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Home Scotch/Whisk(e)y Tasting


DanCole42

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I do one every year as a fundraiser for my synagogue. 8-12 people, charge around $30/person, serve tastes of 4-6 different single malts. I usually do a theme - a certain region, malts from a single distillery, etc. I usually serve an assortment of Scottish bar snacks (oat wafers, pretzels, etc.) and some shortbread afterwards.

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Listen to me now, and believe me later: supply PLENTY of water.

You will need bottled/filtered water to rinse the stemware out with (and thus, not impart any chlorine or other trace chemicals to your whisky) and you will also need it just to rehydrate yourself and your guests with.

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What Joe said. Gotta keep on top of the hydration game. Plus, dilution seems to be more useful (if not critical) to liberating the nose in Scotch, than with non-fully-malted whiskey styles. Jake correlates it to the "oiliness" factor.

As with wine or beer, you probably want to start at the light and delicate end (Speysides) and work your way down to the heavy bruisers (Islays).

If you'll be tasting the good stuff, some foodstuffs are also a good idea. It's bad enough if you're sampling the 80-proof mass-market products, but once you get into the barrel proofs you'll want to have laid in a base beforehand. Gubeen usually throws together a full cocktail party spread with a pseudo-British theme for her Scotch tastings - meat pies and sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, cured salmon or gravlax, etc. I did a bourbon and rye tasting last year for some friends who had prepared a sizeable barbecue spread.

For hosting, a tasting guide is almost always appreciated, and depending on the sophistication of the audience, a primer (or short informative speech) on the whisk(e)y styles to be tasted is often a good idea. That way you can start the novices on more common products that illustrate the basic differences, before moving the interested parties up to the fancy nuanced (read: expensive) bottles. Especially if they simply don't like peat...Scotch styles can be seriously polarizing, as you know.

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dilution seems to be more useful (if not critical) to liberating the nose in Scotch, than with non-fully-malted whiskey styles. Jake correlates it to the "oiliness" factor.

Just a drop or two to bring out the nose. Water is the catalyst to unlock the olefactory charms of malt whisky.

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