Affluent Media Group. All rights reserved. This story first appeared on (Credit for the hero and featured image: Andrew Seaman/Unsplash) However, if you’re just drinking to relax, and you like your whiskey this way, go for it! When you add ice, the whiskey will cool down and its pores will close up - that cold whiskey will in turn close your tongue’s pores up, leaving you to taste 20-30% of what you were intended to taste. On the contrary, when you have a cold shower, your pores tighten up. Think of it this way: When you wake up, you have a hot shower, which opens up your pores. My reasoning here is also simple: As I mentioned before, whiskey is extremely porous. I tend to avoid having ice with my whiskey, but some of the people I look up to most in the industry love a good cube or rock in the mix. It’s almost as if you’ve burnt your tastebuds once you’ve gotten into those whiskies, so it makes it extremely difficult to get them back to their normal functionality. The reason for this is simple: the smokey, peaty whiskies will overwhelm your palate so much so that you won’t be able to taste anything else after you’ve had them. This will instantly take down the alcoholic content and raise sweet, floral, and briny flavour notes instead.Įither start and end your night entirely with peat and smoke, or start your night on the other spectrum, with your sweet and more floral whiskies. Adding warm or hot water to your whiskey will subsequently open up the whiskey’s pores (whiskey itself is indeed a very porous drink). Taste through the whiskey once, add some drops of water, and try it again. Yes, you need to add water to your whiskey Water in Whiskey Image Credit: Mathew Schwartz/Unsplash This can be difficult to do, so don’t be terribly bothered about the ABV if you’ve got some fantastic products mixed in, as those should take precedence. A lot of bourbon and rye is stronger than scotch whisky, so while I often mix a range of whiskies from around the world into my tastings, I try to do both best to last, as well as cask strength in tandem. Next, when it comes to cask strength, try to taste as progressively as you can. Going into the best whiskey last can really be underwhelming. A lot of tasters will tell you to save the best for last, but the reality is that by the time your palate is on the fourth whiskey, the majority of your taste buds are essentially desensitised. First, try to start with the best whiskey first, after your warm up. Fever Tree soda or tonic is great for this! Pay attention to your tasting orderĪfter you’ve done so, I have a few rules I like to abide by. New favourite: The Highball! I have only recently started getting into highballs, and I love it! The sparkling or soda water has allowed me to enjoy whiskey much more, just by toning down the alcohol majorly, and opening up some nice aromas. Other foods I enjoy while tasting to enhance my experience include crisp bacon strips, spiced nuts (almonds and cashews are a favourite), wasabi peas, breadsticks, banana pudding or some chocolate squares. These are all mild foods, and they help restore the palate at a fairly rapid rate. Opening up too quickly can really be a shock to the system.įor me personally, having French bread, plain cheese, and celery on hand during a tasting has been crucial to revamping my palate. You want your palate’s pores (your tongue has 10,000 pores!) to open up slowly. Try to warm up with something in the 40 to 47% ABV range - nothing stronger. This means starting off with either a light cocktail to awaken your senses, or going into a non-cask strength whiskey. How to prepare your palate for Whiskey tasting? Whiskey bottle and a glass Image Credit: Charl Folscher/Unsplashįirst, I strongly recommend warming up your palate. Obviously, you want to avoid adding any other flavours to a whiskey. Having judged several spirits competitions over the years, I’ve learned that the ways in which you can enhance or take away flavour are quite astonishing. When tasting whiskey in particular, there are several important tips to bear in mind. For example, something I thoroughly enjoy in tasting gin is pulling out the different botanicals based on flavours associated with that country, like yuzu for Japan, or seaweed for the Pacific Northwest. I am always trying to enhance my palate to offer my clients a better experience each and every time I speak to them during a whiskey, tequila, mezcal, or gin tasting.
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