How to Taste Whiskey: Glassware, Nose, Palate, Finish and a Splash of Water

How to TasteWhiskey

To taste whiskey well, pour a small measure into a tulip-shaped glass, nose it gently with your mouth slightly open, take a small first sip to adjust, then a second sip to actually taste, and pay attention to what lingers after you swallow. Then add a few drops of water and repeat, because dilution often changes what you can smell and taste.

The glass matters more for nosing than for drinking. A tulip shape, wide at the bowl and narrower at the rim, gathers aroma and directs it toward your nose. The Glencairn glass, introduced in 2001 by Glencairn Crystal in Scotland and modeled on the nosing copitas used by blenders, is the best known example. A small white wine glass or a sherry copita does nearly the same job.

A rocks glass (also called an old fashioned glass) is short, wide and heavy. It is excellent for whiskey over ice or for an Old Fashioned, but its wide mouth lets aroma escape quickly, and alcohol vapor tends to hit you all at once. If you only own rocks glasses, pour a smaller amount and tilt the glass so your nose meets the upper rim rather than the center.

Whatever you use, make sure it is free of soap residue.

Hold the glass against a white surface. Color hints at cask influence (new charred oak gives bourbon its amber to copper range; wine and sherry casks can add red or mahogany tones), but color is not proof of age or quality, so treat it as a clue rather than a verdict.

This is where most of the information is. Bring the glass toward your face slowly and keep your mouth slightly open, which lets some alcohol vapor pass without overwhelming your nose.

Take short, gentle sniffs rather than one deep inhale. Common aroma families in bourbon:

• Sweet: caramel, vanilla, toffee, honey, brown sugar
• Fruit: baked apple, cherry, apricot, dried fruit, orange peel
• Spice: cinnamon, clove, black pepper, nutmeg (often from rye in the mash)
• Wood: toasted oak, char, cedar, leather, tobacco
• Grain: cornbread, cereal, bread dough

There are no wrong answers; name what a smell reminds you of.

Take a small first sip and let it coat your mouth. The first sip of a strong spirit mostly calibrates your palate to the alcohol, so do not judge the whiskey on it. The second sip is the one to pay attention to.

Notice three things:

• Flavor: does the palate match the nose, or does something new appear?
• Texture: thin and bright, or oily and round? This is often called mouthfeel.
• Balance: is sweetness held in check by spice, oak or bitterness, or does one element dominate?

After you swallow, breathe out gently through your nose and wait. The finish is what remains: maybe pepper and oak, maybe dried fruit or cocoa. Note how long it lasts and whether it changes.

Adding a few drops of water often makes a whiskey more aromatic, not less, and there is some research suggesting why. In a 2017 study published in Scientific Reports, researchers B.C.G. Karlsson and R. Friedman used computer simulations to model how guaiacol, a smoky smelling compound found in some whiskies, behaves in mixtures of water and ethanol. They found that at ethanol concentrations up to about 45% by volume, guaiacol tended to sit at the surface of the liquid, where it can more easily reach your nose. At 59% and above, it was drawn into the bulk of the liquid, surrounded by ethanol.

Two caveats: the study was a molecular simulation, not a tasting panel, and it modeled one compound. Still, it fits what tasters have long reported.

How to do it:

• Use room temperature, still water. A dropper or straw gives you control.
• Add a few drops at a time, swirl, wait 30 seconds, and nose again.
• Stop when you like it. There is no correct ratio, and some whiskeys are best neat.

Ice is different: cold mutes aroma, so save it for casual drinking.

1. Pour half an ounce to an ounce into a tulip glass and let it rest a minute.
2. Check the color.
3. Nose gently, mouth open. Write down three words.
4. Sip twice; note flavor, texture and balance.
5. Note the finish.
6. Add a few drops of water and repeat steps 3 to 5.
7. Keep a glass of water nearby and sip it between whiskeys.

If you are comparing more than one whiskey, keep the pours small, taste from lowest to highest proof, and limit a session to a few samples. For more on what you are actually tasting, see what is bourbon and cask-finished whiskey.

If you want a whiskey with plenty to find on the nose, Sherry Cask Finish is a high rye bourbon whiskey finished in sherry casks and bottled by Lonerider Spirits at 90 proof (45% ABV). Look for cinnamon, clove, candied apples and apricots and toffee on the nose, vanilla custard, waffle cone and sherry on the palate, and leather, toasted oak and pepper on the finish. Try it neat, then with a few drops of water.