The Informed Drinker is Austinist's cocktail column. Each week, the city's bartenders tell us what to drink when. “In the beginning” is a series focusing on spirits, and this week, a visiting scotch expert weighs in.
Scotch is a serious person drink.
At least, this is what The Informed Drinker had assumed for many years. You see Reader, scotch is for drinking straight. If it is mixed with anything besides a few droplets of water, you have ruined it. Scotch is for bathing in one's mouth, for enjoying very slowly, a sophisticated and high-culture sort of thing that academics and individuals wearing corduroy jackets with elbow patches might enjoy. In other words:
“People don't buy single malt scotch to shoot and get drunk,” says Andrew Weir, single malt scotch expert and brand ambassador for
The Balvenie Distillery Co. “All whisky provides a very personal sort of experience, and you want to enjoy what scotch whisky does specifically for you.”
Well Reader, The Informed Drinker is here to tell you that scotch will get you drunk. That is because all scotch must be no less than 80 proof (40%) alcohol, as mandated by the Scotch Whisky Order of 1990 in the UK. You'll be pleased to know it cannot go above 94.8% alcohol however, so that it maintains the flavors of the oak casks it is aged in (and also so that you don't tip it over and mistakenly clean your ears with it).
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