I keep a Lagavulin around but it does tend to last. A short tumbler of Bunnahabhain did bring a genuine smile to the lips of a friend quite distrustful of Scotch the other day. Had hiss wife and babies not been there it might have put a Loch on 'em. Pretty mellow for an Islay.
As long as we’re naming names, anyone tried Glenmoragie’s Nectar d’Or yet? Lately it’s shared equal billing with my Macallens. Right tasty.
Just picked up a bottle last week. I really like it. The sauterne cask finish really adds something interesting.
I always drink my malts and whiskeys straight (no ice, no nuttin’), even the 100 to 128 proof stuff.
It’s not a macho thing and I keep thinking I really need to add a little water just to see if something interesting and enjoyable will result, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
I even have a beautiful little etched water pitcher that came with a couple of similarly etched glasses and a bottle of Macallan 12. It’s never been used.
From a Scottish ex-manager of mine: “You show me on the bottle where it says ‘Dilute to taste’”. 
Hey, you’re dissing one of my favourite pure malts. BTW, the accompanying note with the bottle of Laphroaig (in the can) suggests putting a few drops of water. I always use chilled spring water, but never ice.
I love many whiskies, but Laphroaig has an excessive, in-your-face taste that makes all others seem a bit tame.
ETA: We just finished a bottle of the Cask Strength Laphroaig, and it is a nectar of the gods.
Okay, that does it! I’m trying a bottle!
I like my scotch the way I like all my whiskey (and whisky, bourbon, rye, etc.): on the rocks. I know you’re not supposed to chill it, but I like the changes in the drink as the ice melts. Initially, the scotch is full-strength, but each sip more water is added to less scotch, and the flavor and character changes.
If there were an easy way to slowly dilute the scotch over time, other than ice, I’d probably use it. I’ve tried adding a little lukewarm water between sips, and the difference (between that and chilling the drink) is noticeable.
I’ll grab him from behind, you kneecap him with the hammer.
I like to add a few drops of water to open up a whiskey, but drowning it in soda or cola is just wrong. And ice? Well, I might pour Walker Black over ice–certainly, it can’t be harmed by it–but anything nicer deserves an honest treatment of being drank neat.
Stranger
Couple drops of water, nothing more is the way I prefer my scotch.
I’ve tried scotch with ice, and even when it’s one of those baseball-sized, hand-chipped chunks that are meant not to melt too fast and add water to your drink too quickly, ice just screws things up. Letting it warm in your mouth brings some of the flavor back, but not enough.
One of the ironies of living in Japan, where the purist snob factor of some things is truly absurd sometimes, is that ordering your drink neat is almost never done. You pay between ¥1,200–1,800 for a single finger of something decent like Lagavulin 16 in a Tokyo bar (which goes for about ¥7,000–8,000 a bottle at an import liquor store I frequent) and probably 95% of the people who order it either get it on the rocks, or water it down to only 3/4 to 1/2 of the bottle strength.
Adding soda to scotch is just sacrilege. It should only be done with assy Japanese “scotch,” which is practically undrinkable otherwise. Even the relatively expensive Yamazaki is not particularly good, in my opinion. Apparently, Oichi recently won a blind tasting, but at £150 a bottle, according to the article, I really, really doubt I’ll be trying any. Anything domestic that’s in my price range — up to about ¥8,000 a bottle — hasn’t been palatable.
If you like peat, it’s also worth checking out Ardbeg. Laphroig and Ardbeg pretty much define peaty whiskies. When I started drinking Scotch whisky, my tastes were towards the sweeter, Speyside malts, but I’ve since grown tired of Speyside and currently have an infatuation with the peat of Islay malts. I’m sure at some point I’ll burn out on peat and move to some other region, but that’s what’s so fun about scotch whisky: so many distilleries, so many different flavor profiles, so little time.
I happened to have a bottle of Laphroaig 15yo with me this past weekend when Mrs. Urquhart and I were passing through Manitou Springs, Colorado – home of a variety of natural mineral springs.
I decided to try the Laphroaig with a couple of drops from one fountain called the Seven Minute Spring. It made the earthy, peaty taste of the Scotch just a bit … earthier. I’d do it again.
(Mrs. Urquhart, btw, doesn’t care for the Laphroaig10yo, but she does appreciate the 15yo – the peat attack is more subdued.)
For me, it depends on the scotch. More expensive single malts I drink neat or maybe with a splash. Regular old blended scotch, I drink on the rocks with a splash. Cheap scotch, I fill a pint glass with ice, fill it halfway with scotch, the rest with tap water, and kill it right there at the sink.
Guy at our local distillery recommended about one part water to four of whisky - cool but not ice-cold. I’ve also tried it with Calvados, and that works too. De gustibus means that your mileage will vary, pretty much by definition.
I’m off in 30 whole minutes and this thread is driving me CRAZY!
Good scotch is best appreciated with Dr. Pepper. 
Actually, I physically can’t drink scotch straight. I have a horrible gag reflex to hard liquor. I will vomit if i drink hard liquor straight and nothing will keep it down. I can do shots, but usually I need a chaser. When I drink scotch, I dilute it about 50/50 with water. It is pretty tasty that way. I cannot sip straight scotch.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Actually, I don’t know if I like peat or not. Like you I’ve been fond of the Speyside malts, with the Macallan 12 having become my ‘everyday’ pour, though I don’t actually drink it every day.
I’ve always been curious about the peaty malts and suspect I’ll come to like them quite well once the shock wears off, and Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroig are the ones I’ve become most curious about.
I’ve heard and read the scariest things about Laphroig, though, so it’s the one I thought I’d start out with. 
Ardbeg actualy claims to be peatier than Laphroaig, so you can start with either.
It’s funny, I just looked up a map of Scotland’s distilleries and Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroig are all right together.
Perhaps I’ll hit the liquor store tomorrow for a trifecta and see what happens.
PS - Any info on Caol Ila? It’s been tempting me at the liquor store lately, though I don’t know why.
I love it - as peaty, if not peatier, than Laphroig or Ardbeg.
Is there anyone else out there who love sherry-casks? I had a Caol Ila from Murray McDavid that I just finished a month ago. The sweet of the sherry with the smoke of the peat, och, it was a huge flavour!
Glenfiddich Gran Reserva - aged 21 years in a Cuban rum cask, is another that I managed to keep going for almost a year before I finished it…
Bowmore 17 year sherry-cask. Mmmm.
Imagine licorice soaked in iodine.
Needless to say, I love the stuff. And I’d never heard of this Ardbeg. Thank you, Le Ministre, I’ll have to find some…