Nobody home?

Continuing this blog’s wild swings across the ocean, we’re back in the UK again, this time in Devon, home to heavy cream (among other things). It’s also home to another pub which is worthy of a trip, the Nobody Inn in tongue-twisting Doddiscombsleigh, near Exeter. That is, it was home to the Nobody Inn, but when I checked the website this morning nothing showed up.
Anyway, the Nobody Inn is very well known for its incredible wine list, and deservedly so, since I think it exceeds 1000 at this point. It is less known for its very respectable selection of Scotch and the availability of some lovely local beers on tap. Either way, you can’t really go wrong at the Nobody Inn, unless I suppose you’re a fan of mixed drinks.
Even better, this is a place which feels like a pub, in the small-town, hundreds of years old kind of way. When we went it was winter, and we were staying in the Inn a couple of doors down. After crunching through the frost to get to the inn there was nothing more welcoming than the warm glow of lights on the low timbered ceilings, complimented by the hum of happy voices and the clinking of glasses. We’re not the kind of people who repeat restaurants when we travel, but we must have gone to the Nobody Inn four evenings running, a record for us.

The best scotch bar in the world

Ok, so I’m not 100% sure it’s the best, and best is always a relative thing, but yesterday’s post reminded me of what must be one of the best Scotch bars in the world. I suppose I should call it a pub, because this slightly seedy, worn place is in Glasgow and, appropriately enough, is named The Pot Still. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to the Pot Still, but a quick look on the web shows that it (or at least its website) is still up and running.
As I recall, the place quite unprepossesing from the outside. Inside is a rabbit’s warren of rooms characterized by dark wooden paneling and, of course, a lot of whiskey bottles. A whole lot of whiskey bottles. The website for the Pot Still claims some 483 whiskeys, and some other websites claim even more. While one does not necessarily need to try that many, it’s certainly fun to try. If you’ve been looking to one-up that friend who claims to have had every whiskey know to man, this is the place.
Since most visits to Scotland will start at or go through Glasgow anyway, a serious scotch lover should certainly make the quick trip downtown for a visit to the Pot Still. It’s a detour worth making.

A trip to Scotland in my future?!?

We were sitting in the kitchen watching our lovely daughters chomp down some locally made cupcakes when the wife trots out of the dining room, returning with one of her favorite snacks – Walker’s Shortbread. Now, I like shortbread, but the wife, being somewhat of an Anglophile, really loves them (to say nothing of a host of far less appetising British specialities, like pickle relish).
Looking at the package she remarks, “We should go on a tour of the Walker’s bakery, and we could go to a distillery while we’re there.” Whaaa? Am I hearing things? Where do I sign up?
As it turns out, Walker’s is made in Aberlour, a small town in Speyside which is home to the single malt scotch of the same name.
Now, I have to confess that I have tried Aberlour Scotch, but that it is neither one of my favorites, nor one of my least favorite (more on that later). It’s just somewhere in the middle, which is not a bad place to be, I suppose. That said, I’ll go anyplace where they distill some sort of plant material, and I’d certainly return to Speyside in a heartbeat. Keep an eye on this space for our impending trip to Aberlour, along with handy tips on not letting three small children get you tossed from a malt whiskey tour.