Regarding Glassware

I often get asked questions like „How do you drink your Whisky? With ice, with coke, with water, ...?“ or „What’s the best way to drink Whisky?“ Well, here’s my take on this topic.

"THE" Glencairn glass

First I wanted to start with a statement like „There’s no right or wrong way to drink Whisky“ but this blog is about my favourite beverage and I’m going to tell you MY opinion on this topic. If you don’t agree with it, that’s fine. I don’t mind having a different opinion than you.

First off, I have to tell you a very important difference. You can either drink Whisky or taste Whisky. That are two totally different things. Well in fact they’re not, but I’d like to differentiate between these two words. The word drink means to me, enjoying a dram or two with friends, family or even alone (maybe with a book). Of course there is sniffing and sipping but the main purpose is to enjoy the time with others or a good book. Usually I only drink Whiskys I already tasted before. Oh, by the way, the Whisky can be in that case neat, mixed with other beverages or in a cocktail (I never mix Whisky with coke, that's not what a Single Malt is made for).

Tasting means I’d like to get to know the Whisky. This will require a special (nosing) glass and the Whisky will always be neat. The only thing I’ll probably add is water. And it’s irrelevant if I already tasted (or even drank) the Whisky before, I try to taste it as unbiased as possible. While sitting with friends or reading can take of course some time (or even hours), the tasting of a single Whisky can take up to half an hour or longer for me. After pouring a dram (usually around 2cl) in my nosing glass, I tend to cover it with a so called „watch glass“ to keep the flavour concentrated in the glass. After inspecting the colour and the behaviour of the Whisky while slightly swirling it, I start to nose my dram. I’d like to quote Jason S. Turner here: „Tasting a Whisky is like getting to know a nice lady (or of course a gentleman). Take your time, be nice. Hello there, how are you?“

Nosingglass by the SMWS

How to nose properly? First, you should be aware if this is a cask strength Whisky or not. If so, be prepared that the first sniff could be potential intense. Keep in mind that this Whisky might be as intense on your palate when you start sipping it! Second, put your nose in the glass but don’t inhale as you would do after holding your breath for 30 seconds. Just start sniffing lightly for two or three times. Then move back and let your nose rest. While doing that, try to write down (or articulate in any way you want) what you just smelled. Toffee? Vanilla? Oak? Spirit? Chocolate? Coffee? Then feel free to start sniffing a bit more. Maybe just with one side of the nose. Then the other side. And remember, just small sniffs! Alcohol (and Whisky has to have at least 40% of it!) numbs your taste buds (in the nose as well as in the mouth). If you take a deep sniff you can stop tasting for the next 10 to 30 minutes as you will not be able to smell/taste anything. Repeat the sniffing as often as you wish. Remember to came back after taking the first (second/third/...) sip of the Whisky. Often you will be able to smell new flavours after you drank a portion of your Whisky.

Another nosingglass

Now let’s see how the Whisky tastes. I’d like to take a nice sip of my Whisky, let it circle in my mouth for a few moments and then swallow it (you can spit it out if you like but I don’t). During the whole process I let my mouth closed and after swallowing the Whisky I exhale though my nose to see if there are some new flavours present. After articulating the flavours I just discovered I start sniffing again. And of course I look at the finish of the Whisky. It can be anything between „I swallowed it and it was gone“ to „It’s been already 10 minutes since the first sip and I still can feel it in my mouth/throat“. Also I like to describe the body of the Whisky with terms like „light“, „smooth“, „intense“, „oily“, and so on. Remember, there is no right or wrong. If you taste the flavour „Vanilla“ and someone else not, it’s okay. And most important, take your time. It’s not about how many Whiskys you can taste in „x“ minutes (I recommend to not taste more than four to six Whiskys at a time – alcohol numbs as previously said your taste buds). Nota bene: Men and women tend to taste different flavours better at different times. The best time to taste a Whisky is –allegedly- around nine o’clock in the morning...

Another shape

Let's get to the glassware. I put four pictures of very common nosing glasses in this article. The most known is defiantly the „Glencairn Glass“. As you can see, all these glasses meet the specifications for a good nosing glass I’m going to talk about. When tasting a Whisky it is important that you use a glass that helps you in a way that it concentrates the flavours. Therefore the glass should have the biggest diameter at the point the surface of the Whisky will be when poured around 2cl into the glass. The surface is maximized and the flavours can emerge easily from the Whisky. To stop them from just leaving the glass in a hurry the diameter of the glass should decrease from there to the top. Tumblers or even long drink glasses are equally bad as glasses which just increase the diameter going from bottom to top (and typically found packed to a lot of „Whisky Promotion packages“). The flavours will emerge from the Whisky and you will not be able to smell anything. The cause for this special form of a nosing glass is –as said before- to concentrate the flavours. Some of them are very faint and without this little trick you would never be able to find them. If the glass has a steady diameter or even broadens the so called „chimney effect“ comes into play. The flavours leave the glass quite fast, just like the smoke from your fireplace is sucked into the chimney. I use the watch glass to even further concentrate the flavours. But for the beginning a normal nosing glass without a watch glass is perfectly fine.

There you have it. That's the way I taste Whisky and what glassware I use. I don't have a favourite glass, but usually when tasting alone I tend to take the glass from the SMWS. With friends or family I use the Glencairn glass just because I collected throughout the tastings I attended lots of them. The other both types I got on the TWE Whisky Show in London and at the Whisky Weekend in Salzburg. Always remember, take that kind of glass you like your Whisky best – that can even be a tumbler. But for tasting I highly recommend using the special nosing glasses. If you want to, you can try tasting one of your favourite Whiskys in different shaped glasses and see how the smell/taste varies from one shape to another. There might even be differences between the four glasses I showed you here, but I guess they are marginal. Maybe I'll try that myself and write about it afterwards. That's it for this topic, if you have any further questions, leave a comment below or on Facebook or Twitter!

Slàinte,
Lukas