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Tasting Notes



This Master Class is designed so that you can fully appreciate our whisky and understand the tasting methodology.

Colour   -   Generally, a young whisky is clear whilst an aged whisky will have a warm, golden glow.  That's because whisky usually takes its colour from the cask.  If the whisky is matured in a bourbon or wine cask, the whisky will remain pale.  If a whisky matures in sherry cask, it will take on a dark, amber hue.

Don't judge a single malt by its colour - you'll find rich and powerful whiskies that are as fair as straw and light and fragrant whiskies that are as dark as a copper cauldron.

Nose or Bouquet   -   The different aromas gradually released during the tasting process.
Whiskies contain a complex combination of scents, and with a little practice you can learn to identify the individual aromas and begin decoding the various ingredients.

Here are some of the aromas you can look for:

Fruit, flowers
Peat, smoke
Hay, grass
Vanilla, toffee, honey
Malt, bread, wheat
Cedar, pine, resin

Taste or Palate   -   Multiple flavours that are released as your mouth gently warms the whisky.
A single malt will exhibit flavours such as fruity, spicy, dry and sweet?  The flavour of the whisky depends on such things as the distilling practice, the shape and size of the still, and of course the cask.

Finish or Afterglow   -   A description of the lingering impression the whisky leaves in the mouth.
Finish describes how the whisky feels in your mouth.  Tiny sensory receptors on your tongue and palate register the flavour of the whisky.  Sweet flavours register at the tip of the tongue.  Sour and salt flavors to the sides and middle.  Bitter flavours to the back.  The subtleties of a good single malt take time to register, so it is important to coat your tongue thoroughly to get the full effect of the whisky's finish.

Body   -   A description of the fullness or density of the whisky's flavor.
As with the art of wine tasting, the term "body" is often used to more fully describe a whisky's exact flavor.  For example, you might say a single malt is full-bodied.  Or it lacks body.

Some common terms used to describe the attributes of whisky:
  • Bland: Lacking in personality or distinctive characteristics
  • Coarse: Of indifferent quality, or having flavors or aromas that are too intense
  • Clean: Free from distractions that are out-of-character for the whisky's flavors or aroma
  • Dry: An overall sensation of astringency, lacking sweet taste or sweet aromas
  • Flat: Dull, without flavor
  • Fresh: The opposite of flat full of flavor, in ideal condition
  • Green: The presence of aldehyde at acceptable levels
  • Hard/Harsh: Strong metallic or flinty sensation in the mouth, very astringent aromas
  • Heavy: Possessing a high total intensity of delectable aroma and flavor
  • Light: Possessing an adequate intensity of aroma and flavor, but tending to be delicate
  • Mellow: The character of the whisky has reached a good maturation, whereby alcoholic pungency is suppressed, which in turn reduces the "hotness" of the whisky to a pleasant warming
  • Neutral: Usually associated with lack of aromas other than that of ethyl alcohol
  • Rich: Whisky with a full intensity of character. Also associated with the presence of a pleasantly sweet aroma
  • Round: A good balance between the intensity of the aroma and the flavor
  • Robust: An intense aroma, full flavor, and powerful character
  • Sharp: Gives the nose and/or mouth prickling or tingling sensation
  • Soft: The alcohol and other aromatic ingredients lack pungency they are almost suppressed
  • Sweet: Has the sugary taste of malted barley
  • Thin: Feels diluted or watery and lacks aroma and flavor


Other Interesting Whisky Facts

Single Malt
Single Malts are made from Malted Barley only.  Grain whiskys are made from unmalted barley, wheat and other grains.  Blends include both malt whisky, and grain whisky.

Ageing
If you buy a bottle of 10 Year Old Whisky, and cellar it for 5 years, you'll still have a bottle of 10 year old Scotch.   Whiskey is different from wine in the aging process.   Only bad things can happen after its bottled, so keep the whisky in a dark, cool place.

Ageing of Scotch takes place in an oak cask, which is charred inside before being filled.  Over the years, the whisky seeps in and out of the charcoal.  This filters it, mellowing it, and gives it the caramel color (charred wood, like charred sugar, produces caramel, both being of similar chemical composition.)

The Correct Glasses
Glasses make all the difference to your tasting.  Traditional whisky tumblers are all wrong for a tasting.  The shape of the whisky "shot" glass - wide at the top and tapering in toward the bottom - was originally designed to disguise the taste and smell of the raw grain spirit in inferior whisky.
Today, serious appreciation of whisky requires a tulip-shaped nosing glass that retains the "nose" or aroma of the whisky.

Proof?
Whisky was originally "proved" by pouring over gunpowder and trying to ignite the gunpowder.   If the powder ignited and flared the spirit was "proved", i.e. it was up to standard.
Nowadays, it has a more scientific definition.   "It is that spirit which at 10.6°C weighs 12/13 of an equal volume of distilled water also at 10.6°C".   This whisky will contain 57% alcohol per volume.