Changing Taste

[MoreDalmore]

I recently ( the last 2 months or so ) bought quite a few diffent whiskies. Some familiar to me others for the first time.

The thing is 2 of them I had before and which I loved quite a bit ( the HP 12 and Auchentoshan 12 ). But with both I was missing something I enjoyed before and I now prefer others ( newer ones ). The first time I noticed this was with one of my previous favourites the Glenfiddich 15 which lacked a certain punch for me the last time.

The whiskies I tried beside these 3 the last couple of weeks or so were :

Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban ( second bottle ).

This 1 liter bottle is now 1,5 months old with about 3 or 4 drams left. With the first bottle of 70cl ( which I emptied way too quick ) I had difficulties tasting the chocolate I read so much about but yesterday the full chocolate flavour came trough in a big way; just lovely!! Now looking forward to my last 3 to 4 drams even more from this bottle! I am so glad that after I bought this bottle I decided to leave a alone much longer than I previously did.

Balvenie 12 Double Wood

Lovely honey taste and this entered my current top 10 quickly.

Lagavulin 16

As you all know quite different from the 2 above but much to my surprise I found this very easy to drink ( me and a friend of mine finished of the bottle saturday )

Bowmore 18

Several years ago I had a Bowmore 12 which didn't do much for me but this one is really nice!! It's too early to tell if it will enter my top 10 but I will certainly try some other Bowmore whiskies in the future as I like this quite a lot!! It has a real nice smokiness

Talisker 10

I had this one for the first time last saturday ( before empting that bottle of Lagavulin 16 ) and I initially missed the pepper everyone is writing about. That however may had to do with the chips we had before ( sea salt with black pepper ) Sunday however I did notice a very nice pepper ( in the finish mostly ) Oh; and don't worry ; we didn't wash away the chips with whisky; we used beer or coke and rum for that All in all I had a very satisfying weekend

I think I may be needing more of a punch from my whiskies than before; I need to try one of my all time favourites ( The Dalmore 12 Black Isle ) soon to find out for sure.

So I wonder ; did you experience this sort of change in tastes yourself and did it persist?

[Ganga]

Or someone stole the contents and replaced it with JWR.

I've found that my ability to taste and smell things has evolved over the years. Also, I've noticed that bottles evolve over time both from the distillery (Macallan 12 leaps to mind) and as they spend time open. Your tastes will also be affected by what you have eaten recently as well as by previous drams.

[Novice Scotch Fan]

In the past, if I discovered a scotch I enjoyed I tended to buy it repeatedly but after awhile the thrill would be gone due to over familiarity. So, to remedy that problem, I started buying a wide variety, having numerous open and usually returning to certain standard favorites every six months to a year. For example, I went a year without drinking Ballantines 17yr, and now back to it and gaining a deeper appreciation of it. On the other hand, had some Famous Grouse the other day and cant understand what I liked about it a year or two ago.

Currently obsessed with Cragganmore 12, and so have bought four bottles of the stuff, but decided to finish the one open and then open the others once a year, so that the fascination does not diminish.

[Drammed]

I came to scotch from bourbon so I only liked the ones without any smoke in them (ie most speysides). I since have expanded my palate and although Islays are still a reach for me, HP 12 and Talisker 10 are quite nice now. I have a few scotches from each region open at a time because I never know where my mood will take me.

Cheers

[The Third Dram]

My tastes change all the time, but not to the extent that I dislike something I used to like (usually!).

Or for me (once again 'usually', as Nick has qualified), like something I really used to dislike.

Subtle shifts in one's taste appreciation patterns as well as in the flavour profiles of various malts are to be expected.