i think the answer is obvious.

The real question is: once you start drinking the scotch, how can you stop?

You will always be one sip behind.

d) All of it and then some.

I had settled on 'a lot', but then I started eating popcorn. And you know what doesn't taste good with scotch? Popcorn doesn't.

I ended up drinking a lot, and it's probably because of the popcorn that I didn't drink all of it.

Don't be fooled by the scotch that you've got... something, something, something about it being on the rocks.

Depends

If it's a really good whisky like a good single malt, it's a bit of a waste to get hammered on it: you don't really appreciate the quality after you've absorbed a few.

I haven't found whisky hangovers to be bad providing you drink enough water during and after. But I think a lot of people make the mistake of not doing that, and end up feeling terrible because of the dehydration.

Whisky goes very well as a chaser if you alternate it with beer. It doesn't count as mixing drinks: maybe you shouldn't mix the grape with the grain, but they're both grain. Whisky is basically just concentrated beer.

I find alternating beer and whisky to be pretty ideal for serious drinking. The water content of the beer helps guard against total dehydration, but you don't suffer the bladder-busting volume of getting drunk on beer alone.

One is too many and the whole bottle is not enough.

Bottles and bottles of the good stuff, but only one small glass at a sitting. Savor each sip slowly. The law of diminish returns goes double for good booze; there's a reason why cordial glasses got invented.