Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 10 on 5/9/2003.

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Drinking neat and sweet

DOMINIC ROSKROW AND A SMALL TEAM OF TASTERS SPENT A LUNCHTIME DRINKING LIQUEURS

THE VENUE
A five star hotel it may be, but The Scotsman is kooky – and we mean that in the nicest possible way. Where else is reception on the fourth floor, where you have two lifts which serve different floors and don’t stop at all of them, and where the rooms are built in a rabbit warren of a former newspaper office? Or where you have little bridges held up by chains in dimly lit parts of the building, or the coolest swimming pool illuminated by trendy colour-changing neon?

We love it because it’s what we like to think we are – the best of the traditional brought to life in a modern context. And the ultimate combination of casual and class. Truly stunning.

The Scotsman Hotel,
North Bridge, Edinburgh
Tel +44 (0)131 222 8888

Taking a whisky writer to a liqueur tasting is a bit like taking a lifelong Rolling Stones fan to a Britney Spears concert – the best you’re going to get is a grudging acceptance that it’s okay if you like that sort of thing.

But the Scots are famed for their love of anything sweet. So letting a panel loose on a table of drinks that taste like vanilla ice cream and chocolate pudding at the same time should prove to be a surefire success.

Ah, but what happens when you mix the two and hold a tasting with some whisky writers who also happen to be Scottish and Scottish writers who profess to liking whisky?

This, I concluded on the morning of our liqueur tasting, would be the whole point of this experiment. That’s why we do tastings; in the hope that we’.....

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By Dominic Roskrow

Section : Scottish Whisky

Page number : 68