The big thing in the US for "cutting" scotch are soda water and ice. I'm not knocking Rob Roys, Rusty Nails, Manhattans, or Ralph's lovely sounding orange juice soother, but I draw the line at Coca Cola, soda water and ice. Certainly a little bit of pure spring or distilled water can reveal new notes in fine malts, and can render full cask strength malts easier to sip. That's not what I'm complaining about. It's the practice of adding 8oz of soda to 2oz of scotch, or putting a shot into a tall glass and adding 7 ice cubes to it, so that in 5 minutes it's 75% dilute. I'm known in my social group for having a nice selection of malts. I utterly refuse to see them ruined in this fashion. I cannot, for the life of me, see the appeal of that insipid monstrosity: "scotch and soda", especially when the thing is so lovely and magical neat. I'll take my single malt straight up in goblet or snifter, thank you very much. Lately, Dewars (an acceptable blend - if that's your thing) has been saturating New York's phone booths, subway trains, bus stops and bill boards with images of trendy young people learning to like scotch (the overtly stated assumption is that you don't like it but will learn to as you mature). The characters in these ads are almost always shown drinking scotch and sodas. I fear we may lose a whole generation. Isn't this what rum is for? Thanks for tolerating my tirade.