3:50 AM. Whose bright idea was this? Ah, that would be yourself bucko. It had seemed like a good idea at the tasting last night (tonight?) in The Whisky Shop where they had kindly hosted the Malt Maniacs for a stupendous farewell tasting; a fitting finale for our 15^th Anniversary gathering in Scotland. Does it every really become fully dark in Edinburgh in the summer? No matter, stick to the plan. Only 3 more whisky related activities left on the schedule in this 24 hour period; how delightfully Maniacal. Put on the kettle for a quick cup of tea and then a phone call to Ho-cheng’s room; “Are you awake?” “Yes” he replied, “OK, see you in the lobby in 10 minutes”. Indeed a quick cup of tea and 10 minutes later Ho-cheng and I were in the lobby. And he’d shaved…..how the hell had he done that?? The front desk arranged for a taxi which arrived with impressive speed and we gave our destination “28 Victoria Street please” and we sat back for the short journey. “Wait one, this is Castle Hill and not Victoria Street” I thought …but, ah, the entrance to the stair case which leads down toVictoria Street. Some what dark and ominous but there is WHISKY at the destination so press forward!

A minute later we pushed open the door of The Whisky Shop to reveal numerous bright eyed people bustling about setting up for the Compass Box world record attempt with John Glaser. John was attempting to hold a tasting in eight Whisky Shop locations in the UK in a 24 hour period and it involved a route from Inverness to Brighton. Shortly after our arrival Tim Puett from the Ardbeg Project glided into the shop (he’d shaved too). Interestingly for the future of whisky present at the tasting  were a number of young women who appeared to simply be there for the whisky; just like us. Surprise, surprise in walked Carsten Hering Nielsen whom I had first met a few years ago; small world!

After much fretting by staff the set up was complete and with a few minutes until the start time we were presented with little confetti devices along with final instructions for when John popped his head in the door. Bang on time in came John and who was suitably covered in streamers and confetti along with a warm welcome. John had shaved. Seemingly only your Honourable correspondent had failed to shave, I managed to consol myself with the knowledge that drams would soon be served.

John took a minute or two to say hello to everybody individually and then he started the tasting with a short talk about the world record attempt and the philosophy behind Compass Box whisky. We started off with a whisky cocktail made with Great King Street blended whisky, a ‘naked’ sample of Great King Street, followed by the Spice Tree and the story of how it came about and then finally the Peat Monster which went down very easily considering the time of the morning. Surprisingly quickly the allotted time was up and John and his team were off to their next stop, two down, six to go. 

As we walked back to the hotel we realized it was so early not even the Edinburgh tram line was running…but then will it ever? Only an hour and a half until breakfast so finally I’d have a chance to shave!

Noon Only two more events to go; now it was time for lunch at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Queen Street; Tim had arranged for a lunch with some of the team from Glenmorangie Plc and we (Peter, Krishna and I) were going to meet Tim for a dram prior to his going off to lunch. After all it had been six and half hours since our last dram and we felt that we really needed to keep up our strength! Drams were duly selected from the monthly list and then suddenly the Glenmorangie team had arrived; Dr. Bill Lumsden – Head of Distilling & Whisky Creation, Iain Russell  Brands Heritage Manager, Hamish Torrie Head of Communications and Mark Harvey Business Development Director – USA and they very kindly invited us all to lunch downstairs in the main dining room which was very brave of them to take on 4  Malt Maniacs at once but they accomplished this by distracting us with drams of SMWS Glenmorangie and a stupendous meal (Scallops followed by lamb shank, both with appropriate wines). Thank you gentlemen. 

After lunch it was time for some shopping for souvenirs and gifts and perhaps a quick dash into one or two of the many whisky shops on the Royal Mile including the Scotch Whisky Experience near the castle. As always it was a very busy place and Amber restaurant was busy busy (one step above busy you understand). After shopping a quick diversion to the hotel to unload the purchases, check email, check-in online for tomorrow’s flights and then off to the Vaults for the grand finale of the day. 

6PM Tim, Peter and I had agreed to meet with Mark (WM Cadenhead Ltd) and Willie (WhiskyWhiskyWhisky forum) at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Vaults at 87 Giles Street for a bite to eat and a ‘few’ drams. Tim and Peter being stout fellows seemingly had gone straight from post lunch drams at Queen Street to the Vaults and were happily ensconced sampling more (many) of the Society’s whiskies. 

Dinner, as usual at the Vaults was excellent (mixed green salad, grilled sausages and mash, gravy) and the drams were a malt lovers cornucopia including many bottlings which were the very first from various distilleries hidden far to the left hand side of the bar. Those bottlings have not been available for many, many years and all sported the Society’s original label (and bottle shape). Also a number of Society older Glen Moray went down range and soon enough it was time as both Tim and I had very early flights. 

The SMWS Vaults was a fitting venue for the 4th whisky event in 24 hours. As Tim and I left Peter, Mark and Willie were hard at it…

L to R below; Ho-cheng, Carsten, Lawrence, John & Tim