There are Scots who do not like whisky, but they are few and far between. Certainly Robert Burns, Scotland's poet laureate in posthumous perpetuity, was not of their number.
It is fitting therefore that on Burns Night, celebrated once a year on or about January 25 when Scots the world over gather to pay tribute to the poet, good whisky flows freely and the best single malts reserved for special occasions come down from the shelves.
Not that you need poetry as an excuse to enjoy a good malt.
Over the past 50 years, Scottish single malt whisky, previously almost unknown outside Scotland, has become established as a popular libation among discerning drinkers all over the world.
Single malt whisky differs from ordinary blended scotch in that it is not combined with grain spirit and is distilled from malted barley by a single distillery. It may be blended with other malts from the same distillery but not with whisky from any other source.
Malt whisky is left to mature in the cask, usually for a minimum of eight years, and the resultant character varies dramatically according to its region, distillery and other variables.
