When it comes to scotch, I think it’s best served in a scotch tasting glass and with nothing else. Some prefer it on the rocks but I usually have it neat (without ice).
There are, however, plenty of scotch mixed drinks and it’s always fun to read about them to see what people have tried to elevate it. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the “Rob Roy,” which is considered the Scotch whisky version of the Manhattan. The Manhattan is pretty much the same recipe with rye whiskey replacing Scotch (you can use any type of whiskey or bourbon to make a Manhattan).
The Rob Roy is named after Robert Roy MacGregor, who was a Robin Hood-like figure from the 18th Century.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Scotch
- 1/4 oz sweet vermouth
- Angostura bitters to taste
- maraschino cherry for garnish
(Photo: stuartwebster)
It’s mostly for looks.
When you decant red wine, you are trying to do two things: separate the sediment from the wine and allow the wine to breathe. Over time, sediment in the wine will separate and settle at the bottle of the bottle. By decanting, you are pouring the wine into another container, the decanter, so that you may leave that sediment behind in the bottle
As for letting the wine breathe, it releases some of the wine’s aromas, which have been trapped in a bottle for however many years. By letting it breathe, the flavors are released and the wine tastes much different than straight out of the bottle. You want as much surface area as possible, the more wine that touches the air, the better. It’s recommended that you let it breathe for half an hour to an hour and never more than eight.
How does that apply to scotch? I don’t believe it does. While it’s nice for the scotch to breathe, the reality is that you will likely not finish a decanter of scotch within eight hours. If you do, well then the added subtlety produced by decanting would likely be wasted on you. 
While it’s good to let scotch breathe a little in your glass, with or without the addition of water, putting it in a decanter is mostly for looks (and there’s nothing wrong with that!).
(Photo: experiment33)
One of the reasons I started Scotch Addict was because my wife gave me a wonderful Christmas gift last year. She gave me six scotch tasting glasses by Reidel, a copy of Michael Jackson’s Complete Guide To Single Malt Scotch, and a copy of Whiskey: The Definitive World Guide. I thoroughly recommend both books for the scotch aficionado but today I want to talk about why you should get special glasses to help you enjoy single malt scotches (or any whiskey).
The primary reason why you want to use a special glass is because it allows you the ability to both smell and sip the scotch at the same time. As long as the glass affords you that ability, it’ll work for scotch purposes. The idea is that you’ll want to swirl the scotch around in the glass and then smell the fragrances and aromas that waft up to your nose. A traditional whiskey tumbler is not an ideal glass, even though it offers you the sip and smell ability, because it was designed for drinking scotch and sodas. However, not there’s no reason to be a snob, if all you have is a plastic Solo cup, you can still enjoy scotch!