One can be in danger of seriously offending one's host by drinking whisky exactly how one wnats to drink it. A chap I know was offered a glass of very expensive and rare highland malt. He poured a generous dollop of dry ginger into it and was raising the glass to his lips when he noticed his host's eyeballs popping out of his head in horror. By all means drink it as one likes it, but its best to do so rather discretely.