Category: Whisky Tips

Over the last decade, whisky tastings have changed dramatically. If the crowd is older, you’ll often find pipettes and distilled water as part of the tasting experience. Younger whisky drinkers, though, often prefer cask strength varieties and wouldn’t dream of watering down their lower proof (45% ABV) whiskies. 

When writing The Whisky Cabinet, I had no intention of telling people how to enjoy their whisky. What I did want to do, though, is provide an explanation of what happens to whisky when modifiers are added (ice, water, or even warming the glass in the palm of the head). 

However, a study from 3 years ago changed conventional thinking. Forbes declared Yes, You Should Put Water In Your Whisky. The Washington Post all but declared the study found the best way to drink whiskey, according to science (spoiler: it’s water). Bigger spoiler—that’s not the conclusion to draw from the study. 

NPR went as far to conclude one should add a little bit of water to whisky. 

The study didn’t prove this either. The study did suggest more flavor is found when whisky is diluted to at but below 45% ABV. Most popular whiskies already coming at this proof point. Further, this was based on the study one one (and only one!) flavor molecule. That’s kind of ridiculous. 

So what did that one study show? 

Much of the science is purely speculative. Yes, even that one study that “proved” whisky tastes better with water is based on one assumption—guaiacol. This organic molecule is produced when lignin (polymers found in plant life) get heated. That’s a fancy way of saying char. Guaiacol is seen as the flavor molecule in coffee (toasted coffee beams produce guaiacol) and in whisky (similarly, charred oak barrels produce guaiacol). 

The study that “proved” whisky tastes better:

Computer simulations of water/ethanol mixtures in the presence of guaiacol discovered that, in mixtures with an ethanol concentration of up to 45%, guaiacol was more likely to be present at the liquid-air interface.

The conclusion, then, is with 45% ABV or under guaiacol is more detectable and thus the whisky tastes better. At above 59% ABV, guaiacol becomes heavily loaded with alcohol molecules and it becomes (theoretically) muted on our senses. 

What if you don’t like guaiacol? There are all sorts of studies that suggest whisky has ten, twenty or even fifty different compounds that provide flavor. Why all this focus on one flavor molecule? This one compound comes from charred barrels and nothing else (when it comes to whisky) and there are plenty more compounds found in barrels. 

I’m not arguing the validity of the research, only that it trivializes the taste of whisky to one flavor component. That’s a mistake. 

When adding water, what type of water should we add? 

The topic of water gets (accurately) more ridiculous. Important reading includes this article about the type of water:

However, by adding that water we are subtly altering the taste beyond simply releasing that ‘something’ already in the whisky. All drinkable water contains combinations of minerals with distinct flavours – and that inevitably can affect our whisky in various ways and to varying degrees.

Therefore, we should take our choice of water seriously: I firmly believe that the whisky tasting experience can be compromised through a poor choice of water.

This article by Felipe Schrieberg raises terrific points. I think they’re absolutely true. But I also think that once we start needing to measure the mineral content of the water we add, it’s added another complexity to our whisky drinking experience we potentially don’t need. 

So what actually happens when we add water to whisky?

A lot. In What Happens When You Add Water to Whiskey, Matthew Hartings explains much of the conventional thinking around water and whisky (thinking that I, personally, believe): 

And then water comes in like a bomb and destroys that tranquil balance. “When you take a drop of water and put it in a glass of whiskey, you can see all these ripples and all these convection currents. That’s the water you’re adding disrupting that balance,” Hartings says.

We love whisky because its pure chaos. Wine is settled and soft, and its low ABV means less is happening in the glass. That’s why one swirls the wine glass—it’s to excite alcohol molecules and provide more aroma (bouquet). In whisky, we have a volatile drink already, and we can influence that chaos. 

water radically rearranges the molecules inside. Hartings explains, “It’s kind of like playing pool. You start off with the racked balls. When they’re sitting in that rack, they’re happy being there. And even when you pull the rack away, they’re going to sit there. But you throw in that cue ball and it disrupts everything. Everything kind of moves around and has to find a new place to be.”

From my personal experience, I find a few drops of water release lighter acidic notes, especially with richer sweeter whiskies. However, it really does depend on the whisky: 

Water doesn’t affect all flavors equally, though. Some flavor molecules interact more strongly with water molecules than others. Picture again that kid holding a balloon, now picture him joined by an entire field of kids holding balloons of different colors—some blue, some green, some purple, all representing different flavors and smells. 

It should be noted, that some of these changes are temporary. By adding water, you shock the glass. Eventually (30 seconds to a minute), though, the glass will calm. 

Can you just tell me how to drink my whisky? 

I like Davin de Kergommeaux’s answer:

For rare whiskies, I prefer to start straight up. I guess this works for shooters too, but I never do shooters. For a casual dram while chatting I like to add ice. I HATE those whisky stones, discs, whatever. Slow dilution is part of the benefit of using ice cubes. A few drops of water often improve the whisky by making it more approachable and by releasing a lot of hidden flavours. ...I prefer to focus on the people I am drinking with and not be distracted by analyzing the whisky. Analytical tastings, I do in private and they are not all that much fun.

I rarely add water to whisky. I almost never do it when I’m casually drinking, and I rarely do it when analyzing tasting notes. There are times where I can’t quite get a tasting note, and I start to heat up the glass in the palm of my hand and/or add water to see what happens. Those times, through, are rare. 

We don’t all love spicy food. Some of our palates are more or less sensitive to spice. There’s no right or wrong answer to how much sriracha we should put into our food. Whisky, water, and alcohol content is a similar conversation. 

Drink whisky the way it tastes best for you. 

Competitive drinking is tough. After college, anyway. And, no, I don't mean to drink as much as possible in a short period of time. I mean, when it comes to judging whisky competitions with the purpose of scoring them on a 100 point scale. 

The majority of competitions run in the November and December timeframe. That means I’m scoring about 150 whiskies (and 150 spirits) a year in that two month period. It gets intense. I get a lot of questions about this, so I thought I’d share answers to the ones I get most often. 

What makes this competition work is all the tasting is done blind. I’d show you a picture of my dining room table, but unfortunately I’m under NDA (non-disclosure agreement) for all the tastings I specifically do. So instead, cottage drinking: 

How do whisky competitions work? 

The ones that I judge, it’s fairly simple. I’m sent a bunch of samples. They’re numbered. I don’t know what they are. I score them two or three times, and hand in a final score with some tasting notes. In some competitions, I’ll eventually know what whiskies I’ve tasted, while in others I’ll never know. 

Do you get drunk drinking all that whisky?

Drunk, no, but buzzed, most definitely. My palate is often good for six to eight different whiskies in an hour's time. I have less than a quarter ounce of each sample, but especially with boozier whiskies, that means I consume anywhere between one and two drinks worth of alcohol. I'm at least "one drink buzzed" and sometimes "two drinks" buzzed. 

Do you really do tastings in the mornings?

Yes. The palate is cleanest in the morning. I brush my teeth, avoid breakfast, and drink coffee with plenty of water. It's very personal, though. There are people that can't drink coffee; it changes their palate. There are others that taste whisky just before lunch when they're hungry because they find their palate most sensitive then. It really does depend. 

I will, sometimes, have a second session in the afternoon if I feel my palate is doing well. I will always taste something at least two times, and I've done comparisons. Sometimes my palate sucks in the afternoons (in which case I stop the session), and sometimes I'm getting great tasting notes and I go on. 

Do you avoid certain foods while tasting whisky?

I avoid heavily salted foods, deep-fried foods, and sugary foods for a few days. I'm often scoring whisky four or five days a week, so I'm large avoided all those foods throughout the month. I'm not strict about it, but if I have fried salty foods one day, I won't score whisky the next day. 

Each person’s palate is different, but I find salty foods changes how my palate interprets things the next day. My palate seems less particular and I’m less discriminating with how I score whisky. This is bad from a few perspectives; I'm less aware of the faults, it creates inconsistency in my scores (depending how much food I've had), and my job is to be a critic. 

There's little science on this, but in my experience, having delicious fried food the day before means my palate is off and inconsistent the next day. 

What about glassware?

Each competition has its preferred glassware. The World Whisky Awards uses a stand ISO wine glass. San Francisco's Spirits Awards use the NEAT glass. Others, recommend the Glencairn glass. Yes, glassware matters.

For the majority of my tastings, I use Glencairn glassware, and I rotate about 50 glasses through the dishwasher while tasting whisky daily. 

You use a dishwasher for your glassware?!

Controversial; lots of people in the business hand-wash their glassware. I'm an exception. Some of this has to do with the water quality (hard vs soft) and the dishwasher used. I have had, in the past, dishwashers that left a weird veggie smell on my glassware. My current dishwasher is great. I nose every glass before I pour whisky into it. If it smells off, I don't use it. If it smells like the room, we're good to go. 

Storage of glassware is more important than how it's washed.

I store my glassware in just a regular cabinetry made of wood. The smell of the wood gets into the glass, and that does affect my tasting notes. When scoring whisky, I wash the glasses and leave on the dining room table until I’m ready to drink. 

What other weird things can affect tasting notes?

Room temperature! Sure, the smells in the room can/will affect tasting notes, but the temperature of the room is a big deal. Ryes, for example, are far rougher at above 22+ Celsius while soften at cooler temperatures. Scotches are a little sweeter. These aren’t massive changes, but when a few points on a 100 point scale matter, this does make a difference. 

Steps to drinking whisky:

1. Nose the glass. Does it smell like the room? Good. Go on.

2. Pour the whisky and let it rest for a minute. Whisky is volatile. When you pour it, a lot is going on, and you need to lest it rest. 

3. Nose the whisky with the mouth open, breathing in as little as I can, and switching between nostrils. This is a fairly standard method of nosing. Some favor one nostril over the other. I just go with what feels the best that day. Score. 

4. Taste the whisky with a gentle sip, write notes, take a bigger sip as needed. This part is complicated because whiskies come at different levels of alcohol content. How much I sip of it is largely determined by the flavors that I'm getting. Score. 

5. Sip at it a few times. Here's the thing about whisky; a rye is different from a scotch from something else. Each is drank a little differently. I'm optimizing how I drink what I'm drinking to get the most flavor from it. So this part is, most definitely, more of an art than a science and difficult to put into words. 

After the initial tasting, I put it away, and have a second or third tasting. I'm looking for consistency. Everything I taste is absolutely blind. When I score the whisky a second time, I've expecting a similar score. If there's a difference, I taste it a third time. 

How consistent is your scoring?

It's about 90% consistent in a single sitting. Scoring whisky is not a science. We do our best. After three tastings, I've got a score I'm comfortable with. 

There are always, though, a few whiskies that I can never quite settle on; sometimes they taste great, sometimes not. To me, these are edge cases that are often terrific but different from the usual whisky profile. I often default these to the higher range of scores because I want to reward something that’s a little different from the regular. 

The palate is subjective. It’s subjective on a personal level, but it’s also subjective day-to-day. Some studies point to a how our cravings are defined by what our bodies need. In that way, I can’t ever have the exact same palate. I can, though, have a consistent procured.