I distinctly remember our visit to Laphroaig - with my mum and dad.
When it came to the tasting, the distillery manager, Iain Henderson, a wonderful Scotsman who'd been working in malt whisky distilleries for 45 years, masterfully explained all the tasting notes and then served us all a neat Laphroaig. My dad, I think, never even tried it - if he didn't like something, he wouldn't even try it. My mum, on the other hand, decided to give it a go. First whisky in 73 years.
The reaction was something like you get from a small child when given castor oil.
Mr Henderson immediately noticed the reaction and said:
"If it's a wee bit strong, ye might wanna break it with a drop of water" and added about 3 drops of water. Same reaction, but God bless her, she downed it all!