Edinburgh’s Old Town captures the lion’s share of visitors’ attention, and for good reason: it’s a living slice of medieval Europe so evocative even our fantasies struggle to match it (read: Harry Potter). One of the beautiful aspects of Edinburgh is that while the Old Town makes an immediate impact other neighborhoods ooze with interest and grow to rival the heart of Auld Reekie. If you give them the chance, that is. Edinburgh’s Southside is the perfect example.
A pub crawl is the best way to get the lay of the land. The crawl gives you a chance to walk the neighborhood, check out the local drinking holes, and pick up on the ambient vibe. Read more...
Here’s a factoid about Traveling Savage you might not know: I actually drink more of Scotland’s beer than whisky when I’m traveling abroad.
It’s difficult to understand the beer preference. Perhaps it’s due to my German heritage, upbringing in the USA’s best beer state (…Wisconsin), and graduation from the USA’s most infamous beer-drinking university (…UW-Madison). It’s not cost: a pint of beer and your average dram of whisky are roughly the same price (£2-4). Actually, the pieces are coming together and I think it’s pretty simple: sometimes I feel like having a beer, sometimes I feel like having a whisky, and sometimes I feel like having several beers. I’ve yet to find a “session whisky,” and my liver is panicking at the mere thought of such an invention. Read more...
I believe every distillery in Scotland is worth a visit, and the good ones even merit a return, but there aren’t many distilleries I would choose to visit on three separate occasions. In fact, that class is currently limited to Aberlour and, the focus of today’s post, Talisker.
In 2006, Sarah and I could barely find the distillery. The small road leading to the outpost of Carbost winds down a valley crossing cattle grates en route to the Talisker. In 2009, as part of a family trip around Scotland, we barely found our way home. We did the amazing tasting tour, and, well, just picture a bunch of giggling traveling Savages in a giant van and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what went down. Read more...
It’s good to be back from vacation. Honestly, that’s not a sentence I could have ever anticipated writing, but I won’t miss the constant bombardment of screaming children, endless games of bumper cars with strollers and motorized rascals, and throngs of chanting tour groups. On the other hand, it was a hugely rejuvenating week, and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios was incredible. Spending so much time with Sarah wasn’t bad either. 
What better way to dive back in to Scotland than to serve up a distillery post? And this one’s dear to my heart: Dalwhinnie. Read more...
The sign on the distillery’s gift shop door read, “Be back in 20 minutes,” and the heavy rain continued to pour off my hood and erase the multi-colored town of Tobermory.
I grimaced. But the distillery had been here, tucked in the south side of Tobermory bay, since 1798; Occam’s Razor suggested it wouldn’t be going anywhere.
I splashed back to my car and pondered the drams I would taste. I was enduring distillery withdrawal after the week-long bender on Islay where every day involved visiting at least one distillery. Tobermory would likely be my last distillery on this trip to Scotland. Sad face. Read more...
A hunter, oft-stubbled and bleary-eyed, driven by an insatiable hunger for exploration and experience - and perhaps a chance to thin the herd of caffeinated and alcoholic beverages. From the highlands and islands to Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Borders, I explore Scotland with a pen in hand and a fire in the belly (which could be partly from the whisky). 
