Today, I wanted to let one of my personal favourite travel bloggers and Edinburgh-based whisky enthusiast bring you through her own prefered malted experiences in a city where she’s now been living for a few years, enabling her to deliver a sort of “from the inside/tested and approved” piece.
Sophie is blogging on Ooh My World -in French- about her Scottish (& other territories) adventures, delivering a fresh point of view and always bringing her readers off the beaten tracks, through uncommon spots and places to discover or re-discover from a completely different perspective – which I believe is the real added value of a travel blogger (she even created a seriously cool&cute map of “yummy” Edinburgh… )
Let’s then see what Sophie’s personal favourite whisky experiences in Edinburgh are:
Edinburgh is a great place to discover the Scottish whisky scene! I have been living in the city for the past 3 years and I came across so many kind of whisky events. It’s impossible to keep up (or maybe it’s impossible for my liver to keep up)! From the different whisky events I have discovered, here are my three favourites:
1 –> The Whisky experiences at the Balmoral Hotel
The Balmoral hotel is this iconic building that you recognise instantly in the city centre. This hotel offers one of the nicest whisky bars of the city to my opinion. Their concept is simple: they serve only Scottish whiskies! From the most regular to the most expensive, you find a list of 500 different Scottish whiskies to choose from. In addition to this impressive list, the Scotch bar is offering whisky experiences (in other word, whisky tastings). They offer different types of experiences giving the chance to newbies and people knowing their whiskies to discover new things. During a couple of hours, one of their whisky ambassadors guides you through the tasting of 4 or 5 different single malts.
More info on the Balmoral Scotch bar: https://www.roccofortehotels.com/fr/hotels-and-resorts/the-balmoral-hotel/restaurants-and-bars/scotch
2 –> My whisky in the Dark session with the Whisky business
Definitively the most fun and interesting whisky night, we tried so far. Felipe from the whisky business had this crazy/great idea to create a blind taste of whiskies. Your senses are focus on your smell and taste as well as your hearing.
He is convinced that you will appreciate your whiskies differently if you taste your whiskies with a blindfold while listening to (very good) live music. He is absolutely right. The evening was a delight!
The evening was also a success because Felipe is extremely knowledgeable and he chooses his whiskies with care (not my cup of tea but I tried my first single malt aged in a chardonnay barrel! It’s very surprising).
More info on the Whisky Business: https://www.facebook.com/whiskybusiness.scotland
3 –> Chocolate and whisky tasting during the Fringe Festival
There are many whisky tastings organised in Edinburgh but the one I remember best is the chocolate and whisky tasting we did during the Fringe Festival at the Signet Library. The Signet Library is one of these historical places you have to visit in the city centre. The place is gorgeous! But it is even nicer when you get to drink whiskies, whisky cocktails and eat chocolate in the premises. This year, the Fringe festival organises whisky walks/tastings! I am looking forward to being part of the event!
Learn more about the Fringe Festival: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/edinburgh-whisky-walks-a-tour-and-a-tasting
Sophie from the blog Ooh My World (French-speaking material)
