Just because I'm an absolute whisky snob. Technically, Glenmorangie, Higland Park and Macallan aren't whisky. They're whiskey. This is an important point. Scotch Whiskey comes from Scotland, where the distillation process developed some 400 years after the Irish developed whisky (fuisce, fuisce beatha).
Scotches have that thick smokey taste because the malts are dried over a peat fire.
But Irish whiskys have a mellower, subtle flavor that derives from the fact that the malts are toasted in a kiln.
While Scotch is tasty, nothing beats a good Irish. If you want to have your socks knocked off, try Middleton Very Rare (if you can find it).
Bonus #1: Fuisce Beatha the Gaelic word that became today's whisky/whiskey means "Water of Life."
Bonus #2: Liquor isn't booze. Liquor is the fluid used to make booze. Its chemical formula is H20. Water is for washing floors.
--G