Dear Sam,

While a fine whiskey might be occasion for much Simchah - especially a good single malt - nonetheless, as you assumed, the Berochah of haTov v'ha'Meitiv was only instituted for wine. This is clear from a couple of statements that Tosafos makes regarding this Berochah.

Tosafos (Berochos 59b, D"H haTov v'ha'Meitiv) says that Chazal only instituted the Berochah on wine, and not on bread and meat, because it has two special qualities: it nourishes (Sa'id) and it brings Simchah, whereas bread and meat only nourish. It could be that a nutritionist would tell you that beer has at least as much nutritional value as wine, but Chazal only identify wine as a drink that nourishes.

Tosafos in Pesachim (101a, D"H Shinui) says that Chazal formulated this Berochah as a rememberance of the great goodness that Hash-m did for the Jews after the Roman massacre of Beitar that they were able to bury the dead and that the bodies hadn't decomposed - which is the basis for the fourth Berochah of Birkas haMazon in which we say "haTov v'ha'Meitiv" - and after that massacre the Romans fertilized theirfields with Jewish blood. It seems that what Tosafos is saying is that they instituted the Berochah on wine because wine has a certain similarity to blood and therefore serves as a reminder of this miracle. Therefore it is clear that the Berochah would only go on wine.

Kol Tuv,

Yonasan Sigler