THE BATTLE OF WHISKY

The Whisky Jar, Manchester, England

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In THE BATTLE OF THE COOKIES, chocolate very predictably and indeed very comfortably won, with peanuts and oats trailing well behind in the poll on cookies.

Now it's the turn of whisky (or whiskey to my American and Irish friends) to do battle. The 'whisky' word stems from the old Gaelic word, uisce or uisge, meaning 'water'. It's interesting that only the Americans and Irish say whiskey whereas everyone else says whisky. Whisky is a spirit made from grains, often barley, corn/maize, rye and wheat but also buckwheat, millet, oats, rice and sorghum. A malt whisky is a whisky made from malted barley; Scotch is whisky made in Scotland, Bourbon is a type of American whiskey, and moonshine is an American coen whiskey. That's the terminology out of the way!

Whisky was the most popular spirit in THE BATTLE OF THE SPIRITS easily beating off the combined challenge of rum, vodka and gin. @lindoboy100 suggested I do a poll on whisky, so here goes.

This poll has been by far the hardest poll I've compiled. The problem was not one of terminology; that was an easy hurdle to jump over. The biggest problem was how I approach this poll and in particular its poll categories. Do I do it by the types of grain that whisky is made from (eg barley, corn/maize, rye, wheat); by the different types of whisky (eg single malt whisky, blended malt whisky, grain whisky, blended whisky); by the many different whisky companies (ranging from the big multinational drinks companies like Diageo and Pernod Ricard to the small single-distillery companies) or whisky brands (eg Glenfiddich, Jack Daniel's, Jameson, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker, Suntory); by the distillery in which the whisky is made; or by the country in which whisky is distilled (eg America, Canada, India, Ireland, Japan, Scotland)? Big decisions!

Compiling the poll by whisky distilleries, whisky companies and whisky brands was a non-starter as there are far too many of them to have a meaningful poll. Also compiling the poll by type of grain used in making whisky was a non-starter because of the worldwide popularity of blended whiskies.

Given almost every country in the world, with the exception of predominantly Muslim countries. has at least one whisky distillery, there's no way I could do a meaningful poll about whisky by country. Even England has over 60 whisky distilleries making Sassenach whisky! Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Isle of Man, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey and Wales also have their own whisky distilleries. I decided to focus on the top whisky-producing, namely, America, Canada, Ireland, Japan and of course Scotland. Scotland is the world's biggest whisky producer (and exporter which is why its whisky industry lobbied hard against Donald Trump's blanket tariffs). France is the world's biggest whisky-consuming country per capita - it seems the French don't just like beer and wine! (India also produces a lot of whisky, probably more than Ireland, but arbitrarily I excluded India and included Ireland.)

Initially I tried to draft a poll based on the main different types of whisky (ie single malt whisky, blended malt whisky, grain whisky and blended whisky) by the five big whisky-producing countries. But this draft poll didn't work as different countries produce and consume quite different types of whisky. In particular, America loves its different types of grain whiskies which aren't always so popular elsewhere. It was at this stage that I was giving up hope and was thinking about about to giving up on the mission to compile a poll on whisky. But McLindo, the whisky connoisseur he is, fed me some great and detailed advice and gave me offered much-needed support. I then had another stab at drafting a poll.

Though still focussing on the five main whisky-producing countries, I decided to organise the poll options by different types of whisky popular in each of the five countries even though those types aren't replicated for each country. You'll see that America's typology is very different to the other four countries. America does like its exceptionalism even when it comes to its whiskey! But the redraft of the poll looked much better. And following McLindo's suggestion that I treat all blended whiskies, whether blended malt or blended grain whiskies, as one category in the poll, I suddenly had 20 poll options, the maximum allowed by the site.

For each poll option, I've listed a handful of brands for each type of whisky. Obviously, there are many brands I had to leave out of my list of examples for reasons of space.

But my poll means that if you like a whisky made in a country other than America, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Scotland or if you like a different type of whisky made in those five countries not listed, then, you must vote 'other'. As you know, I don't want 'other' to win because that means a badly designed poll, but I'll take my chances!

Finally, I'm excluding whisky-based cocktails (eg Manhattan, Old Fashioned) and whisky-based liqueurs (eg Drambuie, Southern Comfort), plus 'whisky' hooch made in prisons, from this poll.

I'm not a whisky drinker but the only whisky I will drink is a Scottish single malt whisky. Glenfiddich, the world's most popular single malt whisky, always goes down well with me as a nightcap.

Glenfiddich single malt whisky

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I cannot stand drinking whisky unless it's a Scottish single malt whisky, though I can handle whisky in a dessert or in a marmalade. It's the smell of whisky which I don't like.

What are your most and least favourite types of whisky/whiskey to drink?
How regularly do you drink whisky/whiskey?
Do you drink whisky/whiskey neat and/or have it with a mixer? If the latter, what do you normally mix it with?

I rarely drink whisky, no more than once every year. But if I drink whisky, it's always neat.

Below is a poll where you can anonymously select your most favourite type of whisky/whiskey. Unfortunately only one pick is allowed in the poll. If you don't like any whisky/whiskey, please don't vote but please do comment even just to say you don't like whisky/whiskey.

I think American Bourbon or American Tennessee whiskey will win the poll, but I so want Scottish whisky, so-called Scotch, to win. Come on Scotland!

Once again, I want to thank @lindoboy100 for his fantastic advice and support in compiling this poll. Obviously, any mistakes with the poll are my mistakes unless 'other' wins when clearly McLindo is at fault!

Please see the first comment below to see what has won each battle of the food and drinks so far.

Bottles of whiskey on sale in an American store

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