Are you sitting comfortably in your vintage leather armchair, next to a roaring open fire, overlooking the grounds of your sprawling country estate?
Do you have the finest cigar in one hand and your trusty gun dog at your feet?
If this is you right now then you could be considered to be amongst the elite of whisky drinkers!
But don’t worry if you are still making your mark in the whisky world, here’s our top 10 signs that could help you to be the whisky snob you have always longed to be…unless you already are!
Single malt all the way
It’s commonly known in the drinks world that one should never mix drinks and this is also so true in the world of whisky.
Single malt is, and forever shall be, the divine right of whisky connoisseurs. If you’re trying to pass yourself off as an expert, hide the blends.
If you are a true drinker, blended whisky is a sin for you and should only be consumed at a friend’s house, out of good manners, when it’s offered to you.
You know how to use your glassware
You know that the way you drink whisky is just as important as what whisky you are drinking.
In other words, those plastic cups you’ve had left over from your daughter’s birthday five months ago will not be making an appearance any time soon.
Drinking your whisky in a simple whisky tumbler is perfectly acceptable. But the best way to drink it is from a tulip-shaped whisky glass. This is because the shape of the glass helps to concentrate all those heady aromas right to your nose, but of course you already knew that didn’t you?
The proof is in the pudding… or whisky
When you buy whisky and you want to know the alcohol percentage you’ll see the ‘proof’.
To find the percentage from the proof you divide it by two and, hey presto, that’s the alcohol percentage!
Your bookshelf has turned into a drinks cabinet
If you really are a true whisky fanatic, there will not just be one bottle of whisky in your drinks cabinet, nor will there be two or three.
Oh no, you will have a full, extensive collection of the finest whiskies sourced from all over the world and half of them will still be mint condition, unopened!
Neat or on the rocks?
One of the most commonly debated questions concerning whisky is whether to have it with ice or to enjoy it by its natural self?
Whisky was meant to be enjoyed neat, as that’s the way it was created. But when you add ice it takes away that occasional harshness and can make the experience even more enjoyable.
The choice is yours but if you’re a whisky snob, you’ll be sure that you know best anyway.
Want to know more about whisky? Great! Visit our online store here or pop in and see the guys at the Lockett Bros store, 133 High Street, North Berwick.
