How To Start Tasting Whisky: Sight.

As written in the first article on how to start tasting whisky the first two steps go hand in and as we use our eyes to evaluate the spirit in the glass that we have. 

1.       Look at the Colour:

-          Holding the glass up to the white background using the base of the glass so that your hand is not blocking your view take in the colour of the spirit with your eyes.  Colour can sometimes provide clues about the whisky like its age, what casks it has been aged in.

2.       Swirl the Whisky:

-          Gently swirl the glass to agitate the whisky.  Higher alcohol or cask strength whiskies will have slower running tears down the sides of the glass.  This also helps force the aromas of the whisky to open and raise to the top of the glass. 

Now knowing this we can look at the colour of whisky and what creates it.  Whisky did not always look the way it does now.  In the early days of whiskies history, it looked the colour of various shades of clear.  Meaning that before distilling became a formal process herbs and spices added to the whisky for flavouring would change the colour of the spirit.  Also, early distilling equipment was very basic and not always the cleanest.  Filtering was also very minimal.  This would result in the shades of clear that I mentioned.  Now we have whiskies that appear Gin Clear all the way to Treacle.  There are a few reasons for this.  Whisky takes on some of it’s colour by the barrels it is aged in.  In the late 18th century, it is said a warehouse owner came across a long-forgotten cask of whisky.  When opened they saw that the whisky within had darkened from the time it spent in the oak barrel.  These days we have a better understanding how a crystal-clear spirit aged in oak barrels will take on a darker hue.  Whiskies can also get its colour from another source.  Spirit caramel.  Also known as E I50a is used by some distillers to shade some but not all whiskies.  US Bourbon and Rye Whiskies ban the use of Spirit caramel to be added.  It is said that Spirit caramel adds no flavour to the whisky.  Whether it should be used or not is a whole can of worms that has many arguments on both sides of the fence. 

When swirling the whisky in your glass you will see it flow smoothly and easily but it will have either a watery or oily kind of presence to the swirl and a lot of the time is very difficult to see.  The “tears” on the side of the glass are the trails of liquid that cling to the sides of the glass when you stop swirling it.  With wine you can tell a lot of these “legs” like the alcohol content and viscosity.  With whisky and other spirits, it is not as clear as most spirits are high alcohol.  But “tears” that run more slowly in your whisky glass often tell of a whisky that is higher in alcohol content.  Be advised this tells you nothing to the quality of the whisky.      

Sources:

Ludlow. E, Whisky A Tasting Course.  Penguin Random House. 

https://whiskymag.com/story/sensorary-evaluation