6 Steps to Evaluating Malt Whisky

These six steps will help you to evaluate an unnamed malt whisky. Each step will assist you to refine your thinking, to be able to reach a point where your evaluation helps you to make an educated assumption. Is it a Islay or indeed a Highland? Can you taste the sweetness and fruit flavours of a sherry butt matured whisky etc.

Never put you reputation on the line by being confident enough to think you can recognise a malt from a blind tasting. With 84 distilleries producing upwards of 1000 different expressions your chances are 1000:1.

At each of the following stages it is a process of elimination, discarding malt whisky expressions which do not relate to your analysis of what is in the glass, e.g. if you feel there is an element of sherry in the colour this would rule out for example Laphroaig which is 100% bourbon.

1. Colour
The colour of malt whisky does not give an indication of age (a common mistake). What it does help with is providing clues as to the type of wood used in maturation and therefore what influence the wood has had on it. For example a light golden coloured whisky will tend to show a high percentage of maturation in American oak ex bourbon casks. Where there is the presence of reddish highlights this may denote the presence of Oloroso Sherry casks or other such finishes ie port or wine.

2. Body

Coat the inside of the glass by turning it on its side 6 times (a wine glass is good to view the whisky). As whisky is quite oily you really want to coat the inside. Then hold the glass up to the light and see what happens to the top rim of the coating. You should start to see ‘tears’ develop and as the move down the will grow into ‘legs’.
The younger the whisky the faster and closer together the legs will run down. An older whisky the tears will be bigger and run more slowly. Also the older the whisky the further apart the legs are.
Note: in a cask strength whisky 50% will also appear slow due to the high alcohol content. Also a sherry or other type of malt finish will be slow because it is more sticky. Therefore you won’t be able to stop at step 2 and make a decision without going through the complete analysis.

3. Mouthfeel
This is used to test the intensity of the whisky. Take a small sip of the whisky and balance it in the middle of your tongue. Hold it there fore 5 seconds and then swallow. We are not looking at this stage to evaluate the taste but to gauge how fiery the whisky is. If it is aggressive and burns, then we could be looking at a young whisky at 40% or indeed a higher ‘cask strength’ at 50% or above.

The adage being when you are younger you are more aggressive. As you get older the more mellow you become and this holds true for malt whisky mouthfeel!

4. Nose
First nose the whisky neat. As with wine, pass the glass under your nose, about 1 inch underneath. Called ‘passing’ it is this movement from left to right, sufficient enough to allow your nose to start working and for your brain to start matching the aromas.

Each of us holds on average 5,000 aromas in our memory banks, accumulated from the day we were born.
Then nose the whisky again but this time adding water which helps open up the aromas contained in the whisky. Normal rule of thumb is 1 part water to 3 parts whisky. But it is down to personal preference. With higher cask strength malts you can add up to equal measure of water.

You will find that malts tend to open up after 15-20 minutes and will continually change to reveal their complexities. Remember when you add water, mix it well with the malt by rotating the glass. (Whisky is oily so it will naturally separate with water and rise, if not mixed). Never add ice as this anaesthetises the aromas by cooling it down.

Most of the pleasure from malt whisky comes from appreciating the aromas so make sure you give them all the time they need to unfold e.g. vanilla, toffee, lemons, raisins, sherry, apricot etc.

5. Palate
Your nose will tell you one thing, your taste buds will either confirm this or add new layers to your tasting notes. As with the aromas you will experience a high level of frustration as you try to match what you taste with your memory banks ie dark chocolate, pears, overripe fruits, cinnamon etc.

6. Finish
When you swallow you will experience the finish. Is it smooth and mellow. If it catches you at the back of your throat then it is quite young and fiery. If it is old and mellow then the finish will be down in your chest and be very warming.

Once you’ve completed these steps you should be in a position to make an educated guess about the malt you have evaluated.