Yeah, I generally save the big comfy chair over there by the fire for him. It's close to the bar, so he doesn't have to go far when the glass is empty. :P

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! My eyes!! The goggles do nothing!!!

What? What? *looks at his own post* There's nothing there.

Here's Lowy!
;-p

This is why I keep cheap liquor around as well... because I couldn't be responsible if someone mixed anything in my single malt...
Okay, I think you'll like Aberlour then, even the 12 year stuff is really nice. I'm not a big Islay fan either, I mean it's not the worst thing ever, but the price I've paid for Ardbeg and wishing I'd spent less for a much better of Aberlour has made me sad in the past...

What does malt mean in the context of scotch? IE, is it a process, additive, or something far more sinister?

Too bad I seem to be "allergic" to whiskey. One shot, and I have a huge headache after an hour or two. Possibly also with red wine nowadays, albeit earlier it didn't seem to cause problems for me.

No problem with other alcoholic beverages AFAIK. At least lager beers go down smoothly.

Heck, I've even become lactose-intolerant over the years, but that's ok because not being lactose-intolerant is actually the rare mutation and deviation from the norm, not the other way around.

I like rum better. You up for a lynching? : D

Nah, scotch is fine as well, but I am not a specialist. But I will have your recommendations in mind if I resupply my very empty "quality shelf" one of these days. Who knows, maybe I'll convert.

Could be that too, but googling for it, it seemed that the sulphate allergy would trigger e.g. asthma attacks. My problem is pretty much just a splitting headache. But it could definitely be that different red wines react differently, because I used to drink red wines just fine. Then at some point I noticed at least some of them didn't agree with me anymore.

http://foodallergies.about.com/od/livingwithfoodallergies/a/alcohol.htm

But this is much more profound with whiskey and such. I recall reading earlier that the headaches etc. would come from some impurities/poisonous substances in some dark alcohols, like whiskey. Some just react more strongly to them.

That's fine though, I never really liked the taste of whiskey (nor brandy, etc.) anyway.

Which is also possible, but Asthma CAN cause headaches. At least, it has in my case...who knows either way getting pains from consuming food and drink really sucks, sorry to hear none the less.

Oh yes, it's all about the 25 year old Macallan. Actually, Talisker is also pretty good. And now I need to try Aberlour. :)

"Single malt" means it's not blended, it's all from the same cask. If a whiskey, bourbon, or scotch is blended it means that it was from multiple barrels, some that were too cold on the outside of the stack, some from the inside where they got too hot, are mixed together until the desired taste is achieved. Single malt is the stuff that was "just right" from the beginning and is generally considered to be of much higher quality (though there are a few blended of the above that are considered extremely good). Blended stuff is usually more like the Jack Daniels, Buffalo Trace, Maker's Mark, and cheaper well stuff.

TET gave you a source for understanding the malting process in general. The term, "single malt" simply means something special when speaking of scotches (and other whiskeys).