Fettercairn

[Troglodyte]

To be bluntly honest, and despite deep respect and appreciation for your excellent explanation, I merely like what tastes good to me and has the appropriate 'blast' on my tongue and throat. I don't care how it is blended or aged or in what it is aged.
Right now, I'm enjoying Arran very much.

Arran is a jolly good dram, and has been mistakenly underrated.

The great thing about whisky is that there so much choice that it is easy to find something to suit all tastes - and taste is entirely subjective. Go for what you like and enjoy, I say! That's how I drink it.

One thing to remember is that some whiskies will 'go off' over time - a bit like wine getting 'corked' - and need to be blended in order to make them drinkable. A 20, or 25 or even 30yo whisky may have had all its sister casks culled long before they have reached that age, due to going off. So the well-aged dram is as much luck as good judgement.

You can make the 'blast' on your tongue more fun by playing around with what you eat with the whisky, how warm you drink it (I personally like whisky properly warm - about blood-temperature) and when. A whisky can often taste noticably different at different times of the day, or when out in the open as opposed to in a stuffy pub.