Ive always loved ales and scotches as well. I recently just finished off a Speyside (Glenfiddich) the otherday with some friends. however we have been stuck on Islay region scotches for a while. I had a friend get me into gin recently as well. Especially traditional gin martinis. A recommend would be Aviation gin from Portland. Ryan Reynolds owns it so that is a plus or a minus depending on who you talk to but it actually is very smooth for a gin.
You are right though we really could use a good classy drinking channel.
When I first got on lemmy I joined lemmy.ml because 90% of what I used reddit for was for technology subs. ml is clearly a not about tech if you spend three minutes there and your better going to lemmy.world