When I was younger, my experience with scotch whisky was mostly cheap blends, usually mixed with Coke or something. I wasn't a fan of drinking spirits neat, and preferred a cold beer to most other drinks.

A friend of mine gave me a dram of decent scotch one day. My first sip was not particularly pleasant. I don't remember the type, but it was peaty. Real peaty. And I was surprised.

It was years before I tried it again. Another friend this time. I'm not sure what was different, the type of scotch, my own taste, or just my mood, but I loved it, and kept identifying different flavors in each sip.

I consider myself a rank amateur, but learning. I only found this subreddit a few weeks ago, and I think I already learned more here than I had in the past two years before that.