Name that favorite alcoholic beverage

[Mister_T]

Tequila is really nasty. A couple of months ago I drank a bottle of good tequila with a friend. I felt nothing (I have to say that I'm an experienced and responsible drinker).

The next day, I woke up - felt nothing. I had breakfast, took a shower, and walked to the bus station to go to town. When the bus left, it suddenly felt like I was being hit with an enormous hammer.

Tequila. Nasty.

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't drink tequila because it tastes good. Granted, Patron tastes better than the rest which is why it's my hard liquor of choice, but I drink it because it gets the job done.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Oh no you don't drink chill filtered whiskey do you? Proper whiskey can not be poured over ice otherwise it will go milky. Chill filtering this stops that happening but removes a lot of the taste and is generally thought of as being an inferior drink to before it is chill filtered. Especially with a single malt you will ruin it completely by putting it over ice. As well as this ice kills the aroma and at a colder temperature reduces the taste by anaesthetizing the papilla on the tongue meaning you do not get the full taste.

On top of all this, I've found that most ice will absorb the flavour of whatever it's exposed to while it's sitting around. Usually, adding ice to your whiskey will make it taste like the inside of your freezer.

Panda's right: neat or with water. Personally, I like my whiskey neat, but I've also heard that a splash of good quality water will make the alcohol content a bit less overwhelming, which will let you taste more of the flavour of the whiskey.

 

[Panda]

On top of all this, I've found that most ice will absorb the flavour of whatever it's exposed to while it's sitting around. Usually, adding ice to your whiskey will make it taste like the inside of your freezer.

Panda's right: neat or with water. Personally, I like my whiskey neat, but I've also heard that a splash of good quality water will make the alcohol content a bit less overwhelming, which will let you taste more of the flavour of the whiskey.

In cask strength whiskeys water helps open the whiskey as well as lowering the strength (which can be up to 60% or even higher in some cases) which means you taste the whiskey not the alcohol.