How do you taste whisky?

[robbi@laurenson.com]

I'll take a fairly small sip into the back of my mouth, enough to coat the tongue completely, then roll it forward over my tongue and repeat a few times to engulf my mouth with the flavour. I'll breath in slowly after swallowing, and let the vapours out through my mouth and nose slowly, taking some air back in to open up the aroma. Then as I'm into the finish, more tasting as the flavour changes and dissipates.

What do you do?

[John Barleycorn]

I tried this method once but Mrs Barleycorn said she care for it too much.
That's when I took to drinking whisky.

Cheers John

[robbi@laurenson.com]

I suppose it's not a bad fallback, then, if a tad pricey .

[Muskrat Portage]

Okay Robbi:

I pour a decent sized shot in a tasting glass, then after covering the mouth of the glass with my hand or a watch glass, I gently swirl the elixer. I then lift off my hand/covering and place my nose into the glass, inhaling the bouquet of the whisky, deeply. I'm careful not to shove my nose in too far when having a CS whisky as it will "burn out" the nose for awhile. The nose prickling will let me know if I'm too close to the mouth of the glass, and I'll draw back a bit in stages until I just get the bouquet.

After a couple of times with this method, to try and pick up most of the nose from the wisky, I take a sip, large enough to roll around on my tongue and coat the mouth with. As I swallow, I inhale through the mouth and nose to catch the impact of the whisky, marking where the impact is strongest. If on the tip of the tongue, it's sweetness, if on the sides, saltiness, if on the back of the tongue, sharp bitterness.

I then note the finish, it's length and where it evolves in my mouth. Before the next sip, I allow all the sensations to dissapate, take a sip or two of water to cleanse the palate and begin again.

Musky