I’m in a bit of a nostalgic mood today, as us old gits sometimes are, and as such I decided to search the web for, well, anything old. Inevitably I ended up looking at whisky related websites and I thought I’d share one with my trusty readers – those of you who are as old as me, or perhaps older, will surely enjoy the nostalgia, I thought. I looked at a few other websites as well, but mainly found corporate drivel and sales pages.

Anyway, what I thought I’d share is this fun collection of old whisky ads. My personal favourites in this particular collection are the “What a Scotch!  [...] White Horse… Of course!” and “Towers above them all –MARTIN’S V.V.O the Scotsman’s Scotch” posters. I don’t know what the scotch tape ad is doing in there, though! By the way, how much better were ads in the past? Much more feeling, cleverness and so much more artistic – everything you see today seems to revolve around either long legs and scantily clad bottoms, bare breasts or robots!

Feel free to drop further nostalgic links in the comments box, if you happen to know of any, as I couldn’t really find as much as I’d hoped.

As an old(-ish) git, I feel it is well within my rights to moan about how things are done – whether it be politics, sports (though really I couldn’t care much less), business or pretty much anything else – and that’s exactly what I am about to do. Fear not, I will return to reviewing whiskey shortly and I will keep this brief, but there’s something that has really started to annoy me lately.

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One of Britain’s favourite sweets is, without question, fudge. So it is no surprise, then, that one can find a lot of different fudge varieties – ranging from cheap supermarket own-brands, to exclusive handmade fudge to branded fudge containing anything from yeast extract to whisky.

Not long ago a dear friend of mine bought me a tin of Jack Daniel’s branded fudge and I thought “hey, that’s a great idea! Fudge and whisky, that ought to be a delicious combination”. The smooth, creamy sweetness of fudge with a hint of whisky to give a more mature and palatable flavour, instantly delicious – right? Wrong. The Jack Daniels fudge was an utter disappointment, for several reasons.

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I was recently asked by one of my blog readers to give advice on good whiskey or two for students – that is, a suggestion that won’t cost too much yet offers good value and taste. After having thought about it for a while, I’ve come up with a couple of names. Oh, and I should mentioned that the suggested budget was about £20, though I took the liberty of making this £20-25 in order to offer a better variance.

Whisky 1 – Macallan 10 year old Fine Oak – Speyside – ~£25

Not quite as good as the more expensive 12 year old fine oak, but definitely not bad for its price. Suitable for those who enjoy a nicely balanced and quite fruity whisky. Nicely malted, too.

Whisky 2 – Auchentoshan Classic – Lowland – ~£23

Unfortunately not as good as the more expensive expressions from the same distiller, it does come across as ‘not quite there’ if compared to its older siblings. That said, it is a fine whisky indeed and with a limited budget it makes for a good purchase.

Whisky 3 – Bowmore Legend – Islay – ~£22

For the peat and smoke lovers, this is the obvious choice! At £22 it offers fantastic value for money, and in honesty it is my favourite of the suggested whiskies.

Whisky 4 – Aberlour 10 year old – Speyside – ~£25

Well balanced and quite sweet, this is an outstanding whisky for beginner drinkers and, of course, students.

Those are the 4 whiskies that, off the top of my head, offer the best value for students. If I had to pick two of them, I would go for 3 and 4, though the others are well worth the money as well. Apart from being good value for money, they’re a great way to introduce yourself to the regions they are from and prepare your palate for the more intense flavours of their older expressions once you’re out of university and earning the big bucks!

As I sat down at my local pub (which I will reveal the name of later on in this article; no stalkers, I do beg) the other day, I came to think of all the whiskey enthusiasts who come to this beautiful city of mine hoping to enjoy our seemingly endless choice of pubs and whiskey, but with no clue as to where to best do so. Many of them end up paying too much in mediocre, but central, pubs. Thus, I would like to take this opportunity to help you steer clear of the tourist traps, should you be planning a visit.

Now, most tourists will end up strolling aimlessly back and forth along the Royal Mile, which is home to a host of pubs. Nothing wrong with that, in fact a lot of the pubs there are decent, but it is a shame that some of the true gems Edinburgh has to offer remain unseen. So where should you be going? Let me introduce you to three of my favourite pubs, one to the North, one Central and one South.

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