Ontopic Alcohol Blog - Post when you're drinking!

I've probably posted this before but I was converted to adding a small amount of water to malt whisky by the Managing Director of Laphraoig. In their tasting room he gave me a measure of bottled and a smaller measure of cask strength, to which he the added the precise amount of water such that it was, in theory, identical to the bottled. The complexity of that glass compared to the standard was amazing when tried side by side. I thought it might have had something to do with the oxygenation of adding water. Whatever the reason, I now prefer buying cask strength and adding water rather than buying the whisky that was diluted before bottling. Even with a standard bottle, there are more flavours released with just a drop of water from a straw. For god's sake don;t use tap water though. I always use Highland Spring water if I can't get any from the whisky region.
 
It's science actually:
Release of distillate flavour compounds in Scotch malt whisky
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0010(19990515)79:7<1015::AID-JSFA321>3.0.CO;2-R/abstract

I've probably posted this before but I was converted to adding a small amount of water to malt whisky by the Managing Director of Laphraoig. In their tasting room he gave me a measure of bottled and a smaller measure of cask strength, to which he the added the precise amount of water such that it was, in theory, identical to the bottled. The complexity of that glass compared to the standard was amazing when tried side by side. I thought it might have had something to do with the oxygenation of adding water. Whatever the reason, I now prefer buying cask strength and adding water rather than buying the whisky that was diluted before bottling. Even with a standard bottle, there are more flavours released with just a drop of water from a straw. For god's sake don;t use tap water though. I always use Highland Spring water if I can't get any from the whisky region.

Take that you knuckle draggers.

edit: Here is some more info as well.
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/8469-should-you-add-water-to-your-whisky
 
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As a Canadian, it's my natural tendency to be skeptical when I'm asked to add ice to something.
 
And @Wessels can verify, this is the best eggnog you will ever taste.

Satisfied with the sterility of the drink, we set out to produce an equally safe (but less potent) nog. Our solution? Waiting until serving time to add the dairy. This way, we could use enough alcohol to properly sterilize the eggs during storage and then temper the booze-egg base with dairy for serving. We stirred together a dozen eggs, 1 1/2 cups of bourbon, 1/2 cup of cognac, and 1/3 cup of dark rum; added 1 1/2 cups of sugar; and refrigerated the 18-percent-alcohol mixture in an airtight container. After three weeks, we poured the base through a sieve to remove any egg solids and then mellowed out the mixture with 6 cups of whole milk and ½ cup of cream, bringing it down to about 8 percent alcohol. The unanimous verdict: Alongside a fresh batch, which tasted comparatively boozy and harsh, our aged nog went down more smoothly. To age your favorite eggnog recipe, be sure to use 1 1/2 ounces of 80 proof liquor for every egg, and leave out the dairy until serving.​

is this like you would do for scrambled eggs or 'stirring' a martini?