Beginners Guide To Whiskey/Whisky

WELCOME!

Why 'The Whiskey Trap', because like most traps, once you get hooked you are in for the long haul and there is usually no way out ;)

Great whiskies will do that to you.

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There is new content on the Whisk(e)y Tours. 

First off, who are we and why should you follow along?

We are a small group of amateur whisky lovers, most likely, just like yourself.

We'll hope to bring you our tastings, insights and opinions of various whiskey/whisky, from various parts of the whisky world. Ireland and Scotland and a few other places will be included in our tastings.

We'll be the first to admit, we are no experts. To us, whisky tasting is very personal and subjective. When others say they smell apples or fresh cut hay, I usually say, I smell whisky, lol. I know I know, its an acquired thing and I just haven't fully acquired it yet. What I have been learning over the past while, has been to slowly 'nose' the whisky and whatever first smell hits your olfactory sense for the smell, is what you will associate the smell with.  Be very careful when nosing high proof whiskies. You can 'burn' the receptors in your nose from the fumes if you aren't careful... no seriously, you can.  Examples of various smells  would be candy, apple, bubble gum. When it comes to tasting, to me, the smallest amount on the front top (tip) of my tongue, gives me (and that's just my personal way) that initial taste profile. Again, examples of the taste could be sweet, briny, floral. It takes time to really start to appreciate the nose smell and the taste of good whisky. Take your time, find your area of flavours/regions you like. But do not be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone into other areas of whisky tasting.

So is it whiskey or whisky?

That all depends where you live. If you live in Ireland or the US, it would be whiskey. If you live in other parts of the world, namely Scotland, Canada or Japan, it'll be whisky. No matter which spelling you use, they both refer to distilled grain spirits. I'll use them interchangeably on these web pages.

'Ice Ice Baby...So Cold So Cold'

Ice?

No ice?

Water?

No water?

All good questions. Ultimately you really need to drink your whisky your way. There is no right or wrong way to drink a good whisky (there are plenty of ways to drink bad ones though). We would normally suggest trying your whisky neat! What is neat? Neat is no ice, pure and simple. Having your whisky neat is a great way of introducing yourself to the whisky in all its complexities. You would be surprised how much chilling down a whisky changes the flavour profile of the drink. Keep in mind that as the ice melts it will dilute your drink and change the flavour as more water from the melted ice is dilutes the whisky. Whisky stones, while being a bit gimmicky, could solve the diluting problem but would still chill your whisky. While ice or stones can mute some flavours, through diluting and/or chilling, it can enhance others. The same holds true with adding a few drops of water to your drink. Remember, you can always add water, but you can never remove it if you add too much. Adding water tends to be more of a preference with higher proof whiskies, but there is nothing wrong with adding a drop or three to your whisky to see how it effects the taste. Remember to you really need to drink your whisky your way!! Its nice to experiment to find out what works for you! Rarely do two people ever agree 100% on what tastes or smells they find in a whisky. The power of suggestion is a very powerful thing, when someone says they smell or taste certain things.

Here's an interesting site to help you adjust your addition of water to your whisky The Whisky Advocate 

Your experience will vary....trust me.