Education, education, education

And it's not the youth of today that I'm concerned about, it's the middle aged that we need to watch.

I was with a group of people over the weekend who were celebrating a 38th and 50th birthday. There was just a dozen people in Cornwall for a couple of days. They certainly didn't act their ages and one of them falling asleep on the pub floor was slightly embarrassing but my main concern was the language!

"How much coke would you like Sir?" the barmaid asked one of the group

"How much Scotch is in there?" He asked.

Scotch? Scotch! But he ordered a Jack Daniels!! What was he talking about?

Of course they all knew that I liked whisky but clearly didn't know to what extent.

"Oh, if you like whisky you'll love this." I was told as someone poured me a vivid orange liqueur that professed to have a well known blend in it. I duly allowed the liquid to touch my lips, which was enough to establish that this was probably the same recipe for a child's cough mixture, and then manage to pour it away without causing offense.

These were just two of a number of incidents that has led me to believe that whisky and whisky making should be on the national curriculum so that younger generations do not grow up thinking that whisky made 4500 miles away can be called Scotch and that a sweet liquid that you would normally associate with colds and flu is nothing like a good single malt.