Personal preference, as always, reins supreme among the best whiskey aesthetes when it comes to adding ice to their drink or not. Of course, on either side of the debate are zealots eager to tell you exactly why drinking a single malt Scotch or a high quality bourbon their way is superior to the opposition’s. Some whiskey drinkers are less hard-line about their stance on the subject, but each have their reasons for going “neat” (no ice) or “rocks”(with ice).
For those in the neat, or straight, school of whiskey drinking, there is just nothing better than a straight, room temperature whiskey. They argue for purity from their beverage and feel any attempt to manipulate the temperature is not being true to the distiller’s work. They also argue that ice, which inevitably melts, waters down the whiskey, which might just seem inarguable. Companies have even begun making stones to chill beverages without watering down the drink.
For people in the rocks category, the argument is clear. For them a chilled beverage is just superior to room temperature. That said, among a specific sect of these folks, the ice itself and its inevitable melting actually helps the whiskey bloom.
In either category, you are unlikely to see much of a shift in either direction. Luckily, we can all be objective; try whiskey both ways, and land on whatever side suits you best.
