Whisky - the great leveller

While browsing through one of the many Vintage Cocktail books on the (free!) online EUVS Library, we came across this fantastic verse extolling the virtues of whisky punch. 

The book was written in 1892 but I think the line about 'levelling all distinctions' holds true today (if we forget about the punch bit and just concentrate on the whisky). Whisky is a great leveller - it brings together people from all different countries, backgrounds, ages and unites them all in big, warm, haze of whisky geekery.

I have had many great conversations with total strangers about what whisky is in my/their glass - I don't know whether drinking vodka or gin would provide quite the same opportunities for striking up random conversations.

Oh, and by the way, if you haven't yet discovered the joys of the EUVS Vintage Cocktail Book library, you really should! (Assuming you are into cocktails that is. If not, you probably won't find it quite so interesting). They have loads of old, presumably out of print (and copyright), books available to read and download, and not just in English. I particularly like the description of the anglo-american bars in Paris in one of the French books (1927 Petits et Grands Verres). Some of the cover designs and illustrations are fantastic too!