Tasting Scottish Whisky
Awaken Your Senses And Exercise Your Brain tasting whisky
Tasting whisky is an experiential exercise that utilizes four of our senses - two of them, smell and taste, being our least used senses. Sight, touch, smell and taste are all involved in the whisky tasting experience. Examining different smells and flavors and attempting to label those experiences is a mental exercise that can strengthen the brain through stimulating neural pathways. Striving to capture and label the myriad of smells and flavors found in Scottish whisky is a skill which can be developed.
How does taste work?*
Our ability to taste depends on the molecules set free when we chew or drink. These molecules are detected by gustatory cells in taste buds on the tongue and along the roof and back of the mouth. Each taste bud has sensory cells that respond to one of at least five basic taste qualities: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. All tastes are detected across the tongue and are not limited to specific regions. When taste receptor cells are stimulated, they send signals through three cranial nerves to taste regions in the brainstem— the facial, glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves. These impulses get routed through the thalamus which relays sensory information to other brain regions. The impulses travel to the gustatory cortex in the frontal lobe and the insula where specific taste perceptions are identified.
How does smell work?
Like taste, the sense of smell depends on detecting molecules. Odors are small molecules that can become airborne. They enter the nose on air currents and bind to specialized cells. These olfactory neurons reside on a small patch of mucus membrane high inside the nasal cavity.
The tips of olfactory cells are equipped with several hair-like structures, called cilia, that are receptive to different odor molecules. For example, a sherried whisky may contain a bouquet of different smells, and each part — cherries, vanilla, leather — is a distinct smell. Each scent stimulates a unique combination of olfactory cells, creating a distinct activity pattern for ‘cherries’ or ‘leather.’ This signature pattern of activity gets transmitted to the olfactory bulb along the long, extended arms of neurons called axons. Axons from olfactory neurons travel to two olfactory bulbs, one for each nostril. Next, the information encoding the smell of cherries reaches the primary olfactory cortex, located on the anterior surface of the temporal lobe.
Olfactory information then passes to nearby brain areas, where odor and taste information are mixed. Together, these senses create the perception of flavor: the smell of cherries combines with tartness (bitter) and sweetness from the whisky to complete your sipping experience. Recent research suggests that people can identify odors as quickly as 110 milliseconds after their first sniff. The size of the olfactory bulbs and the way neurons are organized can change over time. The olfactory bulbs in rodents and primates, including humans, are one of the few brain regions able to generate new neurons throughout life.
*Information presented comes from the article "How Taste and Smell Work" by Sandra Blumenrath Phd, MS. published on January 17, 2020 on the BrainFacts.org website.
How To Taste Whisky
Glassware
Using the right glassware is crucial to maximizing the enjoyment of tasting and more specifically nosing whisky. We recommend using a glen cairn, copita, or similar glass designed for nosing whisky. The tulip shape of a glen cairn helps to focus and concentrate the volatile aromas that whisky releases.
Gently pour about 1-2 oz of your whisky from the bottle into your glen cairn glass. We recommend to begin by drinking the whisky 'neat' - with no additives like ice, soda or lemon Fanta. Cold diminishes flavor, so adding ice or any other additives reduces the experience and makes the angels cry. After an initial taste, one may add a drop or two of clean water to break the surface tension and release different characters on the nose and palate.
Appearance
Examine the 1) color and 2) viscousity of of the whisky.
- Colors in whisky can range greatly in the yellow-red-brown spectrum. Colors may be de nosing whisky tasting whisky scribed as being anywhere from pale yellow to dark brown, The color you see in the glass has all been imparted through the spirit's contact with the oak wood while in the cask. The color may be an indication of age, but not necessarily. Depending on the type of cask used and what it formally contained, this can affect appearance. What color do you see in your glass?
- Gently swirl the whisky in the glass and examine the way the liquid moves around the glass. Does it seem to move like motor oil? Water? Swirl the whisky a bit higher in the glass and then watch to see the 'legs' that fall down the sides of the glass. How do they move down the glass? Slowly like oil or faster like water?
Touch / Feel
We can experience the sense touch through both the nose and mouth as we get the feel of a whisky.
- As you inhale to explore the aroma, notice how the whisky vapors feel to your nose. Does it feel hot, peppery or prickly?, or more cool and mentholated?
- When tasting your whisky, take note of how it feels in your mouth. Does it coat the mouth with an oily or creamy feel? Is it more astringent or drying?
Paying attention to these sensory experiences helps to awaken the brain and prepare it for the deep sensory dive into smell and taste.
Aroma
To 'nose' the whisky in the glass, do not stick your nose in the glass directly. Rather gently swirl the whisky in the glass then gradually bring your nose closer to the glass. When smelling, keep your mouth open as this increases the intensity of the aromas. Switching nostrils can be interesting as we may smell different things with each. Nosing whisky and labeling aromas is a skill which can be developed. with practice. Common scents found in many whiskies can include: caramel, flowers, fruits, bandaids, smoke, earth, ...
Taste
Take a small sip of the whisky and allow it to coat your tongue. Swishing the whisky in your mouth will allow it to evenly coat the tongue and palate. Don't swallow for several seconds and allow the alcohol to dissipate from your tongue. Flavors may reveal themselves all at once or one at a time in series. Initially you may find the flavors to be either pleasant or not to your liking. Try and pinpoint which of the flavors you are drawn to and which (if any) repel you.
After-Taste
Swallow your mouthful and examine the flavors that you are now presented with. Often they will change over time. Notice how they change after one second, three, five, ten,... As the alcohol wares off, the flavor compounds it carried will reveal themselves. In some whiskies, the after-taste will linger for a long time, and some for only a few seconds.
Labeling
What names, labels or memories can you freely associate from the sights, feelings, aromas and flavors you have experienced? What is the first word that appears in your mind when that first taste hits your tongue? Go deeper into the smell or flavor, Can you refine or hone your description? If you smell 'flowers', which kinds of flowers are you smelling? Heather? roses?... If you taste 'fruit', which kind of fruit is it - stone fruits like plums or peaches, or fleshy fruits like apples or pears? It is not uncommon for a smell or taste to evoke a specific memory, or situation. Tasting tobacco or chocolate can pull out memories of a time spent with grandparents. Nosing a whisky that places you in a particular location like a musty basement, or by the seaside, or next to a flower seller in a market. Taste and smell are wholly subjective, so whatever you experience is correct (regardless of what may be printed on the side of the label). Developing this honed awareness of flavors and aromas and being able to identify them opens up a wonderful world of experiencing flavors and scents from all sorts of foods, objects and environments.