You’ve got it all wrong. And maybe the OP, too. Drinking is a hobby. Scotch is just one option. Think of it like painting. You could paint with oils or with watercolors, but either way, you’d be painting. 
Cycling is one of my hobbies, and I really like it. Maybe you’re approaching it wrong, though. Would you consider driving your car to be a hobby if you only drove it to work or to run errands? Cycling as a hobby means you go for rides in your spare time for the sole purpose of riding. It’s a great way to relax, or crank it up and get some serious exercise. Plus, you appreciate your surroundings much more from the vantage of a bike than in a car.
Now, it may be that cycling isn’t really for you, but have you given it a fair shake?
I got into running for awhile. And when I was doing races, I could force myself to train and it wasn’t too bad. But when I stopped doing races, I realized how much I hated running. I just hate it. I hate it from the very first step I take. But… I love hiking. So I hike instead, and still get some nice exercise, get to be out on the same trails , but I get to do something I really like instead of something I hate.
I have. I’m near several nice parks and good paved trails, and I’ve rode them all, but I’d rather do something else. It’s just more trouble than it’s worth to me.
Bagpipes are great at hiding talent.
Baseball
Coffee
I think you are on to something here. I grew up on a lake in Michigan and spent years doing anything and everything associated with waterskiing. I loved it. Still do on those rare occasions that I can do it. Snow skiing is completely different. I think I expected it to be a similar kind of thrill, and it simply wasn’t.
I wonder if the reverse holds true, if people who learn snow skiing first find water skiing disappointing?
When I moved to near the coast of California, everyone was all big on the surfboarding. I was told it was the hobby and I’d really be into it.
I tried it, even took lessons. Too much of it was bobbing in the water waiting for something to happen. Reminded me too much of fishing.
Banjo. I would love to be able to sit and jam with other musicians, but dayum making music is hard to learn!
Learning a new language. I downloaded Duolingo with every intention of learning Spanish. It could be useful, living here in California, but I never get past the first few lessons. And now it won’t leave me alone.
Stupid owl.
I LIVE in a county with 4 world class ski resorts, so I don’t have to deal with traffic to get to a resort (I have to deal with the extra traffic in town though :shrug:) I still hate skiing though.
Fishing. I used to go a lot with my Dad. And a few times since. I have all his old gear, but I don’t ever use it anymore. I love being out on the water, but trying to catch a fish seem just to add stress to an otherwise relaxing day.
Auto mechanics. I really wanted to be able to maintain my own car, and understand its workings better. (This was decades ago when car engines were considerably easier to work on. The cars in question were a 1971 VW Super Beetle and a 1970 Buick Skylark.) I usually ended up making things worse, and finally had the sense to stop trying.
Ice skating. Each time I try it (which is every couple of years), it takes me at least half an hour to get the hang of it again. Before that I’m constantly grabbing onto the rails or slipping and falling. Two times ago, my leg started cramping almost immediately, so I had to quit right away. Last time, I went to a beautiful new skating ribbon at Maggie Daley park that’s about a quarter or half mile long. I immediately got frustrated over my lack of ability. I slogged to the snack bar that was about halfway around the ribbon and took a break. Then I slogged back to the starting point. All that money and effort wasted just to do one fucking lap.
To each his own, I guess. I went water-skiing a lot, growing up. And it was fun. But a week out at Snowbird in Utah when I was in my mid-20s totally left water-skiing behind.
First of all, it’s exhilirating in a way that water-skiing never was. I loved going downhill really fast. Second, different terrain makes for different challenges, where the terrain in water-skiing doesn’t change. (Sure, you can jump the wake. Done.) Also, it helped that at Snowbird, it’s not a ‘short slide,’ since the top of the mountain is at 11,000 feet, while the lodge is at 7900 feet. So that’s 3100 feet that’s just the vertical, which means that you can literally ski for miles at a time. (I’d have a hard time adjusting to skiing on a short mountain with long lines.)
But still, to each his own. That’s what the thread’s all about.
Volunteering with various area humane societies.
It sounded grate, but between getting injured by untrained and under stimulated dogs and dealing with people who acted like they were still in high school, I called it quits after 2 1/2 years.
Learning Russian. I suck at languages that don’t use Latin script and I really wanted to master this one. I bought books and attended the only two Russian language learning groups in the area.
First was run by a super creepy older guy that scared everyone but his best friend away. This guy didn’t do anything, really, there was just something that set off everyone’s, male and female, spidey senses.
Second was run by a snobbish bunch who met at a café in a nearby city. I went to two meetings and left after I was tired of being ignored.
Scuba. As a kid I imagined it as being like flying with a cool wetsuit and mask for protection and flippers to make me go super fast. The reality was fun but there was always too much preparation involved and too often the water was murky or cold or there was just nothing to see in the first place. Not for me it turns out.
Roller Blading: I really wanted to transition from quads (four wheels per shoe), which I’d been doing for 20+ years, but couldn’t seem to get my legs to keep from bowing out. Went back to going old-school and looking like a dinosaur.
Fantasy football: maybe it was the people in the league, or maybe it was that I didn’t do very well the only season I played, but I just couldn’t get into it. An agent tried to force a bad trade on me and I get now that his belittling approach was just a tactic, but it just wasn’t fun.
Now, fantasy basketball, I was so obsessed I chose to quit. But it, too, is mostly a waste of time.
What do you think the beer is for?
Pickling, bread baking, golf, target shooting, ukulele, juggling, vegetable gardening, collecting autographed first editions … the detritus from these failed hobbies still clutters my apartment. (Thank goodness, didn’t actually buy a rifle or golf clubs, but everything else is sitting there somewhere, silently chastising me for my failure.)
Bob Ross type art. I like simple nature paintings.
Woodworking. I’m too impatient and too much of a perfectionist but I enjoy cutting wood and making stuff from it, just wish I could do the more complicated stuff.
Carpentry. Theres a lot of things I’d like to do to my house, just don’t have the expeierence to have any confidence nor the ambition really.