Vinturi Spirit Aerator

I'll be perfectly honest. I'm typically skeptical about items of this nature. Also I'm fairly frugal, but am very much willing to pay for what I like. I also to this point have not written a review on amazon. THIS ITEM IS ACTUALLY WORTH USING! Please also note that I have had a Vinturi Red Wine Aerator sitting in my liquor cabinet for about a year without use... I find the use of that product... unnecessary. I literally went through all 8 of the single malts and blended Scotch Whiskys in my bar doing blind tastings of each. Of the 8 bottles, SEVEN of the bottles I was able to easily distinguish which glass contained the Aerated and which contained the straight poured liquor. And when I say easily, I mean of the 8 bottles, 6 of them I was able to tell 3 out of 3 times which glass was Aerated, one of them I was able to tell 2 out of 3 times, and the last it was very difficult to tell. But much much more importantly... the difference was GOOD. The spirits were smoothed and the notes were much more pronounced in a non invasive and offensive way. It actually enhances the flavor and the ability to taste the scotch. Mind you, each bottle was tested straight up, with a 1oz to .5oz scotch to water dillution, and on the rocks chilled until approximately 33-35 degrees. The only bottle that I wasn't convincingly able to differentiate between the aerated and the straight poured glasses also had is an extremely pronounced Lagavulin 16 which is an EXTREMELY strong flavor and bodied scotch. This bottle had also been sitting half open for approximately a month at room temperature allowing it to breath and mellow. The other bottles were all fairly new (within the last 2 weeks) and far more full (3/4 full or just opened). I can't testify if it makes a difference on other liquors as of yet but to be perfectly honest I really do not drink many straight up in the same way as I do scotch. I feel that scotch is the gold standard of tests due to the extreme depth and complex nature coupled with the wide variety of distinctive flavors among brands and ages. Will this make a Dewars White Label taste like a Glenlivet 18? Certainly not. It will however mellow the medicinal overbearing nature of the high alcohol content of spirits while allowing you to taste the more distinctive and subtle notes hidden within. I will happily continue to test this device ;) I can't imagine it to make much of a difference in cocktails that are strongly shaken due to the shaking process's ability to mix air within the solution. I would imagine this to be most useful with more delicately treated mixtures however at this point that is 100% pure speculation. In conclusion... for anyone who appreciates scotch, do not hesitate to purchase this item. Even if you decide that you prefer the more harsh and medicinal notes of a scotch prevented from breathing, the petty $30 is well worth the experiment in itself. For half the cost of any decent bottle of scotch at the very worst, you bought yourself an exciting and quite fun adventure in tasting and reassessing your appreciation of the liquor you try to justify paying such high costs for.