The only reason I can afford single malt at all is that they don't tax the living daylights out of it before it's exported, so a glass of single malt in the pub will cost you about the same as a beer here. At least, so long as you stick to the stuff you can see on the shelves - they bring something out from under the bar then run far, run fast, my friend.

But there are blends that are nicer than some single malts, and anyone who says otherwise is a snob of the highest order.

I heard something like this before from a friend of mine, that it was considered very unfeminine for women in the UK to drink beer and not wine or a least a shandy.

...Not really. At least, it's not a Scottish thing. What made that encounter memorable was that I hadn't heard anything like it before or since - not from the straight guys I watch football with, not when my dad takes me out for a pint with his mates who are all unreconstructed former shipbuilders in their sixties.

I think there's maybe a gatekeeper thing with the real ale society (that's a real thing, honest). It's a bit like how some comics fanboys go, Why don't more people love this thing that I love? NOT YOU. YOU'RE THE WRONG TYPE OF PERSON.