Good article. I agree about the glass and water. But for smelling it, saying put your nose and sniff, he has it all wrong.
Try this instead and I believe you will be convinced it is the superior method.
Place nose over edge of the sherry glass. Then breath in gently through mouth, which is not above glass at all. Mouth breathing always brings a little into the nose. Rather than suck the vapors into your lungs, they are pulled through suction action into your actual tasting parts in your nose. You will really be able to detect a lot more of the subtle parts of the whiskey there. I would be very surprised if anyone tries his method and mine and doesn't find this one superior.
There's every chance that article has been written by the world's greatest whiskey expert. He still gets it wrong. He says to sniff. Don't sniff. You don't breath through your nose. As I said before, place your nose above the glass and then gently breath in with your mouth. Your mouth will just breath in normal air, but it will create a draft through your nose that pulls in the vapours that are evaporating into your nose without creating eddies in the glass, and without quickly sucking the most delicate and lightest of the vapours past your nose's sensing cells and into your lungs, which misses the most interesting parts.
Don't take my word for it, try it instead. Seriously, try the expert's "sniff with nose" method and compare to the two-orifice with nose close to the glass edge method I have described. You will detect much more of the bouquet with the two-orifice method. Perhaps I have invented it, I don't know, that seems unlikely, but for some reason the so-called experts don't know about this and aren't doing it right. Just try. You'll see, it will be really clear. You can use the direct sniff too if you like to get the heavier vapours.
It's odd that it's not mentioned explicitly in either article, but I have certainly had it stressed before that when smelling wine, or whisk(e)y, or coffee that you should have your mouth open. Also, the "sniff" is not as if you had the sniffles, but a gentle inhalation. So, even if they are not saying so in the articles, I suspect the experts are doing something rather similar to what you describe.
Eh. Also, "how to get made fun of at a bar". I think a better bet: get a half pour of a cheap/decent single malt (ask for a Macallan, everyone will have it), a half pour of a decent bourbon (Makers Mark is fine), and a half pour of rye. Compare. The distinctions are impossible to miss.
The water thing is important though. Even with single malt. If all you taste is fire, you're not really tasting the spirit.
That's when one is comparing different styles of whiskies. If one is tasting 3-4 of the same type (single malts or blends etc.), sometimes the differences are subtle. Also, the aroma of the whisky (or whiskey depending on the heritage) do give out different notes. That's the reason water's added. Not to dilute the spirit but enhance the aroma.
I totally believe that water opens up whiskey, but I think the real reason to do it is that whiskey is just too strong to taste --- especially early in the evenings.
If you're new to whiskey, taste scotch, bourbon, and rye together first; then taste different single malts. You won't need all the ritual.
But the ritual makes it more fun! Just like having the "right" glass for a nice beer can enhance the overall experience of a good drink, having a whiskey in a glass that works well for you can make a good glass of whiskey great.
Personally, I'd recommend (when buying it out at a bar, pub, or restaurant) to ask for it "neat", rather than "straight" - you often get a nicer glass that way.
I appreciate this advice but disagree with him about presentation because the whole point of a whisky glass is that it is not a large rocks glass but falls between that and a shot glass in size. It's meant for tasting. He says you should swirl the whisky around in the stem glass but that's to expose it to the air. A good whisky glass does that without much swirling.
What do Canadians put in that stuff anyway? I've yet to see a bottle that mentioned what goes in it. And it seems like most places only have cheap and/or blended Canadian whiskey.
Canadian whiskey can be made from any grain or blend of grains, but historically rye was popular. Canadian law allows a whiskey to be labelled as rye even if it contains very little or no rye, as long as it has the aroma and character of rye whiskey. U.S. labeling laws require a "straight rye whiskey" to be distilled from a mash of 51% or more rye.
Any recommendations on good rye? I'm a big scotch fan (I'm the reason the liquor store by my house now carries Macallan 25) and lukewarm on bourbon. if that helps.
The best price/value ratio in my mind is "baby Sazerac" a.k.a. 6 year old Sazerac rye, but I've heard it's hard to get in a lot of places. Rittenhouse 100 is also a good rye at a good price point. If you're looking to spend money, Thomas Handy Sazerac barrel proof rye is fantastic. The previously mentioned Templeton is also great if you can get your hands on it.
I always thought rye and most whiskeys were just what people drank when they couldn't afford or hadn't acquired a taste for a good scotch. I'll have to check them out.
He's wrong about one thing (sort of) ice doesn't mask flavors in small quantities. In fact it technically doesn't mask flavor in any quantity. Test buds operate independent of temperature. Something hot tastes no different than it does cold, (ssuming in both cases that the temperature is not extreme enough to injure your tongue, it merely feels different.
When a drink gets very cold though, the volatile compounds that give it scent separate from the liquid more slowly. Scent and taste get all jumbled up together in your brain, of course, so enough ice will be noticeable.
Small amounts of ice won't be enough to perceptibly cause this, they'll merely add the water he suggested slowly and create the pleasant sensation of a cool beverage.
I use 1-2 small cubes for this reason in scotch. I don't drink any that need cut down though. If you'drinking J&B you may need a slab of dry ice.
For example if you have a curry which uses butter - eating it at cold temperatures means solidified butter which tastes different to me. It may not be applicable in the whisky case since there is no change in the state of matter.
For a start, the traditional whisky glass doesn't have a stem.
'preparing the glass' waste of time and whisky, just swirl the glass before you sniff.
Try a Speyside if it's your first whisky - they have the most broadly liked flavours. If you want something with some kick, go for a highland malt or an Islay, my favorite commercial bottle is probably one of the Lagavulins.
But then this guy works for Whyte and Mackay. Whyte and Mackay is pig swill.
Try this instead and I believe you will be convinced it is the superior method.
Place nose over edge of the sherry glass. Then breath in gently through mouth, which is not above glass at all. Mouth breathing always brings a little into the nose. Rather than suck the vapors into your lungs, they are pulled through suction action into your actual tasting parts in your nose. You will really be able to detect a lot more of the subtle parts of the whiskey there. I would be very surprised if anyone tries his method and mine and doesn't find this one superior.