Um... I know some Scotch nuts have a fetish about drinking it neat... but if you hate it, then why not make a damn cocktail? Scotch and ginger ale and some other things tastes really fucking good.
Uhh... thanks for the recipe? Your reply sounds a bit condescending and combative. Don't know if you meant it that way. I never said hate, and it's not my bottle -- I no longer live in the same state as the guy who seems to be storing it till doomsday. If I was the one who owned it, rest assured it would not have lasted long. It's bad but it ain't that bad. More disappointing and absolutely outclassed by others in the price range. And if I have a choice, I'm choosing something else every time. Just so you know, I do actually know my way around a bar (and a kitchen). I was the chef and part owner of a successful fine dining house for 7 years. Been a working chef for over 17. I'm on a bit of a hiatus for the present but, I have a fairly good grasp of what you can do with liquor.
Guy I gave it to is a bit weird anyway. He's rich as shit (born into it) and he doesn't drink all that much. He REALLY didn't like the MacCask. He has options. He won't touch it. He feels no sense of obligation to drink it. Although he does occasionally try to get others to drink it, he has never succeeded.
My comment was directed at everyone I have ever met who, in the midst of me explaining any number of superb cocktails involving Scotch (or even just a dash of water to bring out the flavor! which you're supposed to do!), scoffed and said, "Real Scotch drinkers don't mix their Scotch. What a waste. I know more about this than you." It's one of my secret ways I decide whether I shouldn't ever talk to someone again, actually.
It's a good filtering system. Comments like "Real ______ never do this" reek of elitism and pretentiousness. It usually also denote's someone who just got into the scene of whatever it is they are prattling on about. One of the first things you learn (or should learn anyway) when you open a restaurant is: never scoff at the ways people enjoy their food and drink. No matter how counterintuitive it may appear. If that's what they want and they are paying for it; who am I to criticize? And sometimes some of the off the wall shit they suggest is brilliant. Nope, life is too short to go around looking down on others because they enjoy a well done Niman ranch filet or cocktail sauce with their oysters. And cocktails using Scotch? Nothing wrong with that. Just a different way of enjoying a drink.It's one of my secret ways I decide whether I shouldn't ever talk to someone again, actually.
Fine dining. Worked in some fast food and chain places as a teen. Went to culinary school (never go to culinary school). Worked in a couple of casinos, worked in a super crazy restaurant that should have been fine dining and was... in the 50's, then I worked at a real fine dining place, then another, then another. Then opened my own place with 2 friends/business partners. At my place we did what they call California cuisine (which is just a seasonal menu using fresh ingredients, apparently that was such a novel idea in the 80's that it required it's own name). I based my menu on classical french techniques with a fairly broad Mediterranean influence. I incorporated stuff from France, Spain, Italy, Germany as well as Morocco, Greece, Lebanon. Are you into dining?