It was called the “Noble Experiment,” and yet like so many other well-intentioned efforts, it was a massive failure. Socialist agendas usually are.

The intent was to curb what many thought was an epidemic of drunkenness, and yet during the Prohibition, crime rates increased dramatically, thousands died from drinking poisonous homemade creations, and the national morale was at an all-time low. All I can say is that I’m glad the 18th Amendment was repealed well before World War II, otherwise the United States may very well have done one of two things. In our national sadness, we might have thrown up the white flag in order to be governed by a foreign nation, even a dictatorial one, just so long as it allowed booze. The other possibility is that the entirety of our brigades and platoons led by and full of dry soldiers would have employed such an unbridled joylessness that Geneva Convention resolutions would have mattered very little. Everyone, including our allies, would have been in jeopardy of extinction.

And by the way, before the votes were called, cast, and counted to enact the 18th Amendment, wasn’t there anyone of sound mind to suggest the prohibition of other cultural vices far more worthy of criminalizing? I mean, I can think of several things off the top of my head that would be worth banishing from our time; things like Dr. Pepper, sharks, the IRS, man-purses, clowns, Jackson Pollock paintings, reality TV, the IRS, Christmas decorations still on someone’s house in February, lima beans, turtleneck sweaters, chopsticks (the song, not the eating utensils), the Small World ride at Disney World, people who slurp while eating breakfast cereal, mosquitoes, swim thongs for men, the word “bro,” winter, the IRS, stale french fries, religious solicitors, soap operas, squeeze bottle pickle relish (it just never seems to work correctly – you squeeze and the pressure builds behind a glob of relish until finally it lets loose and explodes all over both your hotdog and your shirt), poison ivy, curling as an Olympic sport, disco, Jar-Jar Binks, mullets, cheesecake, a small portion of California, “My child is an honor student at such-and-such school” bumper stickers, tofu, the 11th of July, glitter, wine-in-a-box, and the IRS.

I’d vote to prohibit all these things.

And while these things may always be with us, as long as the good folks at Cutty Sark continue to provide the soul-tempering edition at the heart of this review, I’m sure I will find these few things on my list a little more tolerable.

The Prohibition Edition is more complicated than I expected. I projected an upsurge of malt in the nosing – and it was there – but it was wafting along a prominent veil of roasted and candied almonds, and these are the extremely sweet kinds – the ones that are quite popular at Christmastime.

The palate is just as intricate, coaxing a sprinkling of the pepper noted on the label, but also a richer caramel coating to the almonds noticed before. And if you savor it long enough, you’ll notice a distant nip of mandarin citrus.

The finish, a consolidation of the nose and palate, was shorter than I’d hoped for, but hey, it sure did make me smile.

And it will make you smile, too, even as you contemplate those things that cause you to simmer – things that for some reason God has allowed the Devil to produce and perpetuate.

Oh man, that reminds me! I almost forgot to add Scoresby to my list.