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Comment by throwaway5752 | Hacker News Reader

If you put ice in Macallan 18, you suck. Sorry for the light epithet, but it deserves worse.

and as I read more: "Gläce states that the cubes are ideal for high-end cocktails -- those that employ splashes of $38,000-per-bottle liquors, and must not be diluted or contaminated by mere tap ice." ... ICE NUMBS YOUR TASTE BUDS. Fancy water or not.

edit: Downvoted to -1? I'll double down. If you are going to drink a nice scotch on the rocks, do yourself a favor and buy cheap scotch instead. Go enjoy a Johnnie Walker Red or Cutty Sark. There are aldehydes and esters from the peating of the grain and the oak cask aging that you are not appreciating when it's chilled. If it's cask strength (around 125 proof) then by all means dilute with spring water so you don't burn out your palate. But if you drink it on the rocks, try not doing that and see if you enjoy it differently.

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Heaven forbid someone enjoy a product in the manner of their choosing.

To each their own. I'll still call them a Philistine as if they'd ordered Kobe filet well-done. There's a perfectly serviceable Macallan 12 if someone wants to ice it. I can have a polite discussion about spring water for cask strength bottles, but the 12 & 18 are both diluted to just over 80 proof already.

Look, you are just not going to fully appreciate a fine whisky that way. This is chemistry & biology, not only me being an ass.

edit: and as an olive branch, I probably wouldn't have been as strident if we were talking standard (ie, free) ice instead of some $8 monstrosity.

i went to a steak house a month or so ago, and they chilled their "high end" liquor by surrounding the base in a block of ice. it had a cool visual effect and also didn't dilute the drink.

Agreed. I do have some cheap trays ($15) from Amazon that make pretty sweet ice spheres. They melt slow and are good for drinking cheaper whiskey when I do want it on the rocks.

I'm fine with people putting ice in Macallan; it's when they want to add ice to a truly great single malt like Springbank or (good heavens) Port Ellen that I want to cringe.

Some years back I went to a whisky tasting event hosted by Macallan, and their "brand ambassador" was quite nonchalantly splashing Macallans from 10-18 years old over big spherical ice balls that mostly filled the glass they were placed in.

I think the price inflation even at the mass-produced 15 year single malt is bad enough. If the picture in the article were a Port Ellen instead of the Macallan I would have been hellbanned for my response.

How can ice in your drink numb your taste buds any more than chilling your drink to the same temperature in another way?

Whisky isn't usually chilled.

Fair point. In calling out ice specifically, I just assumed he was only talking about that one.

Nope, chilling in general. Sorry I wasn't specific about that.

Not at all, entirely my fault for assuming too much.

Love it if whoever did it could explain why they saw fit to downvote this comment. It's too bad HN doesn't implement metamoderation, the responsible party would not have their privilege much longer.

I put Macallan 18 in my ice. That's right. ;-P

I'm pretty sure that was a joke. :)

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