Good times at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Tasting at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Greetings, BourbonGirl readers! Well, just as started this blog, I got pregnant. So forgive my lack-of-weekly-tasting-notes. I did, however, get invited to a fun event at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh last weekend and thought I'd share the experience. Only two months until I can get back to proper work ...

We joined the private whisky-tasting club our first week here, about an hour after I gave up on getting any decent customer service at any mobile phone or internet store. Rather than give my money to those fools, I walked around the corner and joined the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Good use of student loan funds, right? Well, it's definitely provided us a much happier and relaxing experience than our monthly fights with Virgin Media and Virgin Mobile (they are AWFUL!!!), even though I've been off-the-booze since January, what with a great menu and enough non-alcoholic choices to keep me satiated.

Besides our mornings/afternoons/evenings at the club, we also enjoy their quarterly magazine: Unfiltered. This past weekend we were invited to a barbecue at their Leith location to celebrate/reveal the new Unfiltered iPad app (you don't have to be a SMWS member to purchase). I don't have an iPad myself, so pretty much anything looks cool to me on the shiny iDevices. But I thought the design and function of this app was fun, and I like the level of creativity that designers are forced to bring to the table when translating print media to apps. No, they aren't paying me to say nice things about them (though the chip butty I inhaled at the BBQ on Friday would have been a sufficient bribe -- I'm easy), but I do like the app, which is essentially an interactive version of the magazine.

Mint Julep made with simple syrup that's been infused
with jasmine tea ... and single malt whisky. Mmmm.

The best/most torturous part of the even was the whisky tasting, led by Olaf. Olaf is an enthusiastic connoisseur from Germany who kept even the sober people (pretty sure I was the only one, after the rounds of prosecco, mint juleps, and drams) giggling with stories and readings. Between Olaf and an Edinburgh folk singer, Robin Laing, we were thoroughly entertained with poetry and songs about whisky and Scotland.

One bonus to being pregnant is my new spidey-smell. Smell was never my best sense, but now I can smell burning toast from blocks away. The J. Peterman-like descriptions of whisky you find in the SMWS tasting notes? I could write them for you. My game, while everyone else imbibed, was to smell the whisky, both unreduced and dilluted, and take diligent notes to see just how my nose matched up to the panel of experts. To brag a little, I nailed it everytime -- down to the butterscotch, flowers, black tea, and iodine (yum!).



In honor of whisky (and whiskey), I thought I'd give away one of my most-requested songs, "Whisky in the Faucet." It's from my first album (which I know you all already have, right?), so if you've already got it, feel free to share the link with your friends: http://brigidkaelin.bandcamp.com/track/whisky-in-the-faucet.