Tasting. How do you do it?

I'm not an expert, in fact I like to think of myself as an "informed novice" but one thing I am beginning to understand is that learning to appreciate whisky takes time, a lot of time. And you have to be willing to drink a lot , (yes, yes, I know) but I mean a lot of different whiskies and of varying qualities. Now I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed so it may be taking me longer than most, but after a year and a half of really focusing on the subtleties of whisky I'm only just beginning to detect those elusive aromas and flavors.

So having qualified myself as a novice, the only "advice" I can offer is to take in as many "tastings" as you can, even if its just yourself in your study, kinda of sad and lonely thought huh? Fear not, after two or three "samplings" you won't really care if you are alone. But comparing different whiskies in a tasting format has really helped me and has begun to awaken my senses! Heck my taste buds don't know what the hell is going on but they aren't complaining very much!

Sorry I can't lend wiser advice but do hang in there and enjoy the journey and don't worry too much about getting to the destination!

I've learnt more about Whisky in the company of others; at tastings, Whisky Club and with selected friends. In our small Group the two best palates are a Mother, Daughter combo. Best in the sense that they can usually put a name to those elusive elements and flavours that baffle most members and it's lovely to see them in tandem 'ferret out' a particular flavour.

Another interesting facet of tasting is the 'empty glass test'. I don't hear much mention of of this except at Whisky Club and it is a lot of fun. You quite simply cover your empty glass (glass lid) when you have finished your Whisky and set it aside - Next morning, nose the glass and see what has hapened: With well made Whiskies you will find a beautiful Perfume not unlike the original nose but in many instances quite different and elevated to sublime. The glass needs no Whisky in it but it does need to be wet.

This trick performed with one of the stellar Whiskies and H/P 18yo. springs to mind will amaze even old time Whisky diehards. It seems the better the Whisky, the more profound the morning after whiff. A'bunadh responds with an exquisite perfume of boiled Xmas pud. and every new batch is slightly different some spicy, others smoky, some potpourri; but all an elevated reminder of how the individual Whiskies showed on the nose. In fact, some elements that were hard to tack down seem more accessible the second time round.

My long suffering wife (also a Whisky drinker but not a fanatic) threatened to have me commited the first time she saw me nosing a couple of empty glasses - She does it now and thinks that Glenmorangie has a perfume that would be well suited to daytme wearing. It is very nice!

The key answer to this question is that we all do it differently, and thats one of the great things about this passion of ours! I tend to learn an awful lot when i am tasting with other people around as you bounce thoughts and ideas off them, however when i am writing reviews for this site i tend to be alone at home.

There was a time when i only had one bottle of whisky open at a time, and would review it after drinking half of the bottle. However now i tend to have 3 or 4 open at a time, and will make a concerted effort to write reviews of all of them at the same time. It gives me a chance to compare the flavours and distinguish between the drams. Take for example my most recent reviews, i had my Spirit of Unity, Shackleton replica and 30yr Tomatin open at the same time, sat down one evening with a glass of water to cleanse the pallette so to speak between drams, and took down tasting notes on all three.

I don't claim to be an expert on whisky, much like others on here i would say i am an informed novice, still learning so much as the whisky journey continues. But we each have our own ways to taste the whisky, our own flavours and smells we pick out from the drams, and our own way of describing them. It's probably one of the best things about whisky!