Is this somewhat akin to the idea of letting wine breathe before drinking? If I buy a nice but inexpensive whiskey, say a bottle of Bush, am I likely to not notice much in the way of difference?
Although this is the first response that actually tried to answer the question asked, Cite?
Are whiskey snobs even more annoying than wine or beer snobs?
Or maybe I was too stupid and took the OP way too literally?
See Post #36.
Yes. I am two of the three, and even I can’t stand me in snob mode.
Maybe. 
Word.
No. Not word. Partial word, maybe. Anybody who mixes Macallan with anything other than a touch of water deserves a horsewhipping. Anybody who drink a fine cognac over ice should be euthanized. Cheap scotch and Christian Bothers, knock yourself out. But it’s the posers who are keeping the prices out of reach of most of us, and this must stop.
Disagree entirely. Do what makes yourself happy.
IIRC Oban says something like ‘drink neat or with a drop of water like a stalwart’ on it, so I guess they are open to both ways.
This is interesting. I’ve deliberately avoided learning to like scotch: liking bourbon is plenty expensive for me, thank you. My favorite bourbon hands-down is Woodford Reserve (I might like some of the uberpremium brands more, but I’ve not tried very many of them, and the one or two I have tried I haven’t liked as well as WR). When I tried WR with a single ice cube, I was profoundly disappointed in it.
It might make a difference that I sip bourbon over a ridiculously long time: a single shot can last me an hour or more, and I sip probably a quarter-teaspoon at a time. Mostly I clutch it like a freezing man with a cup of hot coffee and sniff it.
How could a drop or two of water make any significant difference at all to the flavors/aromas/volatiles? It’s already over half water. What are another couple of drops going to do?
I had always understood the tradition to come from when actual dilution (i.e., adding a comparable amount of water) to stretch the drink was common. By adding a single drop, you were making it clear that you weren’t forgetting to dilute it; you were just choosing to dilute it by the bare minimum amount. It’s sort of the same principle as leaving a 1 cent tip for bad service, instead of no tip at all.
I think that literally a drop or two in a glassful of whisky probably would make no difference. However, if you start adding water in amounts large enough to measurably affect the alcohol concentration (more in the order of a “splash” than a “drop”), it’s easy to argue that you’ll feel a difference. Remember that a colloquial “drop” isn’t necessary the same as a literal drop (which is about 0.2 mL IIRC) 
Firstly, by diluting the whisky you decrease the amount of alcohol vapor going up into the air and to your nose. Since the odor of ethanol is quite sharp to the nose and may blunt our experience of more subtle aromas, I have no problem interpreting this as an experience that the flavors “open up”. The total aroma symphony will be markedly less dominated by the smell of ethanol.
Secondly, the vapor pressures of the different components of a complex mixture is pretty difficult to predict. In short, weird things may happen. So, it’s also possible that a fairly small change in the proportions between water, ethanol and all the other components may give a noticable change in the overall aroma experience.
Hmm, I think I tried that one a couple of weeks ago at the distillery (with a splash of water, of course).
Anyroad, the Orkney poet George Mackay Brown used to claim that the only thing you can mix with whisky is whisky.
I’ve mostly drank whiskey as single-malts, and mostly around people who added not a drop of water. Some single-malts I like, some I find repulsive. I don’t find that monkeying around with water changes one into the other.
Bottom line - screw the snobs. Drink what you like in the manner you like to drink it. Unless you’re going to a tasting or a [fill in the blank] appreciation class it’s nobody else’s business how you like your booze.
But if it really is a matter of dilution, why don’t they just sell it a little weaker to begin with?
I pretty much said the same thing. I wonder if the “release of volatiles” is the result of the agitation (stirring) instead of the addition of the water.
But what do I know. I drink Irish whiskeys and dark rums mostly, only the occasional scotch, and always neat.
Certainly! Here’s a website supporting what I’ve said, plus an explanation of what’s going on chemically. It was a fun read for me, because I didn’t know how it worked either!
I found another site with a somewhat different explanation of what’s going on, as well. This also explains why they don’t just dilute it before shipping, as the dilution needs to happen as you enjoy the scotch.
Anybody who wonders what a little bit of water can do to an alcoholic drink needs to get themselves some ouzo, absinthe, Pernod/pastis, etc. and do an experiment. There are obvious physical changes that occur with the smallest addition of water. (They turn milky white in a process that is called “louching.”) That something similar may occur with whiskey or other alcoholic drinks and that it may affect the taste as well as appearance doesn’t seem too unbelievable to me.
As an experiment last night, I poured a half-ounce of 20 year old Black Maple Hill Bourbon, and a half-ounce of 23 year old Black Maple Hill Rye (I know - tough duty, but it was for SCIENCE). I sipped each, then added a quarter teaspoon of filtered water to each. The change in flavor - for the better - was immediately apparent!
Thanks for taking one for the team!
Not a serious Scotch drinker here, but probably because I’m not serious about anything. Nonetheless, I generally keep about ten to fifteen single malts on hand and a few choice blends. Similar to an above comment, in all the tastings I’ve been to they’ve recommended adding a touch of water.
My suggestion: have it chilled into a rocks glass. Bars and restaurants have all sorts of different sized ice cubes, and asking for it with ‘just one cube’ is a bit silly–and many waitstaff and even bartenders can’t get even that correct. But having it chilled means that in short order it’s not cold anymore, and there is pretty much the right amount of added water. It makes ordering easy and avoids the Sally-esque demand that the waitstaff count out the cubes.