After some time to sit back and take stock of everything, we both rated the courses we played and the scotches we drank. First, the golf. All of the golf courses were memorable in their own particular and sometimes peculiar ways. But how did they compare to one another? Royal Dornoch, one of the top 20 courses in the world, against Carnoustie, site of the most devilish Open Championship in recent memory, or the Old Course, the home of golf, Mecca for any self-respecting duffer out there. How did all these great courses stack up against one another, and would we ever want to play them again? Which would we recommend to anyone making the pilgrimage out to these distant shores? So after a bit of reflection, we sat down and individually ranked the courses. Here’s what we came up with, from favorite to least.
Bruce
Castle Stuart
Royal Dornoch
Carnoustie
Brora
Crail – Balcomie
North Berwick
Crail – Craigshead
The Old Course
Scott
Castle Stuart
Royal Dornoch
Carnoustie
North Berwick
Crail – Balcomie
Brora
Crail – Craigshead
The Old Course
The two Shively’s came up with pretty similar lists. Castle Stuart and Royal Dornoch stood out amongst the others, with Carnoustie headlining the rest. You might be looking at this and thinking that we are both crazy for putting the Old Course last. The Old Course is the only place neither of us would return to. We did it; we paid homage to the home of golf, we teed off in front of the Royal & Ancient, we walked the hallowed fairways. But once is enough, and as far as we are concerned, there are far better and nicer tracks out there. For any golfing devotee it is a must play, but only once.
Now, on to the important things, the malts! We had the pleasure of tasting a variety of amber hued refreshments, many of which we had never seen let alone heard of. It was truly a fun experiment, looking at menus and bar walls for names we didn’t know and asking friendly bartenders for suggestions. In the end, we tried 15 different single malt Scotch whiskies. Some were good, some were great, but none were bad. Here’s how we ranked them compared to one another, again in descending order from favorite to least.
Bruce
Royal Brackla 16 year old
Clynelish Special 14 year old
Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or 12 year old
Glendronach Revival 15 year old
anCnoc 12 year old
Macallan 10 year old
Glenmorangie Lasanta 12 year old
Glenmorangie 10 year old
Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 12 year old
Benromach 10 year old
Ardmore 12 year old
Cardhu 10 year old
Knockando 12 year old
Old Pulteney 12 year old
Aberlour 10 year old
Scott
anCnoc 12 year old
Old Pulteney 12 year old
Royal Brackla 16 year old
Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or 12 year old
Knockando 12 year old
Glenmorangie 10 year old
Glendronach Revival 15 year old
Clynelish Special 14 year old
Cardhu 10 year old
Ardmore 12 year old
Benromach 10 year old
Macallan 10 year old
Aberlour 10 year old
Scott also created a unique blend using the Glenmorangie Lasanta and Nectar d’Or, which he claims was the tastiest tipple of all. We’ll have to wait for more evidence on that one, though. And of all the whiskies we sampled, we would happily recommend any of them for a taste or two or more. Hard to go wrong with a single malt!
And with that, we wrap up the blog. Thanks for reading! It was a great trip, and we hope you enjoyed keeping up with us on our rounds of golf and rounds of whisky. Until that day, hit ‘em straight and drink ‘em straight!
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