How to nose and taste whisky

Tasting whisky is so much more than just sipping from a glass.

Give someone a gin and tonic and they’ll sip it; but hand them a glass of whisky and almost invariably they’ll first swirl it around the glass and smell it.

They probably don’t realise that they have just unconsciously been NOSING the whisky. Nosing as a developed skill may be for aficionados but it’s a natural thing for whisky drinkers to do, and all part of the pleasure of the whisky experience.

You’ll find that nosing allows you to appreciate many more of the subtle aromas in a dram – there are 32 primary smells as opposed to only 4 primary tastes. Maximum benefit can be had by holding your mouth slightly open when nosing – you’ll be able to take in even more of the whisky’s aromas.

Your first taste of the whisky will introduce its flavours to your mouth. What’s it like - how smooth, how sweet, how sharp, how peaty is it? Do the flavours last, are they round and warming, or crisp and dry?

Try tasting your whisky first of all on its own, and then again with a splash of water added. This softens and in many ways enhances the flavours. You may well find you prefer it this way.

Taste and smell are very individual - give 5 people the same dram and there’ll be 5 different interpretations of the aromas and tastes. There’s no ‘right’ and no ‘wrong’. Equally, the same 5 people may each derive exactly the same pleasure from their whisky even though one drinks it neat, one with water, one with ice, the others with mixers.

What do we think? We think you should enjoy whisky in whatever is your favourite way.

“Drink it as you like it”!