Does Anybody Hand Warm Their Whisky?

[Lawrence]

Does Anybody Hand Warm Their Whisky?

At the prompting of recent well known visitor to these parts I have recently been hand warming my whisky to 'open' it up. It works amazingly well and generally the whisky does not need any additional water to open it up.

The only down side is that the Glencairn glasses are hopeless for this task and I've now pressed my nosing & blenders glasses back into service.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[Admiral]

Lawrence,

Yes, I regularly hand warm my drams before enjoying them.

But I don't have any problems with a Glencairn glass (my preferred drinking vessel). I find I can still cup the glass and envelope it with my hand to adequately warm it.

And yes, I agree, it certainly tends to open whiskies up.

Cheers,
Admiral

[lexkraai]

Same here; it opens the nose up without the disadvantage of diluting the palate. And no problem with the Glencairn glasses for me.

Cheers, Lex

[bernstein]

Yes – I do. And it’ts not the nosing alone, that gets some advantage.
‘Taste’ and ‘Touch’ of a drink are easier to assess, because its higher temperature has also a stimulating effect on the olfactory epithelium via the back nasal passage and I can get a better assessment of its texture. The congeners are much easier to differentiate, when the malt holds a temperature of around 25ºC.
My Eisch-nosing glass does a good job here. My Glencairn as well.

[bamber]

I would like to but I find myself too desperate to drink it Occasionally, late at night a brandy balloon hanging lazily from my hand gets enough warmth in it for me to appreciate the benefits.

[Mr Fjeld]

I don't need to hand warm my whisky simply because I live in Norway. That might sound a bit ridiculous but it's true! What we in Norway call "livingroom temperature" is way above what normal human beings consider "normal" or comfortable. This tends to get even worse when there are women on the premises as they don't mind excessive room temperature. This creates problems for wine lovers as a room temperature of 25 degrees celsius only takes a couple of minutes to warm your wine in the glass to the same temperature. For wine this is far too much though but I actually don't mind enjoying my whisky in this way.

Skål!
Christian

[Aidan]

I agree - women are singularly responsible for the greenhouse effect.

[Mr Fjeld]

I agree - women are singularly responsible for the greenhouse effect.

Yes, they should be restricted!

Skål!
Christian

[Deactivated Member]

In my experience, women tend to fling the windows open at the first opportunity, letting the room temperature plummet. Then they complain a while later that it's awful cold.

[Paul A Jellis]

No, I have never tried this, but, rest assured, I shall try it tonight!

Cheers

Paul

[Wendy]

Hello,
As I sit here feeling the cool draft from the window...I find it an interesting idea about handwarming your dram as a way of drawing out the flavours. I tend to cradle my glass in my hand but, never equated that it could possibly be enriching my taste experience. It is something to ponder.
Regards,
Wendy

[Lord_Pfaffin]

With a nosing glass, the top portion of the glass can be very quickly warmed. Swirling the whisky creating a thin layer, propelling it toward the warmer top of the glass increasing the surface area, warming and exposing it to more oxygen faster thereby releasing more of its aroma.

Ardaíonn ár ngrá muid féin níos airde i gcónaí!

[Mr Fjeld]

I don't now how relevant this is for whisky but warming up isn't nessecarily a good thing. Some strong alchololic beverages enhances its "smell" or taste but only up to a point - and we're not talking boiling point
At some point it became populare with cognac warmers - a construction to let the cogac glass be warmed over a small flame. This is nothing but bullshit which destroyed good cognac and most certainly whisky for those who decide to try.
I do believe "handwarming" is a good thing in a glass suited for it. Like Lord Pfaffin said a snifter is a good choice, and a cognac snifter should be appropriate too. But one shouldn't mix up the small cognac snifter with that "large bowl" armagnac snifter who really isn't suitable. I imagine it would do the same to whisky as it does to cognac - making it too alcoholic when nosing.

Skål!
Christian

[bond]

I have no such luck, what with room temperature at 43 degrees! In fact have to add a bit of COLD water these days to compensate for the heat.

[Tom]

Yes Lawrence, i always hand warm a dram before sampling.
as said before it improves both nose and flavor.

[Paul A Jellis]

Tried it now and now not sure. I think I prefer my dram slightly under room temperature, certainly colder than blood temperature.

I like the mouth feel of a cool whisky. (Note cool, not cold) The warming, for me, is done in the mouth. Let the whisky rest on the tounge and gain warmth that way. Then the true taste comes out. But, hey, each to his/her own.

Cheers

Paul

[cask]

Yes, I do! Almost too long for others beeing around!

[Lawrence]

Well, it's been a long time since this thread was last visited! I still hand warm as required.

[Ganga]

Well, it's been a long time since this thread was last visited! I still hand warm as required.

I've made this a practice for around 8 to 10 years. Really depends on the temperature of the air/room, whisky and glass. This started whilst dramming outdoors in March and the evening temperatures dropped to the low 40s. Result: whisky started closing down.

[Ras Mazunga]

Well, it's been a long time since this thread was last visited! I still hand warm as required.

A good thread deserves to be active.

[Drammed]

Zombie......

anyway it depends on the occasion. In the colder months I warm the whiskey and the warmer months I leave it alone. I also change what I am drinking based on the weather though, with heavier malts in the cold and lighter malts in the sun.

[Willie JJ]

I assumed that pretty much everybody did it except Richard Paterson.

[Ras Mazunga]

I assumed that pretty much everybody did it except Richard Paterson.

Congratulations with your 4000th post Willie!