“I think everyone should work in a bar before they turn 18”, one of my Scottish friends said. In that way people would learn to appreciate bartenders and treat them properly. At first I thought: “No way! I would never want to work in a bar”. But then I thought again. It would not be that bad to work in a pub in the UK. Sure, drunk people are always drunk people, but the pub culture in the UK is actually quite nice. And what I have noticed, people in pubs are often cheerful and friendly. You can find the “give me a beer, I want to get drunk” people from night clubs, but in small pubs, people are more relaxed.

There is a one really cute whisky pub in Stirling. I have to call it cute because a place that is called “Curly Coo Bar” and has a sign of a happy highland cow is definitely cute. It is also cozy and warm and has a great selection of whiskys as well as gins. Beer lovers and wine drinkers can surely find something from there but whisky is the thing.

I took my brother and his girlfriend there when they visited because Alpi likes whisky and it would be a pity to leave the country of whisky without having a wee dram. The owner of Curly Coo is lovely and knows about whisky so even if you don’t know what you want, she will help. So basically Alpi just said he wanted something peated and she selected a nice (but reasonably priced) one for him. Then she turned to Ella. “What would you like to have today?” she asked. Ella had never tasted, barely even smelled, whisky but she developed a sudden interest in it when she saw all the bottles lined on the shelves and the little whisky glasses on the table. When she said that she would like to taste whisky, the bar owner was thrilled. “I know exactly what I’ll give for you. This is so exciting”, she went to pick the bottle. Now, I’m not a huge whisky drinker so I can’t remember what was the name of it or even from distillery it was from, but it was good. The best thing was that Ella actually liked it. She had been introduced to the world of whisky.

When we were sitting at a table and enjoying our drinks the bar owner returned to us asking Ella whether she liked it. “Now, I have this little book where I collect first timers’ comments”, she handed a notebook to Ella, “Could you write down something about you first whisky. As much or as little as you wish. And any language is fine”. The notebook was filled with marks from people all over the world. The memories of their first ever whisky and Curly Coo were saved on the paper.

I had my first proper dram of whisky in that same place over a year ago, but I don’t think I mentioned the owner that it was my first so I didn’t get to write on the notebook. Nevertheless, I do remember my first whisky. No doubt Curly Coo has seduced quite a few people and taken their whisky virginity.