There's no "right or wrong way" to drink whisky,,, it's down to what you prefer. That said though, to a purist,,, adding anything to a good whisky is downright sinful. Get yourself a "nosing" glass (Glencairn is my favourite), and pour yourself a dram. Nose (smell) the whisky two or three times,,,,take your time and think about the developing aromas, and try to identify them individually,,, then, have a sip. Keep it in your mouth (don't swallow at this point) and let the flavours impact various tastebuds in your mouth. Think about the various flavours and characteristics as you swirl it around your mouth. Those individual characteristics will change and develop over time. Hold,,,,Hold,,,,Hold,,,then as you swallow,,, you may or may not get "the burn" depending on the alcohol content,,, and then the whisky does its' magic in "the finish". What you want is a whisky with a longgggg, slowwwww,,,, lingering finish. Like a kiss from the angels!!! Some will have such a long finish that you can actually still taste it the next morning. When you find one like that,,,, RUN TO THE STORE,,, and pick up a few more bottles of the same batch,,, because when word gets around, the price will surely rise. Be careful when buying however, because whisky can be extremely "batch sensitive",,, in other words, two whiskys of the same name, but from different batches, can be total opposites in character and taste. A while back I bought a bottle of Talisker Distillers' Edition (Isle of Skye) that knocked my socks off. WoW!!!! I went back to the store and bought three more,,, only to discover later that they were from different batches, and those were polar opposites in taste profile.
As for "adding" something to the whisky,,,,, some whiskys will benefit from a few (and I mean a "few") drops of water.
As for the term "on the rocks",,, that came about when people didn't have access to ice. They'd run to a local stream and pick up smooth rocks that were chilled in the waters. Hence, "On the rocks"
As for colour and clarity of the whisky,,,, some darker whiskys may give the impression that they're better quality, or more robust, etc., but that colour may be from artificial colourings (caramel). Don't assume a pale whisky is by any means "inferior to" a darker whisky. As for cloudiness,,, you may see that from time to time with whiskys that haven't been chill-filtered, and that's a good thing.
