I was a beer drinker. I had whiskey, gin, etc. but rarely. There were times it went down well but for the most part it didn't appeal to me.
It was my first trip to Scotland, (and Ireland), back in... ummmm, 2006 I think. I attended a whiskey tasting tour sampling whiskey from many distilleries. They taught us how to really taste whiskey. All I could initially taste was the bite, the harshness... but after the tour my taste buds started coming around. While at first words like 'fruity', 'nutty', 'smoky', were lost on me, all I could taste was the harshness, I slowly began to discern the subtleties of whiskey..... and it was a marvelous experience.
I was at the castle in Edinburgh looking out over the city when my son said a good shot of whiskey would be perfect. There is a liquor store in the castle. My son went in and came out with a bottle, (small one), of Talisker Scotch. We partook.
Now I'll readily give you that the aesthetics of the location was immeasurably helpful BUT... never tasted anything so divine. So ever since.....
hehe, well, I still drink hard liquor, any alcohol, rarely.... but when the occasion calls for it.... which could simply be a sunset, I always have a good bottle of scotch on hand. - JamesJM
