Thread: Peated Whisky and Scotch Culture

I just drink them--usually from a salsa jar. No ice. No water.

Science is for work, not at home. However, I DID have to keep a bottle of scotch at work for a while a couple of years ago to avoid killing anyone. After being repeatedly told that people skills were more important than technical skills, I was invited to resign. Now 5+ people are doing the work I did and both quality and productivity have plummeted.

Bitter? yup

I like the sound of it. I've heard 35% is best for tasting, but I'm sure if you asked a hundred people you'd get a hundred different answers about how much water to use. Ralfy has a couple of interesting videos about how much to use. He reckons it varies depending on how it was aged, like I think he says sherried or peated whiskies can take a little more than non-peated and non-sherried. Or a little less, I forget. I've been diluting to 35% for some of the reviews on my blog, but I don't always do it just because it feels like a lot of messing about. I enjoy messing about, but not every time. I usually experiment a bit with one or two teaspoons of water and see what works best. It can be interesting to add just a few drops, give it some time and taste it, then add a little more and taste, then a drop more and so on to see how it changes. Or dilute a whisky to your preferred alcohol volume, cover the glass and leave it for half an hour. Then pour a fresh glass and dilute that so its the same as the first and taste them side by side for comparison.

Adding too much water is called drowning the whisky and you do lose a lot of it's character. I once read a review of a fairly poor blended whisky that said "No need for water, this whisky will drown in its own tears".

Good luck experimenting, let us know anything interesting you find.