Slainte!

I've decided that 2008 will be the year of whiskey for me. Not that I drink very much at all, but I am, after all, a licensed bartender, and as such I should have a personal preference. When I find myself in a social situation where drinking is involved, I usually order a gin and tonic from force of habit. I like g & t because it glows in the dark under black light (pretty cool in a night club). But whiskey is a more interesting and sophisticated beverage.

Learning about whiskey (as opposed to actually drinking it) is like collecting stamps: in the process, you'll learn history, geography, biology, chemistry, even a little foreign language. For those who are unsure how to pronounce Scottish words like "Laphroaig" or "slainte," here's an interesting web page with audio clips:

http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/sounds/