Scotland: Difference between revisions

** Scotland's ''other'' other national drink is '''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Kola:Red Kola|Red Kola]]'''<ref> There are two varieties, Curries's or Barr's. We strongly advise you not get involved in a debate over which is better</ref> which is pretty much the same as Irn Bru only instead of radioactive orange it is radioactive red. Pretty much anything you hear about Bru can be applied to Red Kola, with all the same caveats. Red Kola is most popular in Ayrshire and the surrounding, for the obvious reason that that is where Curries used to make the stuff before being bought out. Also available in a boiled sweet form which is called Red Kola Kubes.

*** For anyone confused and wondering, Scotland's ''first'' national drink is of course '''Whisky''' of which there are [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distilleries_in_Scotland:List of distilleries in Scotland|huge amounts of types, brands, varieties, labels, and distilleries]]<ref>this is due to something of a renaissance in micro-brewing in the last decade or so. Some of these small operations will only brew one label on a very limited run before closing again, or change varieties and brewing methods with each casking</ref>. Tasting them all and debating which is best is the work of a lifetime, so is debating exactly how many there are and which type is which for that matter. One which definitely isn't, is [[Spell My Name With an "S"|whiskey with an "e"]], which is Irish.<ref>And American, while "whisky" (no "e") is also Canadian. The distinction makes sense: the American frontier distillers who developed American whiskey were historically Ulster Scots--like most distillers in 19th-century Ireland--while Canadian ones were Scots from Scotland. While the American and Canadian styles of whisk(e)y were adapted for new grains in the New World--maize and rye (particularly rye in Canada)--the similarities between Irish and American whiskey and Scottish and Canadian whisky, respectively, remain clear to the attentive drinker. Not to say that any one of these is better than Scotch...</ref> Getting that wrong can also be a debate that will last a lifetime, ([[Violent Glaswegian|but also less than half an hour]]) if uttered in the wrong place.

*** As with Whisky (above) there are a [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_breweries_in_Scotland:List of breweries in Scotland|number of microbreweries making specialist beers]]. Once again, sampling them all would be the work of a lifetime.