How do I drink it?

The most common question I get is in regards to how I actually drink whiskey. Generally I drink it neat (straight), or with one small ice cube. I will rarely drink it in a cocktail. I suppose the most popular whiskey cocktail would be "Jack and Coke". I don't really care for that. It's interesting, there are several well known whiskey based cocktails, such as the Manhattan, Old Fashioned and Whiskey Sour, but these are not very popular to the general drinking public. It seems that 90% of cocktails made these days are vodka based. My theory on this is that whiskey is already the most complex spirit in the world, with tremendous depth and variety in its flavor profile. Mixing it with soda or sweet bar mixes just doesn't work. People make cocktails with vodka because you have to do something to give the vodka some flavor. Think about it, who drinks vodka straight?

Anyway, like I said, the most I usually put in my whiskey is a little water. However, people assume that 'neat' is the way real whiskey 'connoisseurs' drink it. In fact, some of the machismo surrounding the issue can be annoying. Here is an interesting article addressing this topic. The truth is, the proper way to drink whiskey is whichever way tastes best for you. Most whiskey enthusiasts start out drinking it in cocktails, or in my case, with a tumbler full of ice. Gradually, as the palette develops, the desire for additional ingredients will naturally fade.

Even though I prefer my whiskey straight, there are occasions where it would be nice to drink it in a cocktail, so I have been trying different cocktails to see which one is right for me. I haven't had much luck in this search until recently when I tried bourbon and ginger-ale. My first attempt was 'Canada Dry and Jim Beam Black'. This was pretty good, but I didn't care for the aftertaste. My next attempt was 'Schweppes and Wild Turkey 101'. This was very good and without the funny aftertaste. My third attempt was 'Seagram's Ginger Ale and Very Old Barton bourbon'. This combination tasted like the first, including the aftertaste. I have concluded that this will require a more scientific approach, and I will begin to collect different Ginger Ales until I have enough to conduct a documented testing session. Stay tuned.

While we are on the subject of tasting, below is a pretty good video on the basics of whiskey tasting: