As I mentioned in a previous post there is a bit of selling pressure when you are on a cruise. They know that it is a special occasion for many people and that may loosen the purse strings for a special purchase. There are various talks about the brands they sell in the shops. I saw one called Scotches and watches that I thought was worth a look.
It took place in one of the smaller bars on the ship. I was first one there, but a load of people came along as it started. I expect some were coming from other events as there was always something on.
One of the guys from the watch shop told us that they had paired watches with various whiskies. The pairing was fairly contrived as some were based a little on brand history, but sometimes just on matching colours.
My Scottish brother-in-law loves his scotch, but did not come along. He is a little dismissive of Johnnie Walker. It is very popular, but maybe that is due to good marketing. Apparently they are opening an 'experience' in Edinburgh. Our first taste was of Double Black, which is very smokey. It was interesting, but I would not be able to drink much of it. The watch for that was from Oris who I knew little about, but apparently they have never made a battery watch, unlike Rolex.
The barman was telling us about each whisky. I will admit that I am no expert, so I learnt a bit. I did not really know Chivas Regal, but this is also a blended scotch. I found that more drinkable. The watch was from Tag Heuer. I like the look of those as they are not too flashy. I am not really into jewelery, but I can admire good engineering. Maybe I can treat myself when $HIVE really moons. We were allowed to pass these first two watches around, but I expect we were being closely observed.
I have had a bottle of Cardhu that I really enjoyed, but it was not this particular one. It was nice, but there was a Scottish guy sitting next to me who challenged them on whether this was the real thing. They said that his palette may have been affected by the previous scotches so it tasted different. The matching watch was from Breitling and is probably way out of my price range. I get that a good watch can last a lifetime, but I am happy with my Garmin.
These three whiskies were all quite small measures in these little glasses, but it was enough to get a taste. The guys did joke that we might not be able to walk afterwards, but I would have struggled if they were full measures.
Finally we had another Johnnie Walker, but this was the 18 year old Gold Label. We got a good amount of that in a big glass, but they invited us to go upstairs to their shop to see the last watch before we tasted it.
Here I am with some Breitlings. Note the lack of prices. They only had those on watches being sold at a discount. You could get 10% off if you spent at least £1500. The last watch was actually a second hand Rolex which I did not get a picture of. It was a little flashy for my tastes and at £11,500 way beyond what I would spend on anything. I have a plaster on my hand as I got a blister when we went kayaking. The scotch was nice, but I am not sure I would pay £90 for a bottle of it.
I did end up buying a bottle of scotch, but it was not any of those and you will have to wait for another post to hear about that.
On my earlier post 
Cheers!
