Just want to say, thank you for providing a simple in-depth guild for people to follow and learn. In terms of appearance, and this is more of a long term skill but eventually you'll learn different seasonings/cask finishes often yield a different color/hue. For instance if a Scotch was finished in Bourbon Cask it'll often have more of a golden color, whereas say you had one finished in Oloroso it'll likely have a red amber like hue to the color. Note that charring of cask can produce this darkening as well as toasted cask, although I've found this to be to a lesser degree. I'm glad you mentioned the legs. These are the droplets that reside and form around the inside of the glass after you've swirled or rotated it. The abundance of droplets and how quickly they roll back down the glass, as well as thickness will tell you a great many things. If you've thick legs this can mean it'll have a heavy mouth feel, really coating the palate. If the droplets are heavy, thick and move slowly down the glass, the whiskey often has a higher ABV. Most liqueurs will deceive you as they have a higher sugar content so the sugar often clings to the glass. The other reason you want to do this swirling/rotating technique is to coat the glass and give the whiskey/spirit more surface contact to allow it to open up so you can smell it. Now I really liked your approach to nosing/smelling the whisky. Generally a good 6-8 inches away and slowly drawing yourself in closer as a beginner is a good rule of thumb. Not being accustomed to the alcohol/ethanol can be overpowering at first. But as you said, don't be deterred or give up. Acclimate and go back in. Now this doesn't work for everybody but it's good to try breathing in with your mouth closed and then open. Personally, for me myself this doesn't work as well until after I've coated my palate with the whiskey. So yes, going back through the steps after tasting is also of importance. Now I'll mention another alternative step, and yes it'll sound remarkably strange but I swear it does produce results. The technique is called "retronasal breathing,” which is the same method people use to enjoy cigars, even wine. You breathe in through your mouth, close your lips and hold in that breath for a moment, and then breathe out through your mouth. I've taken this further, by just placing the glencairn around my mouth/lips and breathing in slowly and then holding that breath for a few moments before slowly exhaling. This technique does take practice and my best advice is to start with slow small breaths before you acclimate to heavier and longer breaths. Between these techniques you'll be aiming for simple aromas and flavors first before looking for more abstract and difficult to detect notes. Going into the palate/first sip you really just want enough to coat the mouth as you said. Allow your senses to acclimate. Once you've adjusted you can try to hold a little sip in your mouth and breath in slowly before swallowing. This allows the spirit to aerate. This causes the expanding of surface area of the whiskey to increase its contact with the air and allowing those more favorable aromas and flavors to develop as less favorable compounds evaporate. The swirling/rotating coating the inside of the glass is the same thing, your allowing the whisky to aerate more quickly. Again, do this slowly as some whiskeys will produce sweeter profiles like honey, fruits, vanilla, etc. And other can grow immensely more smoky, spicy, tannic, an bitter. Finally the finish I've no input. Overall excellent tips. It's always great to share tips and learn new ones. My only other tips are let the whisky/spirit warm up through the glass while holding it. Heat can play a role in how aromatic and flavorful a spirt can be. Well hope my own tips help you and others who take the time to read this.
Wow! Thank you so much for leaving such an in depth and helpful comment- I am very touched! I will definitely apply your tips and suggestions, and your scientific explanations of things are super interesting! Cheers 🥃
@@BottleRaiders You're welcome, was happy to share some of my knowledge as I believe all knowledge should be shared. You'll have to follow up and let me know how applying these tips and suggestions went for you. In terms of the more scientific explanations I found them quite interesting. It's been a few years since learning this all myself. Only been a spirits connoisseur since mid-2019, so don't got a lot of years under the belt. However, I dove into it heavily. Took to it like a fish takes to water. Though I got to admit I'm surrounded by friends that are just as passionate of the I guess you could call it hobby as I am which helps immensely. And together we've learned much along the way. Always looking forward to our tasting get-togethers. We just spend the entire day drinking and sometimes two days. And before I go I'll leave some palate cleanse/reset tips for you. Foremost water is your bestfriend. Drink it either before tasting or between tasting, past that keeps you hydrated. Just be sure it's neutral water, so no tonic or seltzer/flavored waters. And avoid it hot or cold, aim for room temp. Cold Eucalyptus Tea is another beverage I have found works great as well. Fruit/Vegetable Juices can work as well, so long as they are sugar free. So that covers beverages. And like the water drink either before tasting or between tasting. Now moving onto foods. Saltine crackers and slices of white bread absorb a lot of residual flavor. Be sure they are plain and not flavored themselves of course. Next food option is fruits and vegetables. I've learned watery fruits work best. So say watermelon, bananas, grapes, oranges, cantaloupe/honeydew, and apples. In terms of vegetables celery, cucumbers, and lettuce can also help. And that covers these other tips which I hope you may find useful. Cheers🥂
I’m still working on picking up notes. I feel like how my day went affects how I taste. I definitely need a warmup dram to get my palette ready to taste. Cheers
Just want to say, thank you for providing a simple in-depth guild for people to follow and learn. In terms of appearance, and this is more of a long term skill but eventually you'll learn different seasonings/cask finishes often yield a different color/hue. For instance if a Scotch was finished in Bourbon Cask it'll often have more of a golden color, whereas say you had one finished in Oloroso it'll likely have a red amber like hue to the color. Note that charring of cask can produce this darkening as well as toasted cask, although I've found this to be to a lesser degree. I'm glad you mentioned the legs. These are the droplets that reside and form around the inside of the glass after you've swirled or rotated it. The abundance of droplets and how quickly they roll back down the glass, as well as thickness will tell you a great many things. If you've thick legs this can mean it'll have a heavy mouth feel, really coating the palate. If the droplets are heavy, thick and move slowly down the glass, the whiskey often has a higher ABV. Most liqueurs will deceive you as they have a higher sugar content so the sugar often clings to the glass. The other reason you want to do this swirling/rotating technique is to coat the glass and give the whiskey/spirit more surface contact to allow it to open up so you can smell it.
Now I really liked your approach to nosing/smelling the whisky. Generally a good 6-8 inches away and slowly drawing yourself in closer as a beginner is a good rule of thumb. Not being accustomed to the alcohol/ethanol can be overpowering at first. But as you said, don't be deterred or give up. Acclimate and go back in. Now this doesn't work for everybody but it's good to try breathing in with your mouth closed and then open. Personally, for me myself this doesn't work as well until after I've coated my palate with the whiskey. So yes, going back through the steps after tasting is also of importance. Now I'll mention another alternative step, and yes it'll sound remarkably strange but I swear it does produce results. The technique is called "retronasal breathing,” which is the same method people use to enjoy cigars, even wine. You breathe in through your mouth, close your lips and hold in that breath for a moment, and then breathe out through your mouth. I've taken this further, by just placing the glencairn around my mouth/lips and breathing in slowly and then holding that breath for a few moments before slowly exhaling. This technique does take practice and my best advice is to start with slow small breaths before you acclimate to heavier and longer breaths. Between these techniques you'll be aiming for simple aromas and flavors first before looking for more abstract and difficult to detect notes.
Going into the palate/first sip you really just want enough to coat the mouth as you said. Allow your senses to acclimate. Once you've adjusted you can try to hold a little sip in your mouth and breath in slowly before swallowing. This allows the spirit to aerate. This causes the expanding of surface area of the whiskey to increase its contact with the air and allowing those more favorable aromas and flavors to develop as less favorable compounds evaporate. The swirling/rotating coating the inside of the glass is the same thing, your allowing the whisky to aerate more quickly. Again, do this slowly as some whiskeys will produce sweeter profiles like honey, fruits, vanilla, etc. And other can grow immensely more smoky, spicy, tannic, an bitter. Finally the finish I've no input. Overall excellent tips. It's always great to share tips and learn new ones. My only other tips are let the whisky/spirit warm up through the glass while holding it. Heat can play a role in how aromatic and flavorful a spirt can be. Well hope my own tips help you and others who take the time to read this.
Wow! Thank you so much for leaving such an in depth and helpful comment- I am very touched!
I will definitely apply your tips and suggestions, and your scientific explanations of things are super interesting!
Cheers 🥃
@@BottleRaiders You're welcome, was happy to share some of my knowledge as I believe all knowledge should be shared.
You'll have to follow up and let me know how applying these tips and suggestions went for you. In terms of the more scientific explanations I found them quite interesting. It's been a few years since learning this all myself. Only been a spirits connoisseur since mid-2019, so don't got a lot of years under the belt. However, I dove into it heavily. Took to it like a fish takes to water. Though I got to admit I'm surrounded by friends that are just as passionate of the I guess you could call it hobby as I am which helps immensely. And together we've learned much along the way. Always looking forward to our tasting get-togethers. We just spend the entire day drinking and sometimes two days.
And before I go I'll leave some palate cleanse/reset tips for you. Foremost water is your bestfriend. Drink it either before tasting or between tasting, past that keeps you hydrated. Just be sure it's neutral water, so no tonic or seltzer/flavored waters. And avoid it hot or cold, aim for room temp. Cold Eucalyptus Tea is another beverage I have found works great as well. Fruit/Vegetable Juices can work as well, so long as they are sugar free. So that covers beverages. And like the water drink either before tasting or between tasting. Now moving onto foods.
Saltine crackers and slices of white bread absorb a lot of residual flavor. Be sure they are plain and not flavored themselves of course. Next food option is fruits and vegetables. I've learned watery fruits work best. So say watermelon, bananas, grapes, oranges, cantaloupe/honeydew, and apples. In terms of vegetables celery, cucumbers, and lettuce can also help. And that covers these other tips which I hope you may find useful.
Cheers🥂
I’m still working on picking up notes. I feel like how my day went affects how I taste. I definitely need a warmup dram to get my palette ready to taste. Cheers
Yes definitely! I find this too- there are definitely days I can taste better than others. Warm up dram sounds good though, cheers! 🥃
Very helpful! I'm not great at identifying flavors but now I will be!
I'm so glad it was helpful! Let me know if any of these tips particularly help :)