I never used to drink whisky, it having left some bad memories from a (partly) misspent adolescence. I didn't like the taste. But a few years ago, after a particularly stressful day at work, and having loudly moaned a bit about things to my manager, he suggested I calm down and buy a bottle of whisky on the way home. The odd thing is, I did! I can't remember what it was, but it would have been a malt, perhaps a Glenfiddich or Macallan.

Having drank a glass on the Friday evening, and finding it bearable, I now found myself owning a whole bottle containing lots of glasses of whisky, so I decided to carry on and try and enjoy. Now, a few years later, whisky's a drink I like a lot, and try and enjoy as I would a good wine. I don't drink so much wine as I did (a bottle a week mainly), and don't drink beer, I've found a decent single malt a welcome pre-meal or late night drink. Like wine, there are a lot of varieties from a lot of different countries (although I have stuck with Scotch so far).

My current bottle is a Bowmore Tempest Batch 3, a beautiful, smoky Islay malt. A dram you need to be slightly cautious of due to it's being cask strength, so 56% proof, not the usual 40%.

What I'm trying to do, like many whisky drinkers, is to find a good enough blend, one that is most bearable, and closest to the taste of a malt. It's very hard going back to a blend when you get used to a drink like this ...