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

The whole point of adding only 3 things to good malt whisky (water, more whisky or nothing) is that anything else changes the characteristics and masks the true flavours. IF you're going to do that.. like people add coke to whisky, then you won't notice much difference between a £20 bottle of malt, or a £100. so you might just as well buy the cheaper whisky. In my opinion soda water or tonic water will radically alter the flavour of the whisky. I appreciate Odie's medical problems which prevent him drinking neat scotch. That's a real bummer. He has a choice, put water in really good whisky, or put soda or tonic in the less pricey single malts. Any other choice is I think a waste of money. After all you wouldn't put tomato ketchup on beluga caviar. Or would you......?

Roger

Roger, It's your opinion that folks won't "notice much difference between a £20 bottle of malt, or a £100". What makes your opinion better than somebody else's or even right? Some folks can, indeed, taste the difference. And if they are willing to pay for the difference, why not?

As for ketchup on Beluga... I'd do it if I liked how it tasted! The point is that folks are entitled to enjoy what they want to and not have to adhere to a bunch of silly rules regarding propriety, especially when those notions are elitist and sometimes wrong. Drink the wine that you enjoy the most with whatever food winds up tasting good to you. The "rules" about red with meat, etc., are often just guidelines and often don't align with an individual's taste. Why should single malt be different?

As far as I'm concerned, Odie can mix the finest malt with tonic or soda. If he enjoys it, then it's well worth the money that he spends.

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 tell me - you've had distilled (pardon the pun) into your head that you have rights, that your rights are equal to or more important than anyone else, that anyone that challenges your rights is way out of line, and that you have to defend your rights at all cost....

all sounds fair, d>>

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