I doubt it. The amount of phenolic acids in whisky---especially those of the liquid wood variety like Lagavullin---would cause tremendous problems when drip-fed in the amounts mentioned in the news item. Vodka is a relatively pure substance, containing just water, ethanol and a tiny amount of other subtances which give it its slightly 'off' smell.
True story: fellow chemists will affirm the danger of handling elemental chlorine or bromine (the latter in vapour form)---not only are these compounds quite agressive, they are also very toxic when inhaled. They readily attack the delicate lung tissue, which responds by producing slime---to such an extent that the lungs cannot take in any more oxygen. You literally drown in your own body fluids.
Anyway, when I was a freshman, I heard this story about a chemistry experiment gone wrong. A student and his supervisor had inhaled a good bit of bromine by accident and were rushed to hospital wheezing, coughing and generally having a very difficult time breathing. At the hospital, the medical staff was at first surprised to hear of 'bromine poisoning' because to them 'bromine' was a tranquiliser, not a nasty chemical. Fortunately one doctor realised what was going on, and ordered the poor sods to be given a hot alcohol steam bath. Alcohol reacts with bromine to form ethylbromide which by itself is no sweetheart chemical too, but is at least much less of a problem than pure bromine.
However, after about half an hour of inhaling warm alcohol vapours, both men were beginning to exhibit the tell-tale signs of being roaring drunk, which severely hampered further medical tests and observations. In the end, they were given a clean bill of health and ordered home to sleep things off. They of course woke with a slightly sore throat and an even bigger hangover. They probably were the happiest victims of bromine poisoning ever
.
