Edinburgh Day 4 Nov 11

Classes here usually start from 9:15am up to 1:00pm. Afternoon there are classes too, but not every day. On some week days we may have visits to places or other social activities. On Friday there are no classes in the afternoon. Saturday and Sunday are rest days.

That Wednesday, we visited the Glenkinchie Distillery, one of the famous manufacturers that produced whiskey. The plant was situated in some outskirt so it took the coach quite some time to arrive. But it was worth it. The scenery itself was lovely enough.



Brown and yellow leaves were everywhere. They formed a nice start of the trip. At just the place where we got off the coach, there stretched a lovely path of stairs leading down to the distillery. I couldn't help taking snaps of the scene.



Not sure what type of plant this is, but it does look like those in heavy snow. Anyone knows what this is?



We formed a group at the top of the stairs and blocked any further visitors xDDD



My best photo of the day. Just magnificent. Note the shadows and the lighting effects.



The leaves which scattered on the ground had an impact on me and seemed to pull my heartstrings. They represent a harmonious union between architectural and natural beauty!



That's the sign pointing to the real destination. We had been staying outside for far too long.



In the gift shop, there were many bottles of whiskey. Well I never like wines with strong flavour so I didn't buy any. I am into fruit punch more.



Some ancient apparatus for making whiskey.



Sorry I didn't have time to read and note down what that was. Afterwards we were invited to look at the existing working machinery and we learned about the procedures of making whiskey from the tour guide.

1. Malting
Barley is germinated to release the natural sugars inside. The product is named malt.

2. Mashing
Hot water is mixed with the malt to produce wort.

3. Fermentation
Yeasts are added to the liquid and the yeasts feeds on the sugar to produce 5-10% alcohol.

4. Distillation
The alcohol is distilled two times to remove impurities and increase concentration. The result is 60% alcohol and is called the spirit.

5. Spirit Safe
The spirit passes through quality check and government monitor process to make sure it is up to standard and is safe for drinking.

6. Maturation
The end product is put into oak barrels for a period of at least 3 years. The whiskey absorbs flavour from the oak barrels (which were previously used to contain whiskey as well) and is bottled where necessary.

7. Mixing
Instead of barley, some types of whiskey are produced using wheat or even corn. Such types of whiskey are usually mixed with the original type for sale.



Towards the last part of the trip, we had a chance to taste a glass of whiskey. Many of my classmates could not stand the strong flavour and gave up half-way. I drank two glasses and found that I didn't like it at all. But it's not that hard to drink - since I had had a little training from time to time. I tasted a more "fruity" bottle, but it's no better. I smelled one which tended to be "smoky", and I ended up almost choking myself...



The posters advertising their whiskey were well-designed. I dare say they are even better than the whiskey themselves.



Who said it was a quiet drink? True, Scottish people drink whiskey at night in pubs as their entertainment. Drinks are associated with noise and music, and never silence.



At last we signed our names on the small blackboard guestbook. Who knows how long it would stay. And that ended the trip - the very first activity we had except the city bus tour which was just introductory in nature. It was a good day.