How to Pair Whisky With Salmon

Learn how to pair a variety of whisky styles from scotch to Irish with salmon that’s been smoked, cured, or oven-roasted.

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Smoked salmon from Scotland is revered the world over, but it may surprise some to learn that Scottish salmon is a different species from those popular in the Pacific northwest. The Atlantic salmon is Scotland’s variety, while those fished in the Pacific include chinook, chum, coho, pink, and sockeye. Experts have their opinions on which are the best, but a more important consideration is whether the salmon was farmed or caught in the wild—the consensus being that wild-caught is best.

The simplest way to prepare salmon is to pan-fry fillets, which when carefully executed will yield a moist, delightful result, with bigger and bolder flavors coming from wild-caught chinook or sockeye, and the mildest taste found in farmed Atlantic salmon. Either way, a rich scotch single malt makes an ideal partner, with my wild-caught Atlantic fillet benefiting greatly from the accompanying richness and soft spiciness of Aberlour 12 year old.

Now shift the fish from the stovetop to the oven and add a sweet glaze. I used honey mustard for my tasting, and found that the fruity, nectared character of a fine pot still Irish whiskey works beautifully. The relationship grew more symbiotic, with the sweet glaze softening and rounding the whiskey, while the spirit brought the natural flavor of the fish to the fore.

Cure the salmon with salt and sugar, adding dill and other flavors as desired, and you have gravlax. Contrary to many commercial examples, gravlax should never be smoked. Of Scandinavian origin, it is traditionally enjoyed with either vodka or aquavit. So it’s hardly surprising that the lightest of whiskies, perhaps a blended Canadian or Japanese, is the most desirable partner when gravlax is served on its own.

Pair This Seared King Salmon with Peaty Whisky

When used to top rye bread, whether dark or light, a whole new dynamic is born, with the gravlax becoming more of a textural experience and an elevated rye-content whisky finding a delicious and complementary home at its side. Rule of thumb: The darker the bread, the more rye in the whisky.

Possibly the most popular preparation of salmon, certainly so at Sunday brunch, is smoked. It is typically either hot or cold-smoked. Cold-smoked salmon is the version most familiar—thinly sliced and texturally close to raw—while hot-smoked presents more like cooked salmon, with commensurately meatier texture and usually a bolder smokiness.

If the word “smoked” has you considering a heavily peated whisky pairing, think again: Cold-smoked salmon’s taste does not become enhanced when paired with peat monsters, which can run roughshod over the delicate flavor of the fish. I found a much more balanced relationship in a wheated bourbon like Maker’s Mark, or for the bigger taste of smoked sockeye, a mildly smoky scotch single malt like Jura 10 year old.

When the fish is hot-smoked, on the other hand, the peaty scotch single malts simply shine, bringing added depth and range to the smoke, while the meatiness of the fish draws forward the fruit and spice of the spirit.

PAIR THESE WHISKIES AND Salmon AT HOME NOW

Gravlax on Light Rye Bread with J.P. Wiser’s 15 year old
This mostly corn whisky has a roundness that suits the gravlax well, with a touch of rye spice to accent the toothsome bread.

Oven-Roasted Glazed Salmon with Writers’ Tears Copper Pot
The sweet glaze further rounds the already creamy whiskey while the spirit’s fruitiness accents the taste of the fish.

Hot-Smoked Salmon with Kilchoman Machir Bay
The Kilchoman flagship accents the taste of the fish with its smoky and citrusy character, elevating the experience exponentially.

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How to Taste Barn Notes in Whisky

Learn how to pick up notes of burlap, barn boards, and straw in your whisky and where those flavors come from in the first place.

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Certain whiskies conjure up life on the farm. Picture yourself in a barn, inhaling scents of sweet meadow hay and golden stalks of straw, mingled with sacks of dried corn. The barn itself is built from weathered planks that carry the scars of their past—with knots, flaky paint, splits, and misshapen nails that still hold firm against the elements. The aromas of barn boards bring a different sensory pleasure to whisky compared to fresh oak, as the barn’s timber may come from alder, spruce, or pine trees.

Burlap sacking made from natural fibers—typically jute, flax, or hemp—also fits into this aroma spectrum. In some distilleries’ filling rooms, bung cloth—little ragged squares of burlap—cradle each bung as they are hammered tight into the casks. This versatile cloth finds utility elsewhere as coffee sacks, scarecrows, sandbags, rugs, and rope. Agreeably, these aroma characteristics associate with other dry olfactory sensations reminiscent of nutshells, wood shavings, grist and grain, dusty earthen dunnage floors, freshly baked bread, and dry spices. These flavors and aromas can be found in the cereal-forward styles of Irish blends, rye whiskey, single grain scotch, Lowland single malts, and the occasional Japanese whisky. As with most aromas in whisky, no single compound is responsible, but grassy notes are associated with aldehydes that originate from barley lipids, and distillers can emphasize these characteristics by working with cooked grains and green malt. Aldehydes typically develop during fermentation, but their impact on the dram in your glass depends upon what then occurs during distillation, maturation, and blending. The presence of aldehydes as grassy dry vegetation or straw is defined by the whisky’s profile as the blender combines different elements into a matrix of flavors, with oak extractives sometimes contributing positively to their sensory detection. The pick of the crop will result in a delicious whisky that’s outstanding in its field.

hit the hay: These whiskies offer bales of barnyard flavors

Barn Boards—Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel-Proof Rye
Roasted nuts, dark fruits, cinnamon, black tea

Burlap—Kilbeggan Traditional
Honey, lemon, white chocolate, crisp spices

Straw—Tenjaku Blended Japanese
Baked pastry, aniseed, sweet orange, ginger

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How to Taste Root Beer Flavors in Whisky

Both spicy and sweet, root beer notes can be found in a range of whisky styles, most notably bourbon and rye.

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Root beer is a familiar flavor, and is frequently cited as a tasting note for bourbons and ryes. It has positive associations for most people who enjoy its sweet, smooth, spicy flavors, and evokes memories of root beer floats from our childhoods, of wiping the creamy foam away from our lips and playfully testing the buoyancy of that shrinking scoop of ice cream in the glass with our jabbing straws.

The reason why root beer works as such a generous descriptor for whiskey is the spectrum of flavor across root beer types. Easily confused with sarsaparilla, which is traditionally made from the sarsaparilla vine, root beer was originally made from the roots of the sassafras plant. This contains a natural compound called safrole, or 4–allyl–1,2–methylenedioxy–benzene, which has a chemical structure found to be carcinogenic. Since the 1960s, the Food and Drug Administration has banned its use as an ingredient in food and beverage production, so these days root beer is no longer made with sassafras root.

Contemporary root beer can contain a mixture of natural and artificial flavors. The more familiar flavorings include vanilla, licorice, wintergreen, spices like anise and cinnamon, and sweeteners ranging from honey to molasses and others derived from cane sugar. Whether you favor popping open a local craft root beer or a can from one of the big brands, your palate will confirm your preference for root beers with different levels of spiciness and carbonation, while also gauging your tolerance for sweetness.

Root beer flavors found in bourbon and rye arise from the grains in the mashbill combined with the flavor impact of maturation. Rye and high-rye bourbons often bring plenty of spiciness to the table, delivering aromas and flavors of spearmint or peppermint. Depending on the toasting and charring levels of its new American oak barrels, bourbon takes on vanilla and other sweet notes from the toasted wood sugars, while the char can give a whiskey more robust earthy, licorice, and peppery notes. In scotch, root beer flavors arise periodically but it’s usually dependent on the length of maturation, the type of cask, and its previous contents. With neither one chemical compound nor one stage of distillery production responsible, root beer is a safe bet that covers both sweetness and spice if you’re rooting around for a handy taste descriptor. The only thing bourbon and rye can’t match in root beer is the bubbles—they just don’t have the same fizziology.

Root Awakening: Choose a whisky with root beer notes to float your boat

Sweet vanilla—Jefferson’s Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon
Vanilla latte, peppermint, chocolate chip, root beer spices

Wintergreen—Journeyman Distillery Last Feather Rye
Earthy, mint, chocolate, cola, black pepper

Spicy—Arbikie Highland Rye 1794
Cinnamon, allspice, caramel popcorn, cocoa

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How to Pair Whisky and Cheese

Pairing cheese and whisky can be simple if you know what combinations work best. Use this guide to get started.

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The U.S. produces more cheese annually than France, Italy, and Switzerland combined. That statistic is according to Afrim Pristine, maître fromager, or cheese master, and owner of Cheese Boutique in Toronto, where he oversees the sale of some 44 tons of cheese each year. Of course, that’s not the same as having the greatest variety of cheeses, a title that goes to France. But still, the prodigious output of the U.S. is impressive.

Further, Pristine says that from “about 1995 to 2002,” North Americans finally started to explore the full scope of that cheese. “I saw it firsthand,” he recalls, “People stopped buying the same cheese every time and became much more interested in trying different varieties.”

While trying new cheeses is never a bad thing, Pristine notes that it can lead to disappointment. “I tell my customers to buy smaller pieces and shop more often,” he says, “Cheese doesn’t go bad, but when people overbuy and it sits around too long, it just won’t taste the way it should.”

For storing the cheese you do buy, Pristine suggests avoiding plastic wrap, which can dry out the cheese, and resealable zipper-closure bags, which cause the cheese to sweat. Instead, he recommends wrapping the cheese first in parchment or waxed paper and then in aluminum foil, since the parchment will allow the cheese to breathe while the foil will protect it from absorbing other odors in the fridge and also keep your vegetables from smelling like cheese.

When serving, Pristine says that the longer you can leave it outside of the fridge, “two, three, or even eight hours,” the better it will taste. Which is precisely how I approached my tasting of what Pristine identifies as the six basic groupings of cheese: goat/sheep, semi-firm, washed rind, bloomy rind, hard/aged, and blue.

Cheeses made from goat’s or sheep’s milk tend to be more delicate in flavor than those made from cow’s milk, so weighty whiskeys like bourbons and straight ryes should generally be avoided. With goat’s milk cheese in particular, the relative lightness and almost paradoxical depth of an Irish whiskey containing a high proportion of pot still spirit makes great gastronomic sense.

For a youthful gouda, my semi-firm cheese, I sought a complementary relationship in a fruity, sherry wood-aged single malt, and found it in Macallan 12 year old Double Cask. The sherry accents play perfectly against the nutty flavors of the cheese, while the richness of the gouda draws out complex fruit and vanilla notes in the whisky.

(As an aside, balanced Scottish single malts, not too peaty or rich, seem to pair best with a wide variety of cheeses, as you might find on a typical cheese board.)

Washed-rind cheeses, like the French chaumes I sampled, tend to have big aromas—some call them “stinky”—but rather mild flavors, which require spirits of subtle complexity and soft bouquet, the toffee-ish Crown Royal XO fitting this bill quite deliciously. For cheeses with bloomy rinds, such as Bries and Camemberts, which often feature saltiness and acidity from the rind, a bolder and sweeter partner makes the most sense, like Woodford Reserve Double Oaked matched with the classic Brie de Meaux.

Finally, I returned to Scotland to find pairings for both my hard/aged and blue cheeses, hardly surprising since classics of both camps, cheddar and Stilton, were born not far from where the whiskies evolved. In general, I find that Speyside malts favor mature, firm cheeses and peatier Island whiskies complement blues, although full and round bourbons also benefit the latter.

Pair These Whiskies and Cheeses at Home Now

Chabichou du Poitou with Redbreast 12 year old
The dryness of this weeks-old chèvre draws forward the whiskey’s sweetness, while the spirit accentuates the fruitiness of the cheese.

3 year old Cheddar with Glenlivet 12 year old
The creaminess of the cheddar is underscored by the whisky, while the cheese heightens the nutty, fruity flavors of the malt.

Colston Bassett Stilton with Talisker 10 year old
England’s legendary blue cheese meets a Scottish partner in strength and assertiveness, to the flavorful benefit of both parties.

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How to Taste Bookish Notes in Whisky

From leather bound tomes to antique pages, learn how to pick up on notes otherwise found in your local library or book store.

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Many whisky lovers enjoy having their nose in a good book almost as much as a glass of whisky, and there are deeply evocative aromas common to both pleasures. The bouquet of some whiskies call to mind the antique scent of rows of books inside a library, in the cabinets of antiquarian book dealers, or along the miles of shelving stretching around enormous bookstores from Powell’s in Portland to the Strand in New York. Sales of print books rose during the pandemic as more people picked up a good read. (According to publishing industry tracker NPD Group, U.S. print book sales were up 8.2% in 2020 to 750 million books, while more than 200 million print books were sold in the UK last year—passing that mark for the first time since 2012, according to Nielsen BookScan.)

From a whisky nosing perspective, bookish aromas typically conjure up images of a gilt-edged tome bound in calfskin leather, perhaps with raised bands on the spine and archaic gold lettering, or a cloth-bound volume inside a slightly chipped dust jacket, its pages falling open to reveal gorgeous marbled endpapers, releasing the scents locked between the slightly tanned pages. Then again, other people like nothing better than cracking the spine on a freshly printed book or magazine and sniffing the modern chemicals in the paper, inks, and binding adhesives. So how can a whisky remind us of the smell of a good book?

The answer is right before you: paper in old books is made from wood pulp, which gradually decays over decades, releasing many of the same aromatic compounds found in oak casks. Scientists have even developed an odor wheel for describing and categorizing these old book smells, similar to whisky flavor wheels, deducing that the more prominent chemicals, such as vanillin, benzaldehyde, ethyl benzene, and the biscuit-like aroma of furfural come from the degradation of the wood compounds in the paper. Combined with the bindings and covering materials, they produce that curiously sweet mixture of vanilla, almond, dry leaves, and grassy notes, along with reassuring scents of polished antique bookcases, mustiness, and worn leather. To many, this attractive constellation is a signifier of a well-matured whisky.

Start your hunt with some of the less rambunctious single malt scotches and grain whiskies matured in second and third-fill bourbon barrels, move on to older single malt whiskies that rely on a contribution of refill sherry casks, and nose some bourbons and ryes to find those more mature leather, nut, and woody characteristics.

Whether your bookshelves are full of precious whiskies or pristine first editions, both have the power to transport you to other worlds.

Shelf Aware: These whiskies want to get into your good books

New Riff Backsetter Peated Backset Bottled in Bond Rye
Antiquarian Book: Old books, polished oak, sweet nuttiness

Kanosuke New Born
New Book: Peapod, bookbinding glue, Belgian chocolate

Deanston 12 year old
Leather Bound: Figs, polished calfskin covers, tobacco

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How to Taste Maritime Notes in Whisky

Sometimes, seaside flavors can appear within your whisky glass, offering up notes of rock pools, vanilla ice cream, beach barbecue, smoked shellfish, and more.

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The sensory pleasures of the seaside can sometimes be found in your whisky glass, remarkably enough. The lip-smacking combination of sea spray, rock pools, vanilla ice cream, beach barbecue, and smoked shellfish all come together in the best peated whiskies, creating a delightful maritime journey in a dram. Saltiness imbues these whiskies’ peat smoke notes on the nose, and deliver a briny character to the spicy smoke on the finish. Maritime tasting notes like tarry boat rope, wooden fish boxes, and lobster pots on a boat’s deck all invoke the pull of the sea.

Smoky Islay whiskies are of course the world’s signature peated expressions, but unpeated whiskies finished in Islay casks can also accomplish this goal. Those smoke flavors come from the hardy compounds that envelop the malted barley when peat’s lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose constituents are put to the flame. The flavor possibilities vary, depending on the history and location of the peat bog, the depth and moisture of the cut peat, the judgment of the maltster presiding over the kiln, the aptitude of the distiller making the cuts, and the wisdom and experience of the blender. All that work with peat creates some of the most refined flavor characteristics present in any whisky.

Furthermore, some distillers, like those at Old Pulteney and Bruichladdich, believe that storing their casks in warehouses close to the ocean augments the final flavor of their whiskies—the saltiness in the air imbues a maritime quality in the maturing spirits. Conversely, Talisker, Lagavulin, Oban, and Caol Ila mature their whiskies in warehouses located in central Scotland, yet still produce lip-smacking coastal scotches.

The best peated whiskies strike a balance between the medicinal end of the phenolic spectrum—characterized by carbolic soap and antiseptics, the syringols with their spicy peat smoke and creamy vanilla sweetness, and the guaiacols with their aromas of wood-smoke and crispy bacon rind. Grab one of the whiskies from our picks, and you’ll never be far from the beach.

Indulge your palate with these maritime whiskies:

Experience the force of a gale warning in Talisker Storm, with notes of salty surf spray, sweet red berries, & peppery peat

Savor the taste of tides in Laphroaig 10 Year Old, abundant with flavors of seaweed, Band-Aids, bladderwrack, & vanilla caramel

Submerge your palate in Bunnahabhain Toiteach A Dhà, with notes of salt water, brine, pipe tobacco, & smoked fish

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How to Taste Nutty Flavors in Whisky

Nuttiness presents itself in both new-make spirit and mature whiskies, and you can even call specific nuts out by name when tasting whisky.

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There’s an abundance of nutty flavors in your whisky. Nuttiness is a characteristic present in both new-make spirit and mature whisky, though it’s most commonly associated with mature whiskies aged in well-seasoned sherry casks. You may be able to call out a specific nut by name when you taste whisky, though nutty aromas and flavors are often complex and overlap with notes of wood, oiliness, and butteriness, as well as roasted or cereal characteristics.

First off, identify your nut—differentiating pecan from pistachio, or hazelnut from macadamia. Then consider its form. You may detect almond, but are those almonds whole, sliced, nibbed, or ground? Squirrel away some other flavor descriptors, as nuts can be spiced, candied, or roasted: dry, honey, or maple. They can also be present as nut-based textures and flavors—nut butters, nut oils, nougat, marzipan, praline, and chocolate-hazelnut spreads—or baked goods like nut cookies, florentines, or pecan pie. And don’t discount the aromas of the nutshells—a dry, aged whisky might remind you of hazelnut shells, the pitted surface of an almond shell, or the split skulls of a walnut once the nut has been pried free.

How to Pair Whisky and Nuts

Science informs us that a whisky’s nuttiness is the product of multiple compounds. Their sensory threshold is influenced by how those compounds interact when set against other attention-grabbing flavor compounds. Short fermentations can promote a nutty, grainy quality in new-make spirit, which is even more noticeable when high-roast malts are used. The furfural created during malting and distillation can also possess a grainy quality reminiscent of marzipan or almonds. Experiments have found a correlation between the perception of nuttiness and the laboratory detection of methylpyrazine, also associated with oiliness, and 2-furanmethanol, which consorts with roasted-nut qualities.

In mature whisky, a degree of nuttiness can also arise from cask extractives known as oak lactones. This characteristic is more pronounced when coopers work with well-seasoned oak from the sawmill. Charring of oak staves also promotes methylpyrazine and 4-methyl-5-vinylthiazole to produce a dry, roasted, nutty, woody quality. Finally, aside from the complexities of wood chemistry and the ongoing internal chemical reactions that take place over years, a sherry cask will also impart the fortified wine’s inherent nutty, dried fruit qualities on the maturing whisky. So, basically, that’s it in a nutshell.

Go Nuts: Taste Different Types of Nuts in These Whiskies

Taste almonds in Powers Three Swallow, which is chock full of warm marmalade, citrus, green apple, and spices.

Warm up with the roasted nut flavors in Bunnahabhain 18 year old, fragrant with sweet sherry, dried fruits, rich oak, and a briny finish.

Enjoy brazil nuts in Scotchdale 8 year old, brimming with peach slice, baked cookies, dry oak, and hot peppery spice.

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Whisky Cocktails Made Simple: Hot Toddy and Gold Rush [Video]

Make these classic whisky cocktails using ingredients that are already in your kitchen like honey, lemon juice, and baking spices.

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A great whisky cocktail doesn’t have to be complex. In fact, some of the most timeless drinks, like the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, or Highball, are simple in structure but have satisfied whisky drinkers for decades. Some classic cocktails don’t even require special ingredients. Take the Hot Toddy and Gold Rush, for instance. Both are made by combining lemon juice, honey, and whisky—ingredients you may already have in your kitchen—and can easily be customized using any variety of garnish or whisky as the base. Get started with this video and you’ll have two easy-to-make cocktails to enjoy throughout the year.

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