Me mate George (a MacKay and a piper, no less) and his lovely wife Gwen had a mess of us down to their home for a Scottish Dinner and a mass tasting of Single Malt Whiskeys. We started out with a bit of pipin' by George, and after suitable encouragment, I joined in on bodhran.

Helpings of "tatties", haggis and "hagless" (vegetarian haggis; George and Gwen are veterinarians) were following by a dessert of fresh fruit topped with whipped cream and a dash of Drambuie. But the Stars of the Evening were the dozen-plus bottles of single malt.

George started us with the light stuff, and worked his way up to the more peaty varities with a BIG diversion along the way. Here's a sampling roughly in order of tasting.

Glenlivit
Glenfiddich
Ach, I'm forgettin... I think it was Balvenie
Dalmore
MacCallum (a personal favorite)
Lagavulin
Caol Isle (remarkable stuff, it just ~disappears~)
Talisker

and a number of others which I'm neglecting. Two of the samples were "cask strength" which means 57 proof rather than the usual 40 proof. If you haven't tried the Caol Isle cask strength, I *highly* recommend it. It's practically magical.

Three hours of good times and single malt resulted in new friends and a sleep-over at the house.

I rose the next morning and donned my kilt I presented George with a gift of X-Kilt prototype #3, and an hour later we were off to the picturesque seaside town of Capitola. Geroges Band, the Santa Cruz Pipes and Drums were playing at a festival in town.

High point: Capitola beach ends in a very small point break (surfing spot for you landlocked folks). It was a small day and lotsof kids were trying out the sport. One young lass in the tinies of tiny bikini's was faced with a dilemna....how to get to the showers? There's a pipe band in the way.

Her solution; squeeze herself, in her bikini with her longboard on her hip, between the head piper and the edge of the stage. (the were playing in front of the stage) Luckily, she didn't clobber anyone with that 9 feet of fiberglass and foam. Only in Santa Cruz can you see semi-naked surfer girls doing and end-around on a Pipe Band.

A great weekend was had, and I'm more tempted than ever to get me a snare drum and practice up!