On 12/24/2025 at 7:45 PM, geordief said:

Google autosuggest brings up "scotch whiskey" when you start typing in the url /search box (on both my devices).

You are not suggesting it is wrong,surely ;-)

Scotch whisky. American whiskey. Whisky and Whiskey are not made the same way. Whiskey encompasses several styles and ingredients. They are different drinks.

46 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

Scotch whisky. American whiskey. Whisky and Whiskey are not made the same way. Whiskey encompasses several styles and ingredients. They are different drinks.

It was just a joke.

Google seems to think it should be "Scotch whiskey" .Will the computer driven world follow Google's advice by the nose and change the accepted spelling accordingly?

(I didn't ' realize that American Whiskey existed ,assuming it was all called "bourbon" but I think I may have been mistaken there.)

BTW Southern Comfort is the only whiskey I can drink other than when used in cooking or in Irish Coffee.

Edited December 27, 2025Dec 27 by geordief

2 hours ago, geordief said:

(I didn't ' realize that American Whiskey existed ,assuming it was all called "bourbon" but I think I may have been mistaken there.)

All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Bourbon has requirements, like corn content, how it’s aged, what’s added. Each classification requires a minimum percentage of the characteristic grain - e.g. rye, wheat.

The Swedes have a spiced whiskey which is called aquavit. Usually flavored with dill and caraway seeds. I'd advise staying on a soft carpeted or padded area while consuming. Wasn't aware of the whisky/whiskey spelling issue. I just thought whisky was what whisk brooms were.

51 minutes ago, TheVat said:

The Swedes have a spiced whiskey which is called aquavit. Usually flavored with dill and caraway seeds. I'd advise staying on a soft carpeted or padded area while consuming. Wasn't aware of the whisky/whiskey spelling issue. I just thought whisky was what whisk brooms were.

Whiskery?

It is quite important here if you prefer Irish to Scottish whiskey(or vice versa)

I wouldn't be an expert or know if the manufacturing process is different.

Edited December 27, 2025Dec 27 by geordief

I recall that Jack Daniels whiskey is not bourbon, even though it’s predominantly corn, owing to not ticking one of the boxes. It’s Tennessee whiskey.

16 hours ago, TheVat said:

The Swedes have a spiced whiskey which is called aquavit. Usually flavored with dill and caraway seeds. I'd advise staying on a soft carpeted or padded area while consuming. Wasn't aware of the whisky/whiskey spelling issue. I just thought whisky was what whisk brooms were.

Also Norway. I recall being given a bottle by a group of Norwegian shipping line customers to whom I gave a tour of our oil blending plant when I was production manager there. The problem for me was that possession of alcohol on a refinery site was a matter of instant dismissal. They should never have been allowed in with it. I decided not to make a scene, accepted the gift courteously and - and got it off site pronto in my car when I drove home. This was what the Norwegian called Linie (pronounced like "linear") Aquavit, meaning it has gone round the world by ship to mature, crossing the equator, i.e. the line. So that's why a shipping line would give it as a gift.

But I think this is a lot closer to vodka than to whisky (or even whiskey). Certainly the taste was, um, not that great.

Edited December 28, 2025Dec 28 by exchemist

On 12/26/2025 at 7:15 PM, geordief said:

BTW Southern Comfort is the only whiskey I can drink other than when used in cooking or in Irish Coffee.

Southern Comfort is not bourbon; try Woodford SR .

Scotch whisky is made predominantly from barley, aged in pre-used barrels ( for color and flavor notes ) and has a typically 'earthy' flavor, sometimes to excess like Lagavulin, Laphroaig, or Ardbeg ( I like Cardhu ).
But American whiskey can be made from predominantly corn, in the case of bourbon, or rye grasses ( mostly in Canada ), aged in newly charred barrels, for the 'peppery,; golden rye whiskey ( which I dislike as it rots my gut ).

Of them all, I prefer a smooth brandy or cognac, as I believe alcoholic drinks should be made from fermented fruits, but there are some good bourbons like Woodford SR ( hard to find now that Ontario has an embargo on American bourbon ), and some good scotches like Cardhu ( girlfriend's father turned me on to it over 30 yrs ago ), and my brother likes the 'peaty' scotches, so I'm acquiring a taste.
I've even been known to drink good sipping tequila ( dark anejos like Don Julio or Clase Azul ), and my summertime mixed drink is vodka and soda with lots of lemon garnish.

IOW, I don't care how it's spelled.
He

1 hour ago, MigL said:

Scotch whisky is made predominantly from barley, aged in pre-used barrels ( for color and flavor notes ) and has a typically 'earthy' flavor, sometimes to excess like Lagavulin, Laphroaig, or Ardbeg ( I like Cardhu ).

I remember a drive in a cab on my way to St. Andrews when my boss pronounced Laphroaig as “La frog” and the driver corrected him (with a bit of a dismissive tone, which was great)

1 hour ago, MigL said:

Southern Comfort is not bourbon; try Woodford SR .

Scotch whisky is made predominantly from barley, aged in pre-used barrels ( for color and flavor notes ) and has a typically 'earthy' flavor, sometimes to excess like Lagavulin, Laphroaig, or Ardbeg ( I like Cardhu ).
But American whiskey can be made from predominantly corn, in the case of bourbon, or rye grasses ( mostly in Canada ), aged in newly charred barrels, for the 'peppery,; golden rye whiskey ( which I dislike as it rots my gut ).

Of them all, I prefer a smooth brandy or cognac, as I believe alcoholic drinks should be made from fermented fruits, but there are some good bourbons like Woodford SR ( hard to find now that Ontario has an embargo on American bourbon ), and some good scotches like Cardhu ( girlfriend's father turned me on to it over 30 yrs ago ), and my brother likes the 'peaty' scotches, so I'm acquiring a taste.
I've even been known to drink good sipping tequila ( dark anejos like Don Julio or Clase Azul ), and my summertime mixed drink is vodka and soda with lots of lemon garnish.

IOW, I don't care how it's spelled.
He

I hardly drink Scotch these days but one of my favourites is Bowmore: an Islay malt, peaty enough to remind me of climbing the munros, but not in-your-face phenolic like Laphroaig.

10 hours ago, exchemist said:

But I think this is a lot closer to vodka than to whisky (or even whiskey). Certainly the taste was, um, not that great.

Yes, the potato based aquavit is really more a vodka, having neutral clear spirits and not oak aged or any grain notes. The grain based aquavit is closer to a whiskey, but might still be closer to vodka due to a higher proof and more neutral spirit. I know if you go over a certain proof, it ceases to qualify as whiskey. Personally, I think adding dill or caraway to anything like that won't go well for the taste.

4 hours ago, swansont said:

I remember a drive in a cab on my way to St. Andrews when my boss pronounced Laphroaig as “La frog” and the driver corrected him (with a bit of a dismissive tone, which was great)

One can only guess at such clusters of vowels, if not Scots.

This is the only frog libation I've encountered.

https://www.tequila.net/tequila-reviews/blancos/senor-frogs-tequila-plata.html

5 hours ago, swansont said:

my boss pronounced Laphroaig as “La frog”

I remember the pronunciation; it's the spelling that gets me every time.

11 hours ago, exchemist said:

possession of alcohol on a refinery site was a matter of instant dismissal.

Just noticed this ...
I would think it would be in a chemical plant that makes Phosphine as well.
However one previous plant manager ( who had an extensive scotch collection ) related that at the Solvay plants in Germany the are allowed beer in their lunchrooms.

Whisky and whiskey are both variant anglicisations of the Scottish Gaelic expression uisge beatha  which means ‘Water of Life’ - probably a calque of the Latin phrase aqua vitae. Whisky is the favoured spelling in Britain and Europe, while whiskey is the common spelling in Ireland and the USA.

Laphroaig is from the Gaelic Lag Bhròdhaig meaning the ‘the hollow by the broad bay’ - a reference to the geographical location of the distillery on the Hebridean island of  Islay.

According to a BBC news report last week, Jim Beam the maker of bourbon whiskey will shortly halt production at its main site in Kentucky for the whole of next year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy5gv5z24n2o

A major reason  for this shutdown is the trade war started by president Trump in April 2025 which has provoked punitive retaliatory tariffs, and a Canadian consumer boycott which has led to a catastrophic 85% fall in US bourbon exports to that country.

3 hours ago, toucana said:

a Canadian consumer boycott which has led to a catastrophic 85% fall in US bourbon exports to that country

Just doing my part.
( but I don't like it )

3 hours ago, toucana said:

Laphroaig is from the Gaelic Lag Bhròdhaig meaning the ‘the hollow by the broad bay’ - a reference to the geographical location of the distillery on the Hebridean island of  Islay.

I was told, by a Scottish friend, that Cardhu is made in a distillery where only women work, but Wikipedia doesn't mention it, so I'm questioning that information.

Cardhu distillery - Wikipedia

17 hours ago, swansont said:

I remember a drive in a cab on my way to St. Andrews when my boss pronounced Laphroaig as “La frog” and the driver corrected him (with a bit of a dismissive tone, which was great)

My son graduated from there this summer. What took you to St. Andrews?

4 hours ago, MigL said:

I was told, by a Scottish friend, that Cardhu is made in a distillery where only women work, but Wikipedia doesn't mention it, so I'm questioning that information.

Cardhu distillery - Wikipedia

Cardhu whose name comes from the Scottish Gaelic Carn Dubh - ‘Black Rock’ is a Speyside distillery that was first set up  around 1824 and run by two women: Helen Cumming and her daughter-in-law Elizabeth Cumming - making it the first distillery officially pioneered and managed by women in Scotland.

Helen Cumming was the wife of a whisky smuggler called John Cumming, and the distillery was originally an illegal farmhouse operation located near the top of Mannoch hill near Archiestown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardhu_distillery

"It was mainly run by Helen Cumming who used to sell bottles of whisky to passers-by through the window of their farmhouse. Due to the hill the farm distillery was on, Helen could see the police coming and would throw flour on herself and say that she was baking bread to disguise the smell. She would then offer them tea and fly a flag outside so that the other nearby distilleries could see and take prompt action."

Edited December 29, 2025Dec 29 by toucana
Removed duplicate 'the' in l.2

1 hour ago, exchemist said:

My son graduated from there this summer. What took you to St. Andrews?

A taxi cab. (badoom tshhh)

It was an international symposium on frequency standards and metrology, which are held every ~7 years.

Come to think of it, there was a whisky tasting event as part of it, though I was very jet-lagged so I didn’t attend. I did sample some at the bar in the dormitory a few nights later.

2 hours ago, swansont said:

A taxi cab. (badoom tshhh)

It was an international symposium on frequency standards and metrology, which are held every ~7 years.

Come to think of it, there was a whisky tasting event as part of it, though I was very jet-lagged so I didn’t attend. I did sample some at the bar in the dormitory a few nights later.

A few years ago a senior journalist on our local evening paper told me a story of how he and a coach-load of other journalists were taken off on a complimentary tour of famous Scottish whisky distilleries. The schedule involved visiting eight such distilleries and sampling the product at each one - he subsequently had no lucid memory of anything that occurred after arriving at the fourth one.

2 hours ago, swansont said:

A taxi cab. (badoom tshhh)

It was an international symposium on frequency standards and metrology, which are held every ~7 years.

Come to think of it, there was a whisky tasting event as part of it, though I was very jet-lagged so I didn’t attend. I did sample some at the bar in the dormitory a few nights later.

Ah yes, I know UK universities often host conferences, usually in the summer when the students are away, to get some value out of the unoccupied facilities. The accommodation can be a bit spartan, but it’s a good idea.

5 hours ago, exchemist said:

Ah yes, I know UK universities often host conferences, usually in the summer when the students are away, to get some value out of the unoccupied facilities. The accommodation can be a bit spartan, but it’s a good idea.

Yes, this was in September, so I imagine it was right before classes started in the fall. It’s not like you spend much time in your room besides sleeping and getting ready to go in the morning. The rest of the time is usually talks/posters, meals and some evening activities.

14 hours ago, MigL said:

I was told, by a Scottish friend, that Cardhu is made in a distillery where only women work,

That must be nice for the male employees.

8 hours ago, swansont said:

Come to think of it, there was a whisky tasting event as part of it, though I was very jet-lagged so I didn’t attend.

I was in a group, in a small French town, which was invited to meet the mayor shortly after debarking. I was dead tired and didn't anticipate that he would serve us the wine produced by his family's vineyard and that it would be an insult to turn it down. It struck like vodka. Tasted better, though (vodka has always tasted like liquified Band-Aids to me). Anyway, it fixed the jet lag by advancing my clock several hours past CST.

2 minutes ago, TheVat said:

That must be nice for the male employees.

I was in a group, in a small French town, which was invited to meet the mayor shortly after debarking. I was dead tired and didn't anticipate that he would serve us the wine produced by his family's vineyard and that it would be an insult to turn it down. It struck like vodka. Tasted better, though (vodka has always tasted like liquified Band-Aids to me). Anyway, it fixed the jet lag by advancing my clock several hours past CST.

At least with wine you can just have the one glass which, even with jet lag, shouldn't do much damage. Spirits, or worse, a session in a bar, would be pretty ghastly though. I got into the habit of indicating before the trip that, if we were all going out one evening, could we please do that after the visitors from London had a couple of days to adjust, if there was a time difference.