Single Malted, a bit of Irish

"Here in these glasses you can enjoy a bit of scotch, single malt. Maybe a bit of Irish." The tour guide waxed poetic as he held up the crystal tumbler during the tour of the Waterford factory. During the entire 45 minutes we'd spent touring the factory so far, this was the only time he showed any type of emotion. His eyes held a special gleam and he held up the glass to his colleague who was marking the glasses to be etched and prepared for sale.

Today we were in Waterford, Ireland, taking a tour of the Waterford factory. This visit had been a bucket list item of mine to complete and I was so happy to have finally arrived to accomplish this goal. We'd spent time touring the storeroom while waiting for our tour to begin and I was getting tired of waiting by the time the tour began.  The tour began with a short video promoting the wonders of the product, slightly cheesy and quick irritating and loud. After the video the group was herded into the next space filled with a series of wood molds and crystal that had come from those molds. Our tour-guide then introduced himself, he was an older man with a flat voice either formed by years of dealing with overexcited gawking tourists day after day, or just boredom of covering the same material over and over again. I admit, the information wasn't terribly exciting, I can see why one might lose interest over time.

The level of boredom this man exhibited was something else. I felt like I was a student of Ben Stein in "The Wonder Years" as he droned on to a class about the history of Waterford and the steps to make crystal. Once we made our way past the molds and into the space where workers demonstrated the glass blowing process, making the same piece over and over things became slightly more interesting. I watched as the workers interacted with each other but they ignored the tour group and the tour guide as they worked. Eventually we made our way past quality inspection, the sanding section and rounded a corner to where the other man was marking whiskey tumblers.

This is when our very own tour guide began to show emotion. He picked up a marked tumbler and held it up. He described what the other man was doing and the other guy jumped in. "A great glass to enjoy a nice little something to drink."

Our tour guide finally lost the bored expression and his voice began to hold emotion. A wistful smile curved his mouth as he thought about the possibility of what those glasses could hold. "Ah yes, tonight you could have one of these glasses and enjoy a bit of scotch, or a bit of Irish, single malt. Yes, single malt."

This reaction was by far, the highlight of the tour. I will never forget that moment and the words, "A bit of Scotch, single malt." and how happily they were expressed.