Friday Night at the Whisky Society
As Ash pointed out in an earlier post, Friday night Jonathan and I went to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society with a guy from church. The website doesn’t really do it justice, because it’s much cooler in real life. It’s basically this good old gentleman’s club where you hang out and, as the name implies, drink whisky. If you’ve ever seen “The Game,” it’s not quite as cool as the squash club that Nicholas Van Orton hangs out at, but its very close. So we got there at about 7:30, had a few drams of whisky, and got into a conversation with a pretty miserable sounding lawyer that was sitting across the table from us. He was a nice guy, just one of those I-have-everything-in-the-world-going-for-me-but-I-have-no-purpose type of guys. He was sure to tell us, though, that all whisky is Scotch whisky, and therefore referring to it as Scotch Whisky is redundant. Fortunately I already knew this and was not so foolish as to show my ignorance. Then we went across the street and got some fish and chips and a lesson in Scots English (I’ve decided it’s pretty much like ebonics, it just sounds a lot cooler), and then returned to the Whisky Society for a couple beers. So if you’re counting, yes, I had 2 drams of whisky and 2 beers, but we stayed until last call at 11:30, so it’s not that bad really.
It was cool to get to know this other guy, Pete, better. He’s an Aussie and has lived in Scotland for about 5 years or so. He’s an elder at our church here and I was very encouraged to see that he is very well informed theologically. It seems like there are very few laypeople in the church today that have much theological background. What a tragedy. But anyway, Pete is cool. He taught me how to pronounce Edinburgh cuz he said the way I say it makes me sound like a foreigner — what a shocker. Apparently if you spell it E-M-B-R-A, that gets you pretty close to non-foreigner pronunciation. He also told Jonathan and me that we sound like tele-evangelists with our “American accents.” That one hurt a bit.
Overall it was a fun evening, although next time I think I’ll skip the flavored ethanol and go straight for the beer!
February 23rd, 2004 at 3:07 pm
Wow. Whisky for my men…This is also a reply to your email to mom re friend and pastor and golf. Love to join anyone that enjoys playing…their club isn’t Muirfield I don’t suppose? Love Pops
February 23rd, 2004 at 3:54 pm
Looky here, I was differentiating (sp?) between Scotch and Bourbon…I’m not *completely* ignorant, thankyewverymuch. :p
Good times, good times…I want to go again…you can have the beer, I’ll drink your whisky.
February 23rd, 2004 at 4:23 pm
Sheesh, Pete sounds a bit harsh! Ask HIM if he’s caught up with his pal the Crocodile Hunter recently…
February 23rd, 2004 at 5:07 pm
Wow, three comments already, this must be a record!
Dad - I’m pretty sure their club is Duddingston Golf Club. Stewart said it is probably one of the best in the city, though all the courses in the city tend to be a bit short.
Jonathan - Yeah, I know, relax
Yeah I definitely want to go again. I might have 1 whisky, but that’s about it. I don’t really understand what the attraction of whisky is, honestly. It’s like drinking gasoline (er, I mean, petrol), but then again I feel like I must be missing something, cuz everyone else seems to like it.
Katie -Yeah when I re-read what I wrote I thought someone might get that impression. That wasn’t, off course, the whole conversation, just some of the more notable points. Jonathan and I agree that Pete is hardcore, though. I think one of the easiest things for people here to do is throw in a jab at Americans. Oh well.
February 23rd, 2004 at 6:37 pm
OK I feel better. A little better.
February 23rd, 2004 at 6:59 pm
Yep, Bryce had a whole lotta fun. So did Sarah and I. We had wine. Or we “ate” some wine.
February 24th, 2004 at 6:33 pm
Bryce, until you give up on the whiskey completely, you need to try more… all the different single malts taste SO different.
Anyway, not only am I jealous that you get to live in EMBRA, but now I’m also jealous that you get to go to a place called the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.
February 24th, 2004 at 8:33 pm
Ken, Yeah they taste different, but they all have the flavor of gasoline in there too. Plus, the stuff at the Whiskey Society is about 100 proof, and it burns!
But yeah, it’s a cool place. And they have good beer too.