Sh&t

In that case keep drinking the cheap vatted (blended) malts. No point in ruining perfectly good whisky with soda (or tonic) water.

Roger

Roger, I've heard this sobriquet quite a lot. I happen to drink my Scotch neat or witha few rocks. That said, I used to be a bartender and made some serious jack doing it. My teachers always told me that the basis of any great cocktail was great alcohol. A gin and tonic always tastes better with better gin, etc. My point being that if you like the way it tastes, that's what you're going for. So if somebody thinks that Lagavulin 16 and soda is their favorite tipple, who's really to say that it's "ruining" a good dram?

If somebody told me that I was "ruining" good hooch because it did not meet their idea of propriety, I'd likely tell them that they weren't drinking it, so their opinion didn't matter. (I really cleaned that up!)

On the contrary, a good single malt tastes better with soda than a blend with soda.

I think it's pure snobbery that leads people to deride those who mix. Soda (the bubbles) seems to enhance certain flavours.

Just my thoughts. And, as I said, I can't drink neat spirits. That and Crohn's disease are a no-no.

OD

To a point, I have to agree with you. Around here, bratwurst boiled in beer & onions is a tradition. If you buy cheap beer, it tasts like brats boiled in cheap beer. But, use passable to good beer and it's much better. I boiled a batch in Guinness once; while some would consider that a waste of Guinness, well, (a) it's Guinness, not Westvleteren 12 or something - they keep making more Guinness, and (b) it was _really_ good.

To a point. If someone wanted a Louis XIII Cognac with, say, a diet coke, well, OK, but why waste the good stuff?

Funny you should say that. I was tending bar many years ago when the gentleman came up and ordered Remy VSOP with Coke and rocks. I was incredulous, but held my tongue. The guy drank 5 or 6 of them that night and seemed to enjoy them just fine. Maybe he would have liked it just as much with Christian Brothers brandy or maybe not?

It's not a waste if it is enjoyed. Just my 2 cents worth...

Don't listen to the nay sayers Odie, drink it however the heck you want. My wife does not drink at all and when we do the distillery tours when it comes to the free dram the guides ususally suggest she try Scotch and Coke or Scotch and OJ.

She tried an 18y/o Bruichladdich and coke and didn't really like it, but the look of horror on the faces of the other tourists was priceless. Now she usually just gives me her sample instead..

No - no problem at all.

But you should see the faces when I tell people I chew when I drink - I always thought it made things taste better (or, rather, you got more of the taste), and recently saw a scientific article supporting this. Something to do with the salivary glands producing some chemical.

Crikey, I chew when I drink coffee as well!

OD