KEY POINTS:
If nothing else, whisky drinkers are devotees to the cause. Writer Dominic Roskrow is savouring his dram of the moment in an underground whisky cellar, near freezing, near midnight, somewhere near Stockholm - Mackmyra Distillery to be exact.
It's a wee bit removed from Scotland's famed distillery Laphroaig,
in Islay, but it's an exciting discovery on the ever-expanding global whisky trail, reports the former editor of Whisky Magazine, now fully matured as a journalist-cum-entrepreneur with his own company, True Spirit.
"It's like nothing I've tasted before," Roskrow enthuses on the mobile from his snowbound cellar. "They're using juniper twigs and bog moss peat from the local area to make this whisky. And, there's nothing like being warmed by whisky - no other drink can do it."
This father-of-three from Norwich, England, has been writing about the drinks industry since 1991, and for the past 10 years has roamed the world covering whisky producers and distilleries for various speciality magazines.
In 2006 he was made a Keeper of the Quaich, the Scotch whisky industry's highest honour.
When talk turns to his new book, Whiskies: From Confused to Connoisseur (HarperCollins), and the iconic Scottish whisky distilleries mostly profiled, Roskrow explains why single malts are so coveted.
"Individual whiskies can't be duplicated. They have a provenance, each one coming from a specific area or country, and in the case of single malts from a particular distillery. One sip and you're transported to a remote glen in the Highlands or a rugged west coast island."
Och, it's understandable Roskrow, 46, gets all misty-eyed over, say, the magical Pulteney near Wick - "the cellar is like being in the bowels of a boat".
But he quickly dispels musty images of an old Scottish geezer nursing a tumbler of whisky, recumbent in leather armchair beside a roaring fire.
For starters there are "absolutely no rules" when it comes to whisky drinking and no right way to drink it, although in his whisky guide he rejects tumblers in favour of modern whisky glasses, bulbous bottom and narrow at the top - all the better to "nose and taste" a whisky.
A fixture on the international whisky calendar, Whisky Live is coming to New Zealand for the first time courtesy of local distributor Bart Burgers.
It's your chance to sample copious amounts of the world's greatest whiskies and mingle with experts. "Give me an hour and I'll find a whisky you like," says Roskrow.
Despite whisky being a simple drink - containing only grain, some water and yeast - it's the source of endless debate.
"Scientists have tried to explain the complicated reactions but it remains a mystery - that's the beauty of whisky, it constantly surprises," says Roskrow
Connoisseurs argue whiskey has more complex flavours than wine, but thankfully, says Roskrow, the whisky culture is free of the pretentiousness of the wine industry.
And rule number one among whisky experts? "Don't get too big for your boots."
In pursuit of a good whisky yarn, Roskrow once shared a dram with a bunch of American rednecks, ending the night with one patron "threatening me with a shotgun".
Surely this former New Zealand Herald music journalist would be used to drunken louts hurling abuse at his latest review?
"In some ways it's very similar, you end up drinking in strange places," says Roskrow, who covered the rock scene in the early 90s.
"Now I get to visit my favourite distilleries like you would see your favourite act. Although I've had a lot more intelligent conversations in the whisky world than in the rock world. There's no arrogance in the whisky world."
He's far more comfortable slopping around the world's distilleries, and there's no doubting the whisky clan is tight.
Not so long ago, Roskrow interrupted a whisky gathering to inform them of the passing of famed whisky writer Michael Jackson - "Half the room cried. I still deeply miss him.
"Every whisky is like meeting a new and interesting person. It really is one big, happy, friendly social club."
