Self-administered blind tastings

I do not have an indulgent partner. So, here’s my usual method:

•I pull out 3-4 similar bottles (say, all peat) and the same number of glasses (identical).

•I turn down the lights to prevent myself from noticing (say) which pour is darkest.

•I pour each whisky.

•I label each glass with a piece of masking tape under the base, facing down. I find that pencil on masking tape is impossible to accidentally read from behind.

•I mix them up on top of my bar, three-card-monty style.

•I turn up the lights. I drink. I compare. I guess. I reveal.

@OlJas, The blind tasting sessions can at times be most humbling. i have college aged kids. They are prone to patronizing their father because the largest organ in the human body, the wallet, is attached to said father. The kids will pour 3 or 4 from the cabinet and leave the old man guessing. Exhillarating when correct and wanting for more when not.

@OIJas. I've done a few of these with friends. Usually I only compare 2 whiskeys, 1 well know to the friends. The blind tasting I did was, Oban 14y, the one we all know well. We compared it to Clynelish 14y in a blind taste test. There was 4 of us, we performed the blind taste test twice, then tallied the results. We statistically couldn't tell the Oban from the Clynelish. Both are excellent Scotches but we couldn't pick which was which.

I poured Booker's into an unmarked bottle. I shared it with my whisky club. Most people felt it was a bourbon matured malt...

By the way, here's the best-ever article on blind tastings—"Blind Black Bowmore" from the LA Whisk(e)y Society:

lawhiskeysociety.com/pages/…

I'll second @paddockjudge: Blind tastings can indeed be humbling. Or deflating, really. I'm a bit of pessimist on some things, I suppose. I suspect that most whisky drinkers could not blindly distinguish a scotch-style Japanese from similar scotch whiskies, regardless of any "Japanese qualities" they note in their reviews. And I doubt most drinkers would think a Kilchoman tastes like a "promising start that needs a few more years" if they didn't know it was a Kilchoman. And FOR SURE I bet most bourbon drinkers would be unable to blindly recognize the expensive stuff from the good-but-reasonably-priced stuff. (Bourbon is just more similar across bottlings by its nature.) Top tasters, like some of the folks on this board, would surely defy my expectations, but I bet they are the very exceptional minority.

On the other hand, you put blindly put a Laphroaig 10 CS next to Caol Ila 12 OB, and the difference is night and day. I do that kind of blind comparison and I think, "oh yeah, the Laphroaig CS is totally worth the premium!"

@Nozinan Seriously? Booker's! A malt? The corn and the spices should say Bourbon. I am not saying that I cannot be fooled by any Bourbon but Booker's would have been my last pick to fool a malt snob. By the way, I have done a vating of Gibson's finest and rare 18yo with The Fighting Cock and some friends told me they could have guested that dram to be a very good batch of Solera. As for myself, I know better and will not argue that any of us can be fooled by our taste. Still, Blind tasting can be a lot of fun and very educativ.

I have a self-administered blind tasting to thank for showing me that Caol Ila 12 doesn't really trip my trigger. I bought my first bottle of it about a year ago and was feeling OK about it—maybe a little underwhelmed but I had a positive perception of the distillery and, honestly, I loved the classic look of the bottle itself. I was increasingly underwhelmed as a worked down the bottle, though, and I decided to put it to the test: a blind tasting against a few other peated Islay whiskies. The poorest performer was revealed to be the Caol Ila 12. "Somewhat peaty water" I called it in my blind tasting notes. Maybe a mild peater is what they promise, but I won't buy it again.

Does anyone else have an eye-opening experience to relate from a blind tasting?