Did you read his whole post?
With his arrogance (showcased in his final paragraph) I assume he is convinced that wiping his keester is an art form.
His attitude is what keeps a lot of people from asking perfectly valid questions here on SDMB, as no one wants to be told that they are “uneducated” by a pompous blowhard who happens to have internet access…
Hush! I’m applying for a NEA grant!
I have turned it into a performance art. 
Not to threadjack, but as the original question is more or less answered, and we are in Cafe Society, I was hoping you’d let us all know more about the art of drinking single malts. I mean, it’s buy it, pour it, drink it. Right? What am I missing out on?
I’m not being silly here, you’ve given us some fine examples to go looking for. What’s next?
EDIT
Or you know, what typoink: said a few hours ago.
Dear Whisky (Note the Spelling) Artiste,
A friend of mine just gave me what he claims is a good bottle of whisky (note the spelling) for Christmas. However, I confess that I’m stymied–I’m struggling to open the bottle of whisky (note the spelling), but no matter which way I turn the cork, the damn thing won’t unscrew. Can you provide any suggestions?
Signed,
Likes Unusual Scottish Hooch
Dear LUSH:
What you have there is a classic Scottish Fighting Bottle. The correct way to open it is to grasp the neck firmly in your dominant hand, then bring the bottle down sharply, at a 45 degree angle, onto the edge of the bar or the smelly person next to you’s head. Toss back the liquid that remains in the neck of the bottle and loudly challenge any in the bar to a sheep-shagging contest.
Or, if ye be naught but a girly (note the spelling)-man, you can twist the cork while applying upwards pressure, so that it slowly exits the neck of the bottle, allowing you to pour a dram for your thirsty friends.
Wuss.
I see that Czarcasm has jumped in. Maybe they changed the name from “single barrel” to “small batch”, or maybe they dropped it entirely. It has been many years since I had it.
1792 sounds worthy of a sip.
It’s worthy. It’s not Magic or Kareem, but it’s no Rambis.
There’s both. The commonly available Knob Creek is advertised as being small batch. There is also a limited availability bottlling that is actually single barrel. I’ve never seen it, but I guess I’ve never looked either. Somehow, I’m on the Knob Creek mail list, so I get that kind of info from them from time to time. They sent me a barrel bung just recently. Dunno what I’m supposed to do with it.
Put it in your bung hole, obviously.
Camp by it until a sheep comes along, then steal the sheep.
Cafe Society isn’t the place for personal attacks on other posters.
Knock it off.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
Will do, I just thought the poster I was responding to came off as condesending and unnecessarily rude, (post #4) so I suppose I spoke out of turn…
I won’t do that again—Matthew
I think they sent the wrong size then. 
Since i work in the retail world of Wine and Spirits, I would like to clear up some things (and I am not trying to be pompous, sorry if i might come across that way)
First - Whiskey and Whisky - the different spellings are purely a “country” thing. I have been doing this 8 years now and I don’t bother with that level of minutae. They are pronounced the same way so know one knows if you are saying one and not the other.
Second - Blended - Many of the descriptions above are certainly correct, but I would like to add one more thing. No one mentioned “House Style”. The history of how bottlers (Johnie Walker, J&B, Dewars) would buy barrels from many distileries is right. After one or two centeries, people expect each bottle of CHivas Regal, or Johnie Walker Black, or Jack Daniels to taste the same as the last 30-40 bottles they drank. This is accomplished by blending…(are 10 of the barrels we are using in this batch charred to much…well lets add 10 that are chared to little to acheive a consitant taste).
Third - Single Malt - once more I want to point out, as I do at least once a day to a customer or 2, Single Malt is not intrinsicly “better” then blended Scotch. It is simply “Different”. If you are getting a gift for Uncle Bob, and all your life you have seen him drink Dewars, it might not be the best idea to trade up to a Single malt, simply becasue it is more expensive. Starting next week I will have everyones Uncle Bob coming into my store asking if he can trade is $80 single malt for 2 $40 Dewars because he likes Dewars and doesn’t want to try something different.
Fourth - Single Barrel - This is the highest priced category, but once again, it does not mean it is “Best”, simply different. A single barrel bottler (ie Lorne Mackillop) works like this. A distillery, after tasteing samples of all its barrels from a certain year, decides X barrels are ageing particularly well. To make a proffit on those bottles now (this year being to soon to release it) they offer those barrels to a Single Barrel Bottler. He decides which barrels he wants, and then buys them, thereby giving the distiller some quick profit on a product they cant sell for a few years anyway. The Bottler then but the barrel away to age (making sure each bottle is maked with the year it was distilled, and who distilled it). He will then taste it more as it ages. When he feels the barrel is best, he will bottle product from that barrel. It will be marked as his product for sale, but with the name of the distillery, year distilled, age, and any other information he may deem appropriate on the Bottle (ie “Lorne Mackillops The Glenlivet, 1973, 29 years old”…the bottle I bought for my brother for his wedding 4-5 years ago). This is one of the ways you can get scotch from distilleries that dont exist anymore as well. The reason this is done this way is to get a totally unique product to market. At the first store I worked at, once a year Lorne would visit us with some 20-30 samples of barrels he was planning to bottle that year. Each sample was stored in a glass flask (they all seemed like diffent flasks that one held a brand name in them, but has the labels washed off) with a label from an old dot-matrix printer telling you what the label on the bottle will say. The store owner, the other manager and myself woudl get ot sit there all afternoon with Lorne and taste all those sample and dicide on the 6 or 7 products we would buy. A few times we would buy the whole Barrel and we could get the words “Bottle exclusivly for X wine and spirits” each time it was something we felt was superior, but once again, that was just our opinion.
Fifth - Cask Strength Single - This is a single that has not been watered down to a standardized strength.
5a. The ultimate expression of this in Scotch is The Macallan Cask Strength.
5b. Wild Turkey does a regular bottling of cask strength called Rare Breed. Whenever Jimmy Russell finds a barrel that is worthy, it gets bottled as this. But note that this is a blend as well, of 6, 8, and 12 year old bourbons.
(Highly informative post truncated [and nods to **Czarcasm **and **silenus **for their subsequent contributions])
Thanks, Kylede, for this – it’s an excellent resource for someone like me, who drinks a lot of whiskey and has always wondered about private bottlings.
And, MBP, I’ve been following this thread since its origination, and your comments regarding Duck Quack Echo’s response were significantly more restrained than mine would have been. As I wrote in a similarly themed recent thread regarding whiskey: drink what you like, the way you like it.
There is one thing to keep in mind. When someone attempts to explain the difference in spelling to you at a party, you have to make a bold effort to get away from this person. If it is your first encounter with this type, you may feel the need to be kind. Don’t make this mistake.