We all know how to taste things. When presented with a dish of food, you have an immediate (and clear) opinion at that moment. However, when a glass of whisky is placed in front of you, most people find it difficult to find the right words to describe its aroma and taste. Why is that? It’s not that you can’t taste the whisky; rather, it's because no one has taken the time to explain the language of whisky in a way that makes it easy to understand.
The current situation with whisky is similar to where wine was 20 years ago—consumers are eager to try it, but there isn’t a well-established language to describe what they’re looking for. In such cases, words don’t help and instead become a barrier. It makes people think that to "understand" single malt whisky, you need to join a secret society to unlock the code. This absolutely does not encourage new drinkers to start exploring. So, what kind of language should we use that avoids confusion with adjectives and nouns, and doesn’t get bogged down in overly complex technical details? The answer is to keep it simple. If you start by discussing flavors simply—where they come from, what they mean—then there’s no need for a new language.
A distiller is using their nose to check whether the whisky has matured properly.
For each distillery and its products that we introduce, we provide tasting notes for a range of representative whiskies, categorizing them into specific flavor camps. This helps you compare and contrast similar types of whisky, while also showing how distillers use maturation, different types of oak barrels, or both to shift a whisky from one flavor camp to another. Find a whisky you’re already familiar with, then look for one you’ve never tried in the same flavor camp. Compare the two—what are the similarities, and what are the differences? There’s no need to complicate things with fancy descriptions; simply describing them as fruity, light, or smoky is enough. Then, find another whisky and repeat the process!
Using the correct glass is essential when evaluating whisky.