There’s something about long winter nights which lends itself to not just having a drink (responsibly of course: it’s probably a law somewhere that we make it clear), but also to savouring that drink. Or maybe that’s just because we imagine the taste of mulled wine on our tongues from the first day of November onwards. Whatever the reason, there are plenty of opportunities to culture your palate over the holiday season in Scotland.

For lovers of the grain, the Glasgow Whisky Festival (Arches, Glasgow, Sat 15 Nov) will be hard to miss, while through in Edinburgh the Whiski Rooms restaurant offers an Introduction to Whisky (every Fri & Sat) that includes discussion of Scottish whisky regions and geographic factors as well as tastings. Meanwhile the Summerhall Beer FestivALE (Summerhall, Edinburgh, Fri 5 & Sat 6 Dec) celebrates craft beers from Scotland, including the venue’s own brand, Barney’s, and their in-house gin, Pickering’s.

Elsewhere, there are a number of wine tasting events on both sides of the country, and writer and expert Rose Murray Brown seems to be behind a whole bunch of them. For example, she’ll be doing a Cult Wines v Lesser-Known Wines evening (Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Edinburgh, Tue 2 Dec), an Italian Wine Series (Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Edinburgh, Wed 19, 26 Nov) and California Wine Tasting (Baby Abode, Glasgow, Thu 27 Nov).

There’s also the Great Grog Christmas Wine Fair (Merchants’ Hall, Edinburgh, Fri 21 Nov), the touring Wine Gang Christmas Fair with a bunch of UK critics (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Sat 29 Nov) and a Winter Classics Wine Tasting (Café Grande, Edinburgh, Sun 16 Nov). Finally, the Glasgow Wine School run events such as Champagne and Sparkling Wine Tasting, and Travels of a Winemaker (Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow, Thu 11 Dec).