HOME TASTING • 27
The home-spun tasting
As host, it’s a good idea to give some structure to the tasting by walking your guests through the main stages. 1. Colour – Look closely and your guests will probably be surprised by the sheer range of lightness and hue in their whiskies. Colour also gives us clues as to cask type and age, with older or sherried whiskies usually coming out darker. 2. Viscosity – Swirl your whisky in the glass and
let it settle. More viscose whiskies will form long droplets or “legs” down the sides of the glass. Cask strength and non-chill fi ltered, most Society whiskies boast lovely long legs. 3. Undiluted – We usually recommend taking a careful nose and taste (in that order) of a dram before adding water, as dilution will often change the character. At cask strength though, a degree
of caution is advised!
4. With water – Water isn’t just to dilute strong spirit - it releases fl avour and aroma compounds, opening up the dram and revealing its true character. The ‘correct’ amount of water varies from person to person and from dram to dram. We
recommend starting with just a few drops, nose, than taste, and add more if necessary.
To
each their own
You can tell a lot about someone by how they take their whisky, so we asked a few of the Society’s international branches about their national quirks, preferences and rituals. “One tradition we have is a “heels party”, which either involves congregating at someone’s house and just working through their mostly empty bottles, or everyone brings a bottle one-third full or less, disguised in
wrapping, and you get to pick one. Slainte!”
Kelly Carpenter – Canada “Drinking whisky with a meal is very unusual here. Whisky cocktails are pre-dinner drinks, whisky itself an after-dinner drink. When friends come round, it’s more usual to have beer and wine than any kind of spirits. Zum Wohl!” Ina Kraan, Switzerland. “Any opportunity to enjoy whisky will work. There are no set rules. All of our Society tasting events feature a full dinner - we have hosted many tastings with paired courses. Cheers!”
Gabby Shayne, USA THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY
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