The Whisky Tour

I hear no tour of Ireland or Scotland is complete without the requisite whisky tour. I also understand Derek could not hold his head up high on our return if he had not done at least one of these tours, so I organised to get it out of the way on our first full day in Ireland, booking in for 5.30pm on our return from Newgrange and Hill of Tara. I did not expect to find that not only is whisky gluten-free, but that I liked it. For some reason I assumed whisky contained gluten, given its barley origins, but apparently, it’s like glucose syrup derived from wheat – so highly processed that the gluten protein is non-detectable. I don’t like beer, but then I haven’t tried it since my teens, so perhaps it was only cheap, and I might like a higher quality beer. Can’t repine – I will not find out, since beer does contain gluten and must be a source of heart-break to a newly diagnosed coeliac who enjoys a beer, only to be compared with losing the joy of biting into chewy, soft bread, and why do I do this to myself? Anyway, it appears I enjoy whisky, and in subsequent days had the pleasure of a Guinness whilst listening to traditional music in an Irish Pub. Now a Scottish whisky tour is more likely…