A Rugged Drink for a Rugged Land: If you are a devotée of Scotch single malt whiskeys (I gravitate to the smoky, peaty Islay malts), you will probably find this elementary. If you are wondering what all the fuss is about, it is a fine introduction. I do quibble with one paragraph:

Most Scots and connoisseurs from other countries drink blends, which are generally less expensive, if they want to mix their whiskey with water or soda in a predinner drink, and take their single malts neat, either before, during or, most commonly, after dinner, like Cognac or Calvados. The addition of ice to a blend is tolerated as an American eccentricity; the addition of ice to a single malt is treated as near-sacrilege. NY Times

At the risk of sounding somewhat scurrilous (but, I might add, totally reverent), I might ask — why dilute at all, predinner or not, if, as I agree, it being a shame to adulterate a single malt, one is obligated to drink a blended whiskey if one is taking it with water or soda? [props to Abby]