Most of us probably got introduced to Single Malt Whisky by someone already enthusiastic about Single Malt Whisky. You tasted a few malts, maybe some very pronounced ones like Laphroaig and Macallan, and you noticed the differences between them. It becomes clear to you how the geographical location, as well as other factors such as shape and size of the stills and the cask type used to mature the whiskies all influence the final product.

Once your interest in Single Malt Whisky is established, you are more then likely interested in knowing how to enjoy your dram in the maximum possible way. In this article we try to provide you with a guide where you can start to discover the wide range of malts available to you. Don't be afraid to wander of the path as outlined here, almost all of us have their own way of appreciating the skills put into the golden liquid. There is no beaten set path on how to drink your dram. This article will not help you organizing a Nosing & Tasting Session, this will be the subject of another article on this web site. Stay tuned for that!

Picking a proper Glass

First let us see what type of glass we should use. Maybe you already got yourself a nice tumbler, also being referred to as a "on the rocks glass". Although they look nice in a 50's movie with a gangster having it filled up with ice and smuggled Whisky while having beautiful blonds on either side of him, the glass is completely unsuitable for properly enjoying a Single Malt Whisky.
Speaking of ice cubes: your only allowed to put two things in your Single Malt Whisky: and that's water, or more Whisky! Adding ice will completely kill the aroma, as the congeners who give the Malt its flavor will be less released as they are being chilled. If you like ice to your Whisky, it might be better to take a blend, which are cheaper too!

Also the traditional cup being used for drinking Whisky, the quaich, is unsuitable for just the same reason as the tumbler. It is nice to put it in front of your nicely arranged bottles though!

Line up of glasses associated with drinking Whisky.
From left to right: Tumbler, Quaich, Glencairn, Glenmorangie tulip and traditional wine nosing glass.

So what type of glasses fit our purpose? Any glass that is tulip shaped and gets narrow near the top will help keep the aroma's in the glass for the moment we start to nose the Whisky is suitable.

Several attempts have been made to give Whisky it's own glass. Only one seems to get wider acceptance though, which is the Glencairn glass. This glass lies nicely in the hand, and allows the aroma's to build up inside the glass ready for release when you stick your nose in the glass to sniff its contents. It is also still a nice enough glass to be dramming from when watching TV or reading a book.

For nosing & tasting a whisky many prefer a real nosing glass, such as the tulip shaped glass on a stem such as Glenmorangie is selling. They also come with a glass hood that will help even more to preserve the aroma's.

Finally the traditional wine nosing glass which is mostly used by professional blenders. In combination with a watch glass to preserve the aroma it is maybe a tad less elegant then the glass as promoted by Glenmorangie, but that is something based on personal preferences rather then its usefulness or not for our purposes. If you shop around you can find this glass with a 1 to 4 scale on the side which is a aid in diluting the Whisky to a certain ABV (Alcohol By Volume, the alcohol percentage).

Adding Water to our Water of Life

Adding water, unlike ice, is not a shame. In fact, adding water will help release the aroma, and reduce the strong alcohol sensation in the nose that will mask the otherwise more harder to note aroma's.
But what water do we use? The popular belief is water from the same source as the Single Malt is made from is the best. This would sure be the most desirable water to have around, but is in practice hard to come by. Instead use mineral water which is available and does not have a strong taste from itself.

Some use distilled water because it has no minerals to influence the Whisky. Alternatives are low mineral containing waters like the ever popular Highland Spring (available from practically all retailers with a good Whisky collection) or more easily to get alternatives, like in Europe Evian or Volvic. Looking on the labels will tell you the milligrams per liter of the minerals in the water, and comparing the available mineral waters will help you determine which water is best suited for you.

Appearance

But now it's time to start nosing & tasting a Whisky! Pour yourself a good dram of your malt of choice. Hold the glass up to eye level and start observing the malt. What does the color look like? Is it pale? Maybe even towards greenish? Or is it very deep in color, towards deep gold or reddish even?

Color can tell you what type of cask is being used. Pale or light gold Whiskies can point to refill casks. More pronounced gold are signs of a bourbon cask. If there are more reddish and brown taints, the cask type is probably an ex-sherry one.

Next swirl the glass, and then keep the glass in a horizontal position. See how drops are forming in the top of the glass, these are being called pearls. How long do they take to form? They stay up long? When they start to drip down, and form "legs"?. Do the legs stay there for long, or do they disappear shortly after they are formed?
This tells you something about the alcohol strength of the malt. In older times where equipment to measure the ABV was harder to get, they would shake the bottle and see how long it took for the bubbles in the bottle to disappear. The longer the bubbles stay, the higher the ABV.

Nosing the Malt

Once more swirl the whisky in your hand both warming the contents of your glass, as releasing the aroma by moving it around. Stick your nose in the glass and take a cautious sniff. Be careful, as to not numb your nose with the high alcohol contents (that even more applies to cask strength Whiskies of course!). What are your first impressions of the smells? Sherry? Peat? Maybe a bouquet of flowers or some type(s) of fruit?

Many like to leave the glass for a bit, and continue nosing after a while so the whisky can breathe a bit and the aroma develop further. In practice this means a often unwanted break, so I'm wondering who is doing this besides those who do it for their profession.

For many, nosing the whisky is the most pleasurable part of enjoying a whisky. I know from personal experience I can sit with a properly aged Ardbeg or Port Ellen for aged with only taking small nips occasionally, but constantly taking a sniff to keep the aroma's in my nose. It is the nose that does most of the tasting after all, since the mouth can only pick out 4 different tastes: sweet, sour, bitter and salt.

The Palate

Now its time to take a sip of the Whisky. Take a good amount, as a small amount would be diluted in your mouth too fast the natural way. Let it go around the mouth covering all the sensory perceptions. Maybe let a little air slip into your mouth from time to time to release more aroma towards the nose.

What are your first impressions? Is the Whisky oily? Does it stick all around the mouth? Does it feel a little dry? Maybe it is full of sweetness and fill the whole mouth with it's body.

After tasting for the first time, add a little water to it. Swirl and see how the water mingles with the Whisky. You will see the whisky and water make tiny swirls, as both the whisky and water break the light differently, called the "refractive index".

The amount of water to add is based a lot on personal preference. Professional nosers bring the ABV down to between 20% and 30%, as at this level the alcohol will not mask the subtle aroma's anymore. How much you are willing to add is up to you, and also heavily depends on the whisky in the glass. Some Whimsies really benefit from added water, but others will down real quick. Caution is advisable, and start with a little amount first and see what the effect is before bringing down the ABV to 20% with one big gulp!

Nose the Whisky after you added water and notice how the aroma has changed. The lower ABV really helps to bring up the more subtle aroma's who were previously masked by the alcohol.

After you added the water, did the Whisky got cloudy? If so, the whisky has not been chill filtered. Chill filtration is being done to remove fatty acids from the whisky. These fats who are normally dissolved in the whisky will clutter together when being chilled, which is a perfectly normal behavior. Once a whole shipment of Teacher's blend has been sent back from New York to Scotland after the casks has been laying on the deck in the harbor during winter, and naturally, got cloudy. The company in New York thought the whisky was not in order anymore!
To prevent this from happening, whisky is being chilled, and then filtered. This will remove the fatty acids from the whisky. Many whisky lovers believe that with the filtration also taste and smell is removed, and prefer non-chill filtered Whiskies. Many companies comply, and proudly put "non chill filtered" on their labels. Small note is that this cloudiness doesn't happen with ABV's of 46% and above. Hence the OB Ardbeg 10 year non chill filtered at 46%.

The Finish

The experience of enjoying a Whisky does not stop at nosing and swallowing the Whisky however. The last sensation you will experience is the finish. We look at the length of the finish, which we note down as "short", "medium" or "long", and of course what taste we will be having during the finish. A taste which is similar to the nose and palate is most desirable, and we speak of a harmonious malt if this is the case.

The finish will change and develop over time. Especially the older Whiskies will have a long finish who keeps changing over time. It happened to me more then once that when I finished a N&T session with a very nice old malt, I woke up in the morning and experienced a still lasting (and enjoyable!) finish!

Keeping Tasting Notes

Many keep notes of Whiskies they taste. Part of the pleasure of tasting Whiskies is the ongoing discovery, and often you taste a Whisky you might not ever taste again. To keep a reference of its taste you can store notes you made. One aid you could use in keeping such record is the Nosing & Tasting Program which you can find on this web site. It is free, so you can keep your money to spend on your next Malt!

Using the program you can store your notes digitally, which gives some benefits in return. You can view your tasting notes based on the score you gave it, or for example the name. There is also a filter function build in that quickly allows you to display only the notes from a certain distillery, or search up a single tasting note, or for example those tasted in a particular year.

This concludes our article on nosing and tasting a Single Malt Whisky, hope you enjoyed it, and that it is useful for you on your journey through the wonderful world of Single Malts.

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On 04 August 2003, Eric added the next comment:

You have not mentioned anything about giving your tongue some rest between the tasting of malts. Personally I always use some unsalted crackers and mineral water for that. But others use other alternatives, like almonds. Just my 2 cents :)

On 04 August 2003, Edmund added the next comment:

This rocks0rs my byb0xrs! Nice going mate! Looking forward to trying ut some of the nice whiskies :) Cheers!

On 04 August 2003, Jeroen added the next comment:

To Eric: I havent indeed :) But in a upcoming article about organising a nosing and tasting session I will point out to this. This article was entirely meant to how to nose and taste an malt. Edmund: Thanks for your nice comment, now go play the Mouser game again! ;)

On 05 August 2003, Erik added the next comment:

Hoi Jeroen, Quote: The amount of water to add is based a lot on personal preference. Professional nosers bring the ABV down to 20% to 30%, as at this level the alcohol will not mask the subtle aroma's anymore. Deze zin loopt niet helemaal. En ik zou het bij 20% laten. Het is verwarrend als je eerst van 20% naar 30% gaat. Dit is wat ik in de gauwigheid even op pikte tijdens het lezen.. Erik

On 05 August 2003, Jeroen added the next comment:

Hey Erik: Changed the error in the sentence, that one slipped on me while checking the article before putting online.. Thanks!

On 22 October 2004, Habu added the next comment:

I was doing some research for some "nosing glasses" and found a 'smattering' here and there. What I am looking for are measured, marked, standardized nosing glasses for professional tastings. Know of any?

On 06 December 2004, Jeroen added the next comment:

Read the article, especially the few paragraphs below the photo Habu. The traditional wine nosing glass comes in versions what your looking for. Those can be bought from any good specialist whisky or wine shop.

On 31 October 2005, Nirav Shroff added the next comment:

Good article

On 13 September 2007, Kjetil added the next comment:

The best way to give yout tounge a rest is by consuming olives along the whisky trail. Completely neutrealizes your tounge!

On 13 September 2007, Kjetil added the next comment:

The best way to give yout tounge a rest is by consuming olives along the whisky trail. Completely neutrealizes your tounge!