FOR MOTHER’S DAY THIS YEAR, LET’S CLOSE THE WHISKY GAP

Why do dads get all the whisky? Father’s Day is practically Second Christmas for whisky companies, with sales teams and public relations outfits positioning their fancy single malt as the must-have gift for dear old dad. Meanwhile, mom gets a vacuum cleaner. That’s just not fair. It’s time to close the Whisky Gap. Here are four reasons whisky is better than a vacuum — and four bottles that are perfect — for Mother’s Day giving. By Christine Sismondo

1. Although the spirits and cocktail world is often divided into girlie drinks and manly ones, there’s no earthly reason for it.

Men can metabolize more alcohol than women, not different types.

There’s no more alcohol in brown spirits than there is in vodka or gin. And a fiveounce glass of Pinot Grigio contains the same amount of alcohol as a one-ounce pour of liquor.

2. Men and women have, essentially, the same physiological taste mechanisms.

Yes, some studies have shown that more women are “supertasters” than men (meaning that there’s a greater number of women born with a lot of taste buds), but this sensitivity applies mainly to bitter compounds found in foods such as collard greens, kale or rapini.

Whisky isn’t generally bitter. Even if it were, most taste scientists agree that experience matters more than biology: if you can teach yourself to like bitter greens, you can learn to like just about anything.

3. Sales statistics suggest that more than a third of whisky consumers are women, maybe even two-fifths.

So, there’s a pretty decent chance that mom is already a part of the whiskydrinking demographic but has to buy her own, while dad gets bottles for free. That’s just like being charged more for dry cleaning or haircuts.

4. Whisky for men and vodka martinis for women is totally arbitrary, like the way books at the airport are divided into shelves with pink covers decorated with cakes and shoes versus all the serious, hardcover black-and-gold business books.

Whenever we have a chance to subvert that kind of nonsense, we should.

To that end, here are four gift-worthy bottles from around the world, to help you close the Whisky Gap.

After all, you can’t drink a bouquet of flowers.

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