Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
What it boils down to is that adding caramel is cosmetic, and - if you are any sort of
purist - does seem a bit like cheating.
The trouble with whisky as a product is that it's so variable; each barrel will produce
a different whisky, and each charge of the still will have created a subtly different spirit
in the first place; even the season of the whisky's production has been known to make a
difference to the final taste. This is why the blender in a distillery, or at a bottling plant,
is so important; even with a single malt they will mix together different barrels to create
something as consistent as possible over time compared to earlier examples (the blend-
ing of different whiskies from different distilleries to produce blended whisky is an even
more complex task - there are blends with dozens of different whiskies involved and up
to a hundred-plus is not unknown).
Les and I drink our whiskies from glasses based on Spanish copitas …
… No, I don't see how we can avoid this. I'm going to have to say something about
how whisky should be drunk.
* * *
Drinking: you'd think it would be obvious .
Now, real purists will tell you that nosing a whisky and tasting it are quite different
things, and require different glasses. This, I submit, is taking things too far for us civil-
ians. Frankly, a fine malt taken from an old enamel tea mug will taste ten times better
than an indifferent blend sipped genteelly from the most carefully designed whisky glass
(always providing the enamel mug is clean to start with, natch). Take your whisky from
a tumbler if you want - though the old-school cut-glass or crystal tumbler is more about
making room for the ice than letting the whisky breathe - but a brandy glass is probably
as good as anything, and lets you get your nose into the glass for a good sniff.
Proper professional nosers/tasters will tell you the best way to sniff a whisky is to
draw in the aroma while keeping your mouth slightly open; apparently this improves the
sensation. I haven't noticed the difference yet (I was only told this last month at Macal-
lan) but I'm going to persevere.
So, what to add, if you don't want to drink it neat? Look, if you've bought the damn
stuff you can drink it however you like, but adding, say, Cola or lemonade to a fine malt
whisky is a bit of a waste. It's rather like buying a Ferrari and never taking it out of first
gear; you want to ask the person concerned, Why did you waste your money doing this?
Are you just showing off? Look; I have a small belt and a barely used syringe; let's just
inject your favourite dram and see what that does …
Malt whisky is expensive. It's expensive because it's made in small batches by skilled
people and has to sit for years and years and years doing nothing except taking up ware-
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