Vacation Scotland

With the exception of around 60,000 native Gaelic speakers, most Scots are English monoglots: that is they can only speak, read and understand English. All languages impart a ‘view’ of the world, and as a result we see our land and our culture through the medium of the English tongue. Gaels, people who speak Gaelic, [...]

The Island of Islay is famed for its whisky; but it is also a very beautiful place with a complicated landscape of rolling, heather-clad hills, broad coastal grasslands and soft sandy beaches. As a result of Islay’s unusually fertile land, the population was always higher and history has often been played out here; indeed, the island [...]

The mist hung low on the hills and a light breeze rippled the dark waters of the loch as we wandered down the grassy slopes to ancient Finlaggan. The beautiful Isle of Islay (Eilean Ìle) may be more famous for its whiskies, such as Laphroaig, Bowmore and Lagavullin, than for its scenery or its history, [...]

Charles Steinberg from New York’s Brandy Library travelled to Scotland last winter on a whirlwind whisky tour, which took him from the rolling hills of Speyside to the Celtic heartlands of Islay. This is his account of the trip, and we thank him for this contribution and for allowing us to post as a blog.