Do connosrers ever mix there whisky’s

You can drink any way you want. You can drink anything you want. In moderation, of course.

A lot of the interest for many people on this particular website is on the intricacies of taste and smell, and in that context many of us feel you lose the ability to find the subtleties when you add soda, ice or water, or make cocktails.

But dig around the site and see if there is anything that interests you, and then you'll see if you feel you have something to contribute.

In fact, you may want to discuss with @TAlexander how Alberta Premium 30 YO, rare now as hens teeth, tastes with gingerale...

@Nozinan Actually, AP30 isn't that great with ginger ale (it's still too woody!) but hey, ya gotta try, right??? In all seriousness, though - yes, using ice, mixing and cocktails are part of whisky culture and enjoyment of the drink. To appreciate whisky, it should be studied neat in the right glassware (like a Glencairn); to enjoy whisky, you should drink it any way you damn well please. And just because a whisky is rare or expensive doesn't mean you shouldn't try it in a cocktail to see what happens.

Taste is very subjective. A connoisseur may not like to mix whiskies with soda as it might loose or weaken the character of the whiskies, when you added soda to the whisky, you will gain an experience on that particular whisky between neat and mixed and decide what you prefer later on. Drinking wine, spirits or tasting food is an experiences and fun journey to remember and share. It's an ART, not arithmetic. I remember "wine experts" said red wine should be drink neat, but I enjoy to put ice on red wine on a 30 degree hot summer day rather than a warm red wine. Of course, not a Cru Class Borduex!!!!. Enjoy.

I just had 2 pre-dinner Old Fashioneds made with Wild Turkey Rare Breed. I love this bourbon neat, on the rocks, and yes, in a cocktail.

You've not properly tasted bourbon until you've sipped on a six ounce pour of Elmer T Lee from a stainless steel travel mug while watching a high school double header on a hot spring afternoon...walking distance from home. The sun continually warms the mug and the bourbon gives up flavours you can only dream about. WARNING: the aromas escaping from the travel mug will draw a lot of interest...bring enough for everyone.

Guilty of enjoying a highball or two in Japan.

But, time to be controversial: it's a faux pas.

As someone mentioned! How you take your whisky is for each person to decide. Depending on my mood, I'll drink it straight or cut it with a drop or two of water. I would never cut a fine whisky with soda, coke, ginger ale, etc. I fondly remember introducing my future wife to lagavulin. It was not a "come to whisky" moment. Her comment, "perhaps this might go better with coke". Years later her comment still haunts me.

@PeterG7, are you still married to her, and, if so, does she drink her Lagavulin with Coke? Does she drink Lagavulin at all?

i am still married to her Victor and no, she does not drink lagavulin or for that matter any whisky. She does, however, support my whisky hobby. Best of both worlds.:)

@PeterG7 more for you haha

@casualtorture Perhaps you're right, but I think if my wife liked whisky I would probably find more opportunities to enjoy it, and I have enough to share.

Gentlemen! Twice the number of whisk(e)y lovers, twice the lobby to buy additional whisk(e)y!

And twice as many people to drink aforementioned spirits...

@Nozinan my wife enjoys scotch, doesn't care for Bourbon. She loves Talisker 10. As do I. Being a good, loving husband, I make sure "she" always has some.

@OdysseusUnbound, yeah, but is she really going to drink as much of it as you are?

@Victor Since I weigh in at about 230lbs, and my better half only weighs about 105lbs, she can’t really keep up. But I don’t have to worry since she thinks all my whiskies “smell like old man”. Heck, she won’t even taste them.

@SHC71 - I'd echo the comments above: depends on the drinker, it's that simple.

I like bourbon cocktails (OF's in particular) now and again and it's one of the few whisk(e)y drinks my partner likes along with whisky and ginger ale, which is also another of my choice mixed whisky drinks. Never been a fan of any whisky and coke though . . . save that for rum!

I don't mind a cube or two of ice in hot weather (I found Ardmore Legacy goes well on ice over the summer) but wouldn't personally add what I'd class as 'decent' malts or blends to ice as they simply lose all the nuances that make them such excellent sippers - and that's really what you're paying all the extra £$ or whatever for; so why drown it when you can have the same effect with a more budget friendly blend?

My wife as I mentioned is not a fan of whisky. She just doesn't understand why I have so many unopened bottles in the cabinet. Or why, when we travel I make it a point to stop at small independent liquor stores in the oft chance I'll come across a whisky brand on a back dusty shelf. In her defense, I don't understand why she stops at shoe stores either. We do, however, share an evening drink together. She likes cognac. I like single malt. The colour is almost the same. Now, if I could only persuade her to drink it out of a whisky glass and not a cognac sniffer.

@PeterG7, the brandy snifter is my favourite glass for sipping whisky. It allows for hand warming whith minimum spillage; however, while it protects against accidental waste from spilling, it does not protect the fill level of the bottle from which the often too large dram is poured. I have a collection of smaller pseudo-snifters, balloon style glasses, but they are just not the same. Swirling the whisky in a snifter is something I enjoy doing. My glass of choice depends on my mood. For contemplative sipping I almost always choose a large snifter.

@OdysseusUnbound, that is my point. If you have twice as many people agitating to buy the bottles and you are drinking 3/4 s of what is being consumed, then you have both much more quantity and variety available for you yourself to drink if your smaller lesser-drinking female partner also is in favour of buying the bottles of whisky.

This is the whisky life which I have been living, with the exception that my sister is also a very prolific buyer of whisky, and she has given me a number (15 perhaps) of bottles of whisky as presents over the last 10 years.

The more whisky fans, the more whisky buyers, the more whisky bought, the more whisky consumed, the more different whiskies consumed. The better it gets, the better it gets, the better it gets....

@MadSingleMalt has the same sort of dynamic going on in club format.