Scotch

The world's finest single-malt whiskies come from the highland of Scotland. If the quality of the blended whisky derives from the quality of its component ingredients, then MacDuff's whisky must be the finest whisky in the world, because it blends no fewer than five Scotland's finest single-malt whiskies.

The argument above could be seriously weaken if which of the following were true?

(A) The more single-malt whiskies involved in the batch of blended whisky, the finer the quality of whisky.(make the argument stronger)
(B) Whereas many of MacDuff's competitors have been in industry for decades or even century, the MacDuff brand was created within the last decade by marketing committee.(Not relevant)
(C) Including more than five single-malt whiskies in a blended whisky is a waste, because no one can taste that many component flavors.(Correct)
(D) A blended whisky is as fine as the average quality of its components.(not enough to conclude)
(E) The concept of "finest" in a whisky is a subjective measure that cannot be quantified in a statistically valid way.(Not relevant)

Ans:C

Earlier I chose C since it mentions no one can smell whisky with more than 5 blends. but then realized than arguments discusses about >=5 blends. where C doesn't fits in.

Answer D is correct one. Average(strength) < Max(strength). so quality of whisky is given by average quality of blends & not by maximum quality of blend.

My answer is (E)
even though (D) is (purportedly) the officially correct answer.

"because it blends no fewer than" - is a statistical subjective.
It could be no fewer than six, no fewer than four, etc.

Note that there are two types of whiskies mentioned
single-malt whiskies
blended whisky contains many single-malt whiskies.

Note the if---then statement in the question.
If (quality)(ingredients)(blended whisky)
So it is just that... an if... then
what if... the if is not fulfilled true?

Lets think of bigger picture other than blended whisky
and single-malt whiskies.
Whisky is just whisky.
What is "finest" to one person may not be fine to another person.

So I choose (E). because
If (quality)(blended whisky)
If (quality)(single-malt whiskies)
are two different determiners.
Determiners or conditionals could be false!
(E) I view (E) as follows:
If ("finest" whisky) (finest is a subjective measure)

Option C talks about more than 5 blends but the arguments gives not fewer than 5 that is >=5

so Option C doesn't talks about exactly 5 blends.

D seems to be correct answer - it says quality of whisky is given by average of blends rather than the quality of best blend.

Experts, need your opinion here!
Can someone break this down and explain why Option D is better than E

The world's finest single-malt whiskies come from the highland of Scotland. If the quality of the blended whisky derives from the quality of its component ingredients, then MacDuff's whisky must be the finest whisky in the world, because it blends no fewer than five Scotland's finest single-malt whiskies.

The argument above could be seriously weakened if which of the following were true?

(A) The more single-malt whiskies involved in the batch of blended whisky, the finer the quality of whisky.

-Though this says that finer quality is based on the number of single-malt being blended, we have MacDuff which blends >= 5. So, this doesn't really weaken (There could be others which blend >5 or there could be no other too)

(B) Whereas many of MacDuff's competitors have been in industry for decades or even century, the MacDuff brand was created within the last decade by marketing committee.

-Clearly Out-of-scope

(C) Including more than five single-malt whiskies in a blended whisky is a waste, because no one can taste that many component flavors.

-Out-of-scope again as we have no idea if differing taste defines how fine the whiskey actually is

(D) A blended whisky is as fine as the average quality of its components.

-Retained as contender but eliminated because Average of components does not necessarily bring down the quality of the blended whiskey.
Suppose all single-malt whiskies used to blend MacDuff had identicial quality, Macduff will only be as good as any of the single-malt used to blend? Right? So, MacDuff can't be quantified as the finest!
Or is this option correct because we are not sure if Macduff blends other components apart from Single-malt whiskies?


(E) The concept of "finest" in a whisky is a subjective measure that cannot be quantified in a statistically valid way.
-Defining "Finest" is questioned here, which would weaken the conclusion that Macduff is the finest whiskey.Am I missing something totally?


OA is [spoiler]D[/spoiler]


Another clarification : What exactly is the conclusion based on?
Are we trying to compare if Macduff is the finest whiskey in comparison to the Single-malt whiskies?