Please help confused whisky drinker

[jhubbert]

Hi,

I really love whisky but struggle to identify the different tastes. When i look at tasting notes i see that people have identified all these different smells and tastes. however when i try the same ones Macallan or Talisker for example i don't get anything. Can someone please help me. At the moment all i seem to be able to find is whether it tastes Peaty, Smoky etc. I just want to be able to pick out different smells and flavors but cannot. What am i doing wrong?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Regards

[AmandaWhaymand]

Hi there,

I can't give you any advice I'm afraid, but I wondered if you'd checked out our Nosing and Tasting Course which is available here:

http://www.whiskymag.com/nosing_course/

I'm sure some of our regulars will be along shortly to share their experiences.

Thanks,
Amanda

[jhubbert]

Thanks for that Amanda. I will give that a read.

[richard]

all i can say is buy some books with tasteing notes and try and match them it will help you start to understand the different smells and tastes

i remember a dallas dhu and there was a taste that i didnt like i went through loads of books and evetually found it dark chocolate as soon as i read it he presto

good luck and try some whiskies cut with a little water so it doesnt overpower your tastebuds

enjoy

richard

[bredman]

It takes time. Try paying attention to the smells around you, anything from chopped fruits, or essential oils (my partner is an aromatherapist lol), or whatever. Try and break the odours down into constituent parts. The sense of smell is deeply connected with memory, also if you've never smelled a lychee you'll never find it in a whisky, therefore you need to load up your memory bank with different smells.

Also your experience is yours, so trying to find other people's descriptors will be counter productive as the power of suggestion will just throw you off, so make your own notes and compare afterwards and don't fret if you don't agree. Besides i've come across some ridiculous notes over the years, so just keep it simple and you can't go wrong. Even the experts rarely agree.

[Ganga]

What bredman is talking about, I call my lexicon of aromas. Like vocabulary, you need to build it up. Take the time to smell the world around you. One thing you can do is go to the cupboard and pull out the spices and herbs. Start smelling them. You could also smell some different flowers to compare/contrast the similarities/differences.

[jhubbert]

Thank you so much for the reply's will give them ago. Will get there in the end. Have a happy whisky drinking weekend.