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How do you drink your whiskey?

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
Probably the master blender adds water because his job is to taste whisky the whole day :) I guess he first watches the liquor, next he smells it, then he tastes it, and finally... he spits it out.

On the other side of the supply chain are customers. A whisky enthusiast is supposed to be drinking just to enjoy that particular liquor, not to profesionally taste it.

From my view, if you feel your whisky 'needs water', then you should move to any other brand. You said taste was overwhelming. Ok, then you probably wanted a softer whisky. You can find a lot of them.

Interestingly enough I asked him whether the water was something that only a professional palate would require and he said no, that if you want to experience all the aromas and flavour notes in a whisky then he said you should drink it with water. He explained the science (I've paraphrased it on the previous page) and said that even an amateur palate should be able to ascertain more notes to the whisky once water is added.

The point with adding water is not to make a "softer" whisky as you mention, it is to experience all the flavour notes and aromas that are n that whisky. It certainly does not mean drowning it, he suggested a water ratio half to equal of the volume of whisky, any more he said and you are in danger of diluting to the point of affecting the flavour.
 

subject101

One of the Regulars
Messages
223
Location
Mennoniteborough

Ok, from this post;

'Americans should especially note that scotch served with ice or "on the rocks" is a foreign concept to most Scottish distillery tasting room hosts.

And 'tis true - as we followed their suggestion to add only a few wee drops of water to release, as if by magic, the drink's true flavor and aroma, no chilling is needed to savor the experience.'

I can go along with adding a 'few drops of water' during a professional tasting or during a tasting tour as a technique or a methodology for improving tasting.

However, I'm against adding water as rule of thumb. From my view, if taste is overwhelming, you don't want water, you want another brand. I'm pretty sure that you¡ll finally bump into something that you like.

When I first time tasted whisky, I was in a country where blends were preferred and I didn't like it at all. It happens that I don't like blends, I don't like heavy drinking whisky and I prefer dry drinks, so watering is out.

During the next years I had the chance of trying different brands until I finally discovered smoky and salty flavours in some single malts. That's what I like.
 

SteveAS

Practically Family
Messages
841
Location
San Francisco
Neat, and somewhat warmed by the palm of my hand. Also, when it's in my glass, I like it to be as close as possible to how it was in its barrel.
 

Pompidou

One Too Many
Messages
1,242
Location
Plainfield, CT
I learned from my self-education on beer drinking that chilling dulls the flavor, so I apply that to whiskey as well. I drink it by itself at room temperature. I like Old Granddad.
 

C Gregory Purbaugh

New in Town
Messages
30
Location
Baltimore, MD
When I do drink, which is rarely these days, it tends to be Teacher's scotch. No ice, room temperature. Most alcohol doesn't sit well with my stomach, but Teacher's doesn't seem to bother me.
 

Hamletsghost

New in Town
Messages
39
Location
Merrillville Indiana USA
My First and always love:
Old Bushmills White Label - Straight up in one of my grandfathers hundred + year old HEAVY double shot glasses.
Guinness - Harp - or black & tan back

Bushmills 16 yr single Malt Irish whiskey. Straight up (maybe a couple rocks if I'm in the mood)

and for a real treat (I'm nursing mine along gently)
Bushmills 1608 400th Anniversary :D Sipped slowley from a small snifter.

Think we found a pattern? :cool:
 
Last edited:

Undertow

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,126
Location
Des Moines, IA, US
I prefer whiskey (Scothc, Irish, American, etc) with ice, 2-3 cubes. 2 cubes for American whiskey, 3 for scotch.

If I have my druthers, I take the ice on the side so I can sip the whiskey straight for a bit. Then I ice it down and let some of the ice melt to get the other flavors.
 

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