Adding water to your single malt

[StingMeadery]

Yeah, I tasted it last week in Dallas, not impressed.

The consensus of around 100 people today was...

Better than Ardbog, more refined than Ugedail but not quite a Galilleo...

Overall a fairly good Whisky, not my favourite profile by any means but worth trying and likely a good investment bottle.

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[Pixa]

I generally will not add water to my whisky. Though with a lot of casks strengths it is required to open them up for flavour and mellow them out. Though would never add water without tasting first and can really weaken some down and take away the taste others the opposite. Too those who say they never add water and its sacrilege if you are drinking non cask strength then there is all ready water in there. 62-63% whisky are just too strong sometimes

Did not vote in the pole as could not find a option to suit

[Rushman]

Only rarely a few bits of water to open up the taste, but just rarely

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[Weeklystogie]

For cask strength, love a bit of water to open it up. For the others just a couple drops as a matter of habit.

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[ZinZan]

I like mine with ice.

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[Skyfall]

I generally will not add water to my whisky. Though with a lot of casks strengths it is required to open them up for flavour and mellow them out. Though would never add water without tasting first and can really weaken some down and take away the taste others the opposite. Too those who say they never add water and its sacrilege if you are drinking non cask strength then there is all ready water in there. 62-63% whisky are just too strong sometimes

Did not vote in the pole as could not find a option to suit

There is no such thing as too strong of a whiskey.

Good day...

[Reevzy]

I used to add a few cubes of ice to everything I drank but since discovering "tasting" whisky and not just drinking it, I've pretty much done away with ice. I'll always nose and taste neat at first but add a touch of chilled water from then on.

[asmartbull]

2 cubes a few seconds before adding the beverage. ...swirling the codes to add a thin layer of water to the entire glass....helps bring out the aroma, which is a vital part of flavor

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[Mr.T]

I never add an ice cube and once in a blue moon I might add a drop or two of water just to see if things change.....

[Hohenthal]

Never.

Need water to dilute the flavours? Pick another, milder, scotch!

With non-chillfiltered, 46+ pbv malts you actually can release flavours by adding just a drop of water.

Diluting happens only when it's overdone IMHO.

[JasnRach]

Like others have said, it is your drink have it how you like! Just like a steak, some like it rare others like well done. Whatever tastes good to you.

For me, sometimes I do not add anything and other times I will add a cube of ice.

As someone said at the start, I also like my congac warmed.

[Pixa]

There is no such thing as too strong of a whiskey.

Good day...

Well there is at 64% you might as well be drinking meths cause you have as much chance of tasting the flavour. But as I said some at that strength are fine I had a 50 odd year old grain that lost all its flavour with water added but that is the exception. Though your in London so that might explain it would not let London water anywhere near a good malt would be better off having a slash in the glass as would taste better

[shlomo]

With non-chillfiltered, 46+ pbv malts you actually can release flavours by adding just a drop of water.

Diluting happens only when it's overdone IMHO.

Diluting happens even at a tenth of a drop. You are adding water to another liquid, thereby diluting the original liquid. In either case Jim Murray doesn't drink with anything added and neither do I. Not saying it is bad, or wrong to do so, I just don't like altering original flavours. If I don't like a whisky the way it is, I dont add water to try and improve it, I just drink a different whisky!

[Skyfall]

Well there is at 64% you might as well be drinking meths cause you have as much chance of tasting the flavour. But as I said some at that strength are fine I had a 50 odd year old grain that lost all its flavour with water added but that is the exception. Though your in London so that might explain it would not let London water anywhere near a good malt would be better off having a slash in the glass as would taste better

I'm in Texas where the whiskey is so strong we drink it and run our trucks on it!

I like to feel a healthy burn when I drink a whiskey, because I am not a child.

[Pixa]

I'm in Texas where the whiskey is so strong we drink it and run our trucks on it!

I like to feel a healthy burn when I drink a whiskey, because I am not a child.

Ahh it all becomes clear

[Ghabanos]

I put a splash (about a teaspoon) per ounce. Blasphemy? I find this releases a more nuanced and accessible nose.

Wilkey

Same for singles. Rocks for some others

[Ryan]

This is maybe an Irish thing but when I was growing up, working in a pub here, it was unheard of not to provide water with a whiskey order.

People who didn't water their whiskey were thought of as people who didn't know how to drink whiskey. That was then, times have changed now.

I do find that adding a drop of water to most whiskeys opens them up, for me anyway.

[Hohenthal]

I dont add water to try and improve it, ...

It's not about "improving" but to relelease the flavours.

All the blend masters and master distillers do that, and for good reason.

Not saying you should not have your dram neat if that's the way you like it best, Shlomo -

just different ways to enjoy it

[shlomo]

It's not about "improving" but to relelease the flavours.

All the blend masters and master distillers do that, and for good reason.

Not saying you should not have your dram neat if that's the way you like it best, Shlomo -

just different ways to enjoy it

All blend masters and master distillers add water to their whisky? Do you mean when they drink themselves or when they are producing the whisky? If the former, I have met quiet a few who abhor the idea of doing anything with the whisky other than sipping straight...

[asmartbull]

I never add an ice cube and once in a blue moon I might add a drop or two of water just to see if things change.....

I thought it was understood that you dump the rocks before pouring. ...my mistake

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[Hohenthal]

Not saying you should not have your dram neat if that's the way you like it best, Shlomo

Maybe you missed that line?

[shlomo]

Maybe you missed that line?

No, I saw it. I do enjoy it best that way.

What do you mean when you say all master distillers though?

[nem]

This is maybe an Irish thing but when I was growing up, working in a pub here, it was unheard of not to provide water with a whiskey order.

People who didn't water their whiskey were thought of as people who didn't know how to drink whiskey. That was then, times have changed now.

I do find that adding a drop of water to most whiskeys opens them up, for me anyway.

Back in college, my alma mater offered a whisk(e)y appreciation course, which I couldn't help but enroll in. The instructor, an Irish gentlemen, who subsequently returned to Ireland and worked on and off in the liquor industry, considered it blasphemy to consume single malt or single pot still whisk(e)y with ice. He supported diluting cask strength whisk(e)y with water, but insisted that the coldness of ice muted the complexity of good whisk(e)y.

I almost always sip whisk(e)y neat, but feel that there is a certain pleasure to adding a couple blocks of ice to whisk(e)y or at least the "cheaper stuff." The ice opens up the whisk(e)y, and allows one to experience the liquor as it continuously transition in strength.

[winelover]

All depends what kind of SM I am drinking. Anything below 46% I rarely water other than to perhaps experiment to see it it improves the experience.

Cask strength SMs are improved with a little water. Just don't drawn them. Add a little and sip. Anything around 48% to 50% requires very little.

I have the Aberlour A'bundadh batch 47 right now at 60.7%. Straight it is enjoyable in tiny sips but tastes a lot better taking less reserved sips having added a little water.

I used to be in the "over my dead body" camp and never add water as with hindsight I used to believe it was unmanly to wimp put with water.

I respect those who prefer to drink SM neat so long as they are not so ignorant as to have never experimented with adding a little water. Got no time for those who refuse to countenance adding water and say they like it best straight.

[ptrthgr8]

I've never actually added water to any scotch I've ever had, though I do use one ice cube every now and again. My wifey bought me some of those fancy granite drink chillers (since I like the cold flavor, but don't necessarily like it watered down), but they seemed rather strange in the glass... didn't really retain the chill for very long at all and seemed more gimmicky than anything else.

So, I voted "no" because I bet 90% of the time it's just neat.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~