Single Malt Scotch Whisky

[Merkurie]

The Water of Life

[danthepoetman]

After a whole bottle can you still speak, let alone spell?

You could be surprised...

[Prince Dan Albert]

22 years ago i was in scotland on holidays, being exactly 25 years of age. There I bought a bottle of 25 years old single malt glenfiddich whiskey, and decided I wait until we both turn 50, and then I'll see what life has brought us..... 4 more years to go, but I'll let you all know the result!

[danthepoetman]

Lol...DanThePoetMan's cat LMAOooo

Moi?

Man! you always see things so negatively! You're the killjoy or the party pooper of HA! First, you would never see me with beer, man! NEVER! ONLY SCOTCH WHISKY, AND ALWAYS SINGLE MALT, except when I can't do otherwise. Secondly, wtf? I'm not cat! This is it (it's J&B, so it was in a bad skid row day after)..

[danthepoetman]

22 years ago i was in scotland on holidays, being exactly 25 years of age. There I bought a bottle of 25 years old single malt glenfiddich whiskey, and decided I wait until we both turn 50, and then I'll see what life has brought us..... 4 more years to go, but I'll let you all know the result!

It makes a more than 50 years old bottle!! That could reach a good price on auction! Glenfiddich is a very simple whisky, though, Dan, my homonymous. The 15 yrs (Solera) is pretty nice, but it gets to be good after it, with the 18, imo. A 25 yrs must be quite good, my friend. Then again, you have to know that whisky stops evolving in the bottle, as opposed to wine. So you can still wait for the thrill of drinking an old bottle, put the time line in parallel with the events of your life (I love doing that, drinking stuff older than my daughter, etc.), and it's quite a thrill indeed, but the whisky itself won't get better than it was when embottled...

[Prospero]

Dan ... in your case I'll make an exception. you become positively loquacious the more you imbibe

[Prince Dan Albert]

my good (poet)man, I am fully aware that the whiskey will not get better the second 25 years... as, I am afraid, was I! when it comes to getting well spoken in foreign tongues, nothing beats moonshine vodka, though! I remember a story - well, actually i dont remember anything from these two days- so, I was TOLD, that being filled up in an godforsaken small town someplace near the Urals, I was holding elaborate speeches about women's rights - after barely three month of learning russian. The whole city came to look at that wonder... it was winter, and nothing better to do, obviously.

[Prospero]

prince... Whisky...not whiskey.... lol

[Prince Dan Albert]

Am just showing off..... I've been to the "malt whiskey trail" in scotland - and they, and their lesser brethren in Ireland, call it just that! But they spell it even worse.... something like "Whysekey" Ever since i even dont say Edinburgh anymore, but Edinborough... am a pretentious dick sometimes!

[danthepoetman]

I'm an absolute purist in the matter: NO WATER IN THE MALT!!! It's a sin! You'll go to HELL! And if you dare ruin it with ice, you'll be tortured for eternity. No cigar either! it creates a putrescent milieu in the mouth that suffocate the taste buds and destroy the malt, especially delicate malts. Dalmore has created a "Cigar malt", very full of body; but to me it just doesn't work. In fact, when I'm in malt tasting mode, I also refuse to eat. Generally, after 3 glasses, it's over, I don't want to eat anything anymore even if the first glass was drank as an aperitive. Malt whisky is just too good! I will have some with food, before or after, or even during, on special, gastronomy experiences. But in tasting mode, you taste, not anything else, or you spoil the work of these fabulous craftsmen and artisans that makes over years and years this incredible beverage from a venerable secular know-how. Always keep in mind that some of the whisky you drink was made by men who thought to themselves that they would never drink the whisky they were making; they had the gift of drinking what elders had make for them and they themselves would leave some for the next generation...

By the way, if someone has some experience with decent water experimentation, I'd be happy to know what people think. I've got city water on tap here, and that's like adding chorine to it, so for at home, I get a bottle of Fiji Water, chill it to about 38 degrees (my normal fridge temp) and add just enough to enhance the taste. It's Fiji, so it's better than tap water, but it still has an odd plastic taste to it. So any tips on better water are appreciated.

Cooling the malt take away some of the flavors and perfumes, imo, JPH. You're right that the water which it was made with is most probably the best. Tap water, yukk!! And embottled, you're right again, it might give a plastic taste.

My dear departed Dad taught me that if you respect whisky it will respect you back. A whisky hangover is the hangover from hell.
Always drink it in a ratio of 5 or 6 to 1, water to whisky. Not in it, but alongside.

Bless your Dad's soul, my friend! But I find that good malt's hangover is much nicer than hangovers from these disgusting commercial beers or these manipulated and coloured wines on the market. This just kills you...
You're right: keep hydrating yourself with a glass of water here and there as you're getting drunk... I mean, as the tasting time progresses, and it should be all pretty good.

Never IN it at all... ever

NEVER IN, indeed, Prospero.

I am reminded of a lyric by Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band fame, a fine poet/musician and a Scot with a fondness for single malt:

Water is the strong stuff
It carries whales and ships
But water is the wrong stuff
Don' let it get past your lips
It wets your suits and rots your boots
Puts shakes in all your bones
Dilute the stuff with whisky, aye,
Or leave it well alone.

Beautiful verses, Ecstatic. If you don't mind, I might use these as signature, eventually... Thanks!


Now if you have, put water or ice in your whisky, repent and don't do it again. But if you keep doing it, here's what's comming to you; the cold water torture in hell for eternity: