 years ago, finding a nice balance versus the bustle of London.    We also enjoyed meeting her hubby and getting to know him.  We don’t have a lot of personal contact when we travel, so this was very special.

Good times

We are grateful to the two for showing us such a lovely time in Edinburgh!  Although, I will have to fault them for now making Gabe so fond of Jura scotch.  We came back from Scotland many pounds lighter…in the wallet.

Bon weekend, everyone!