Single Malts: To water, or not to water?

Brett, why don't you remove what ever is stuck up your ass and relax? No one else here seems to be threatened by my opinions but you. So relax, pour yourself a dram, add as much water as you like and enjoy.

jimbo

Well, I haven't "steadfastly refused" to add water. I have experimented and found that either I could detect no difference or that the difference was just watered whisky.

A later note referred to "advice" on the bottle. I wonder about that advice. I seem to remember in the old days (before dirt) that people drank "scotch and soda" as the "sophisticated" drink of choice. And the even more "sophisticated" migrated to "scotch and spring water". I wonder if the water "advice" goes back to those old days? As I recall, "scotch and soda" was awful. Diluted fizzy whisky, but that was the "in thing" back then.

And your advice to "drink your dram the way that pleases you" is right on the mark. Thanks for your thoughtful reply and for not getting uptight with someone who has different opinions.

Regards, jimbo

...

I've had scotch-and-soda. The best thing I'd say about it is that scotch makes club soda drinkable. In the early days of this newsgroup there were a few posts about whisky and lemonade, even whisky and milk! Quoting now from memory, a poster once told the story of a woman ordering scotch and ginger ale in a bar in Scotland, to which the bar tender asked with obvious disdain but without skipping a beat, "In the same glass?..."

But water and whisky is an old tradition, not just a "fad". There must be something to it for the habit to be so widespread. And as I said before I occassionally add water to whisky, though it took me some years to see any point in it and I don't regularly add water as a matter of course. If you don't like it, you shouldn't do it. You can achieve some of the same effects simply by taking smaller sips, or by having a glass of water on the side - a "water back" as the bartenders say.

You're welcome. I read your other post and let me add this: Brett is a long time poster, quite knowledgible, and a genial enough fellow if a little terse. But while I might find him "terse" he may find me "wordy". Don't be quick to take offense; nor quick to offer it. This is a pretty friendly newsgroup - amazingly so by comparison to many USENET groups. Chalk it up to a bad day. Or just getting off on the wrong foot. People have different opinions, and on the subjects we discuss most frequently you're safe in considering *everything* just someone's opinion. Including my posts, of course.

Bart

Thanks for that considered and mature response.

No one is threatened here Jimbo.

Please feel to pass on any other advice and instructions as you feel fit dear boy.

On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 19:20:39 -0600, the alleged Bart, may have posted the following, to alt.drinks.scotch-whisky:

That was ME! Pretty good memory, but it wasn't in Scotland, it was in the heart of Bourbon Country, central Kentucky.

You won't find the original post by using Google, as I now use an X-No-Archive header. It's a rather long story, but I ended up having an interesting (in the Chinese sense) discussion with my boss, the HR director, a luser-programmer and his PHB due to something I wrote in the "Scary Devil Monastery". I didn't use his name or even our employer, but I did post it under my real name. Somehow the luser-programmer found out about the post and whined to his PHB, who whined at the HR director, who decided to call me and my boss in for the "Meeting". I left relatively unscathed, but was warned that "I was not to reveal anything that could reflect badly on my employer or fellow employees". Furrfu, it seems that using *MY GIVEN NAME* as an author of a rant qualified as such. I said, under-voiced, "FSCK them" I'll not give up my name to the pressure of PHBs, I'll just make it a little bit more difficult for them to FSCK me.

Anyway, here are the relevant bits from my original post.

------------------------------------8From: Robert Crowe

----------------------------------->8-----------------------------------

OB a.d.s-w: A friend of mine who is a Bourbon fan gave me bottle of Balvenie Double Wood for Christmas. He said he "Just grabbed something that sounded like it was good". I'm not sure which of us has the most luck. Without knowing that the only thing in that price range that I'd enjoy more was Talisker. Woo-Hoo Christmas be berry, berry good to me!

Regards, Rob

-- "Or better yet, use the Jack Daniels `shot and a chaser' glass. An honest admission of the true nature of Tennessee whiskey."

-- Bushido in alt.drinks.scotch-whisky

Well, at least I didn't imagine it! But I teleported you a few few thousand miles. I should pretend I tried to find it on Google and couldn't, but the truth is just that I remembered it because it struck me as rather funny when I first read it. Thanks for refreshing my memory.

Bart

Excellent posts on the sometimes heated topic of adding water to whisky...

I usually like m> are there some brands that are significantly effected

One blend I did try once on the rocks and was, IMHO, completely destroyed, was the delicious Campbeltown Loch 25. A smooth, creamy, complex whisky was rendered bitter and unpalatable. Just my opinion...

Slainte, Barnaby

Thanks for saying that. I tend to like Oban on the rocks as well...and I'll settle for Johnnie Walker on the rocks if the bar I'm at doesn't have any better scotch.

However, I still love Lagavulin or Laphroaig neat, to get the full smoky and peaty flavor.

- Scott Smith: snipped-for-privacy@visi.com Smith @ Home: