Taste Appreciation

Keeping in mind that there are trained professionals out there, tasting a whisky can be as straightforward as having a rum and coke, or as complicated as wine-tasting. Personally, I've never spit out any whisky (on purpose) while tasting, but I'm sure it's been done. One of the reasons I originally decided to pursue whisky as opposed to wine was that it seemed less snooty and more approachable to the beginner. Wine seemed like the head cheerleader (hot, but out of reach) while whisky was the cute girl I felt confident enough to ask for a date . All psychoanalysis aside, suffice it to say that I found the identification of spicy brioche, burnt raspberries and/or buttered asparagus notes in wine to be slightly intimidating.

Whisky tasting can be just as snooty, with people describing flavours from multiple species of seaweed to Battenburg cake. Don't let yourself be intimidated. The important thing is to work at this slowly, as your tastebuds will develop in time. My first time picking out citrus flavours which were subsequently "confirmed" in the literature resulted in a hip-hop hooray!

I like breaking the tastes down into categories and making these increasingly more detailed or complex as my tongue becomes better at distinguishing them. A good way to start is to pick some whiskies that are at opposite ends of the flavour spectrum. I'll bet you a 34-year old bottle of Highland Park that even the novice will be able to taste the difference between a sweet toffee Speyside malt and a smoky, peaty Islay malt. You'll also smell the difference long before anything touches your tongue! As you get adept at picking these opposites apart by taste and smell, start trying to distinguish malts which are closer in character.

Categorization will really help you remember what types of whiskies you like, and others that might be similar to them. David Wishart's wonderful tome "Whisky Classified" is absolutely brilliant in this regard, and is highly recommended not just for beginners, but also for those less interested in scoring whisky and more in learning of their specific characteristics. It will help you determine which malts fall into similar tasting and nosing categories.

Start with "fruity" aromas and tastes. Glenfiddich 12 y-o is a good one in this category. When you feel comfortable picking out fruity aromas, how about distinguishing between orchard fruit (apples, pears, etc.) vs. citrus (orange, lemon)?

Scapa 12 year-old (distillery bottling) has some excellent orchard fruit notes (think pear juice) while the Cragganmore distiller's edition bottlings have some strong orange notes.

How about "woody" aromas and tastes? These include toffee, vanilla and caramel notes which are imparted by the wood casks the whiskies are aged in. Speyside malts like Longmorn, Aberlour and the Balvenie are good examples for these notes.

Looking for smoke? Talisker 10 y-o could be considered the benchmark, and although it can be a rough start for beginners, it will definitely make you familiar with smokiness.

The stereotypical Islay malts (Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Laphroaig) are shining examples of peat smoke and iodine character. This might not sound appealing at first, but once you've acquired the taste for it, there is no substitute!

In closing, have confidence in your tasting abilities and start with malts that give you a variety of flavours and aromas. Practice blind tasting and nosing to see what you can distinguish and above all, enjoy what you're drinking. You'll be picking Battenburg cake out of peat and pears in no time!

The Good, the Bad and the Gummi

"There is no such thing as a bad whiskey. Some whiskeys just happen to be better than others."
-William Faulkner

Unfortunately, there really are some bad whiskeys out there. However, which ones are bad will depend on who you talk to. Everyone will have their own preference, and as many scotch drinkers will tell you: "The best whisky is the one you have in your hand."
Over the course of several years of whisky drinking, I've discovered that people can become obsessed with scoring whiskeys and trying to rank them in some sort of hierarchical way. What are the criteria in these ranking systems that result in a score of 87 vs 90 or 4 vs 5 stars? Well, these can vary substantially, and it makes tasting notes and whisky ratings somewhat akin to movie reviews: When something is really bad, everyone pretty much agrees, but for drams that fall in the fuzzy gray area in-between, personal preference can have a huge influence.
When The Spirit Safe was in its planning stages, a lot of friends advised me to include tasting notes and opinions on whiskeys that I have been drinking and to provide recommendations of whiskies that I like.
Every book on whisky has its own rating system, but in speaking to Blacker S (my Spirit Safe partner) we decided to divide our criteria for whisky into 5 categories which are outlined below:

1) Nose - In case it isn't obvious, this is the smell of the whisky. It's remarkable how much the aroma can affect how you enjoy a dram of something. If I could buy cologne that smelled like Highland Park 18 y-o, I would.

2) Palate - In the context of The Spirit Safe (TSS), the palate will refer to the mouth feel of the whisky. Is it oily, thick, or light? Consistency of melted butter (MacAllan 18 y-o) or syrupy like sugar water?

3) Taste - You won't get any argument from me that this isn't the most important criterion, but it is more closely associated to the nose category than you might think. Try drinking a whisky you're familiar with when your nose is stuffed up and see what you miss.

4) Finish - For connoisseurs, this is a big one. I like to think of it as bang for your buck. The longer the finish, the longer you'll taste the whisky - even after it's down your throat. That being said, a long finish on a bad whisky can be a pretty unpleasant experience. A friend once tried every beverage in his refrigerator in a vain effort to eliminate a finish he didn't like (including milk)!

5) Value - I've included this criterion because I believe there should be a reward for whiskeys that punch above their weight class. This is what becoming a connoisseur should be all about: Finding the best bottles in different styles at any price. Anybody can tell you that 18 and 25 y-o whiskeys are better than 10 and 12 y-o, but how do they match up in value? Older and more expensive isn't always better!

I hope that having whiskeys described through these criteria will help you decide which ones you'd like to try. TSS isn't going to give you too many numbers, but you'll know which ones we like and how they match up to comparable drams. This website will also allow you to post your opinions on our tasting notes. Did we get it right or are we on crack? Maybe somewhere in-between....?
The more information we have on any dram, the more accurate the description will be, so I encourage everyone to share their opinion. The next blog post will have tips on tasting - then on to some whisky reviews/recommendations/warnings!

For the record, my favourite tasting note of all time (from an unrelated scotch website):

In describing the taste of Loch Dubh whisky: "Burnt gummi bears dissolved in gasoline".

Mmmmmm....

The Club Rules

One of the major issues with starting to drink whisky or any other "premium" liquor is the cost. I think it's safe to say that the majority of us will think twice before dropping fifty dollars on a bottle of something that you may not be that familiar with. The problem is, in order to get familiar with a malt, you're going to need to drink a few drams. Gotta love those Catch 22s! Drinking at whisky bars can get pretty expensive as well, since you can easily pay $10 for a dram of something that sells for roughly $60 a bottle in the store (Talisker 10 y-o). It's a drink worthy of the $10 price tag, but - ouch!

One solution to this problem is to start a whisky tasting club. I started one of these in Montreal with a few friends and we jokingly referred to ourselves as the "Men of Tain" after the revered whiskymen who are referred to on bottles of Glenmorangie.

Once you have three or four people involved (that's a club in my book), you can decide how to proceed:

1) Everyone chip in $15 dollars and purchase a different bottle each meeting

2) Every individual purchases their own bottle and these are brought to the meetings - new bottles can then be purchased as older stocks are depleted.

Both of these options serve the same purpose: They allow you to try different whiskies repeatedly without buying them all yourself. This means you can have multiple drams of the same malt in the same sitting (and at subsequent sittings), which will really give you a feel for that particular whisky.

My best friend and I worked through a bottle of Mortlach 16 y-o (distillery bottling-Flora and Fauna range) over a couple of days on a trip to Scotland 4 years ago and the nose is still immediately recognizable to me. This is a highly recommended dram - in case you're taking notes!

It may be easier to recruit club members for option #1, due to the low admission price. Almost everyone I talk to about this is interested in trying a tasting once, but the difficulty is in finding and retaining serious tasters. Those who are genuinely interested and are willing to invest in further whisky purchases will begin to stand out from the pack. That being said, journeymen tasters who don't always show up for every club meeting but chip in financially every once in a while have their value, too. Club exclusivity can result in some lonely meetings!

Our "Men of Tain" club doesn't meet anymore, as we have spread out over Canada and beyond. We still share great friendships, a love of whisky and a lot of fond memories - a success by any measure!

Through the Drinking Glass....

"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake" - WC Fields

Alice may have discovered "Jabberwocky" using a looking glass, but the best way to discover any whisky is using a proper drinking glass. There are thousands of styles of drinking glasses out there designed for every possible beverage, but finding one conducive to good whisky tasting/nosing is actually quite easy.

The main concept in finding a good whisky glass is thinking about vapours and how they are behaving in that glass. The aromas that you are nosing in the whisky are due to evaporation, and the chemicals causing these aromas will rise and dissipate into the air above the liquid. Depending on the type of chemical causing the aromas, such as esters (which can smell fruity) they will rise and dissipate to different extents. Peaty, earthy and smoky aromas tend be heavier and will not dissipate as easily as lighter fruity or floral aromas.
If you want to smell the aromas or "nose" a whisky, it is best to use a glass that will help contain or trap these chemicals and prevent them dissipating into the air. For this reason, a traditional whisky tumbler is about the worst thing you could use, as it is short and widens to a large opening. All those wonderful aromas escape very quickly! These tumblers worked well when blended whisky was all the rage and people were interested in masking the aroma - think smooth and easy to mix with cola, etc.
In the new "popular" age of malt connoisseurship, whisky drinkers are very interested in the nose, as it is the first indication of what they are about to taste and it contains a lot of information about the style of whisky.

So back to the glass: Which to use? Sherry copitas and small wine glasses with tapered openings are great. There are also special nosing glasses that even have glass covers which you can use to trap the vapours for a few moments before nosing. There are also some glasses that have been designed specifically for nosing whisky, notably the Glencairn glass. You can see one in the middle of the photo included with this post. I tend to favour small glasses with tapered openings, and most whisky bars worth their salt will serve their drams in something like one of the glasses in the photo. That being said, I've never refused a dram served in any glass, so don't get too caught up in the details! Try some different styles of glass and see which ones work best for you. Nosing the same whisky in different glasses will even allow you to isolate some particular aromas. Experimentation with different glassware is fun and will help you experience different facets of a whisky. Just don't break them when you chin-chin to "cheers" or "slainte"!

Water works

Hopefully over the last couple of posts I've made apparent some of the motivations one might have for drinking whisky, and just for the record, I didn't even mention how great it can taste!
But how does one go about drinking whisky? Everyone has their own preference: straight up or neat, with a pinch of water, soda water, on the rocks, with a mix, and on we go. What about the glass? Is it better with a sturdy whisky tumbler or somewhat more dainty sherry copita or other wine glass?
This is probably a good time for you to decide what your own motivations for drinking whisky are, because this will undoubtedly influence how you will ultimately drink it. For those who really want to appreciate the nose, palate, and finish of a good whisky, there are some practices that will help promote these aspects and give a greater appreciation of a given whisky's complexity. Each of the topics below will be discussed in greater detail in later posts, but let's start with the basics:

Water:

It makes up 71% of the world's surface, and up to roughly 80% of a human's body mass. It is also an important ingredient in whisky (go figure).
Most whiskies are bottled at somewhere between 40 and 50% alcohol by volume (abv). The rest is water. Why would you want to add more water?
To properly nose a whisky, it is generally agreed that the addition of water helps open up the spirit and release more subtle aromas. Many master distillers claim that diluting to 20% abv allows them to properly nose whiskies and determine if they are ready for blending and/or bottling.
What kind of water? Well, following the logic that you're trying to taste and nose the whisky for its own subtle flavours and aromas, it's better not to add flavoured water, soda water, tonic water, or chlorinated tap water. Most whisky-ites will tell you that soft or spring water is the best aqua to use. This will open up the whisky and limit the infiltration of outside flavours/aromas.
In general, I like to add some water to a whisky after nosing and tasting it neat (w/o water). In order to really get a sense of a particular bottle or expression, over the course of a few drams I will gradually reduce the amount of water added, starting from about 20-30% abv for the first dram or two, and reducing that to just a few drops or none at all over subsequent drams.
With cask strength whiskies weighing in at 60% abv and up, water will help take the edge off these brutes and appreciate their subtleties, but it's worth taking a few sips at cask strength to determine their smoothness at that alcohol level. You'd be surprised at how drinkable these heavy hitters can be!
In closing, addition of water to whisky seems to be a very personal thing, with opinions on the subject covering a wide spectrum. Experimentation is the key to finding your own particular preference of brands, expressions, and alcohol strengths.

Why drink whisky? Part Two

"Whisky and beer are a man's worst enemies...but the man that runs away from his enemies is a coward!"
-Zeca Pagodinho

In my last entry I discussed my first experience with whisky, and shared more personal feelings about my passion for uisgebeatha - the water of life. In this entry, the second part of "Why drink whisky?", I want to generalize a bit and talk a bit about whisky and life in general.
There is without a doubt a certain romantic notion about whisky that is present in popular culture. Images of crofters manning illicit stills hidden within caves in the Scottish Highlands, smugglers and bootleggers in Kentucky and Tennessee crafting moonshine bourbon and becoming legends in their own right. It all smacks of danger, intrigue, and whole lot of fun.
Whisky has a very colourful history, full of these strange and wonderful characters, and includes many tall tales better told over a glass of your favourite nectar. We'll get into some of these stories in later entries. For now, it's important simply to appreciate the fact that whisky is a spirit that has been evolving continuously over the past few centuries.
Time is a subject that comes up quite frequently in discussions about whisky. In a similar vein to wine, age is often touted as improving the spirit (the older the better). This is not always the case, and distillers are always aging their whiskies for different lengths of time, trying to find the ages and conditions that suit their spirit best. This is as much an art as a science, and that is what makes it so special.
In a world that puts so much emphasis on speed, efficiency, and consumption, relaxing with a drink that has taken years to produce while sipping it slowly to appreciate its finer qualities is both liberating and enlightening.
This escape can be a very individual experience (as everyone appreciates each whisky differently), but it can also be very social. Sharing a nice bottle with friends, comparing tastes and discussing life in general have provided me with many fine memories. Even if any readers out there decide never to drink a single dram of whisky, I strongly encourage you to slow down occasionally and take the time to be in the moment and enjoy life. Appreciate these moments with friends, family and any other passion, be it music, art, or food and beverage.
Convinced yet? If so, I hope this blog will help educate and entertain you while we discover many mysteries of the "water of life"

Why drink whisky? Part One

This is an interesting question. Not because it's a difficult one to answer, but because everyone will have their own reasons for drinking whisky. Some will drink it because they think it will impress their friends or to look good doing it. This has got to be one of the worst reasons for consuming whisky, although it probably constitutes a significant percentage of annual global sales.
If you are reading this blog, chances are that you are interested in whisky for more personal reasons (at least I hope so). Your own enjoyment should take frontstage with a clean conscience here. I'm confident that as you continue drinking whisky and grow to enjoy it more and more, there will be other reasons that will evolve over time. They will creep stealthily onstage while everyone is paying attention to the lead actor, but in the end they will add to the story and keep the play going. When all is said and done however, you just plain have to like drinking the stuff.
My relationship with whisky has been a passionate affair, but (fortunately) lacks the high drama of hollywood romances: No cheating, no big fights or temporary break-ups, just the odd morning of waking up and hoping I didn't finish that expensive bottle when I couldn't properly appreciate it (sigh).
Since we were properly introduced, whisky and I have been close friends and amorous lovers although I fear our relationship is too often a bit one-sided. She has many would-be suitors and has no time for high-maintenance lovers!
I owe my introduction to the joys of single malt scotch to my best friend about 10 years ago in an apartment in London, Ontario, Canada. He had received a bottle of 12-year MacAllan from his brother and wanted to share it with someone. My alcoholic preferences at the time were firmly rooted in craft beers, while previous trysts with hard alcohol in various forms had a nasty habit of ending somewhat unfavourably.
He cracked the bottle and let me smell it first. It was much sweeter than I was expecting, and had an aroma that (at the time) reminded me of wine. We each tried a little bit straight up and I have to say at that point my plan was to put on a brave face and humour my friend while heroically suppressing any obvious displeasure that might call my manhood into question. Instead, I could not believe that something listed at roughly 40% alcohol by volume (abv) could be so smooth. The whisky had a very sweet taste and the texture of melted butter in my mouth. The remarkably pleasant and overt aftertaste lingered long after my friend had put the cap back on the bottle. It was to be the first of many pleasant whisky surprises.