Bell's Original

Was drinking a few of these as chasers at happy hour and while there were sips where it had a nice cereal tone for the most part it was ruff as a dog.

When I read on this site that Jim Murray rated Bell's Original at 91, I recently went out and bought the 2017 edition of his rating guide (excellent!). I had tried Bell's on one of our previous golf trips to Scotland and thought it was very good. Seeing this brand everywhere in the UK and never in the states made me suspicious and, lo and behold, after the first sip I proclaimed, "The bastards are hoarding it all to themselves!" If memory serves me, I believe it was at Moray Golf Club in Lossiemouth. We hooked up with some locals who informed us, "No one leaves till everyone buys a round." Now, far be it for me to break tradition, but it was getting late and we still had a hike up to Tain. Nevertheless, we persevered and it was well worth the philosophy lessons garnered that day. Aside, one gent explained to me, "Unlike Americans, we don't run to the therapist when troubled; this is our therapy." I responded with, "Yes, but I'm from New England and we're so cheap the entire profession had to pack up and move to France." I think he liked my comment because I could see remnants of his last gulp of Tennents dripping from his nose. :)