Whiskey - A Beginners Guide

ronnie3585

I've always wanted to get into drinking whiskey however I never really had a taste for it. The last couple of nights I've been out I've had a few glasses of Bushmills with ice and a splash of water and I've really enjoyed it. It was the first time that I really enjoyed the flavours and aromas.

I'd like to try some more whiskies but there's so many I'm not sure where to begin. I'm looking for some information about the different brands, their flavours, what difference age and malt makes, recommendations et cetera.

Cheers.

Brockagh

Jim Murray brings out the Whisky Bible every year. it has comprehensive tasting notes on thousands of whiskeys from all over the world. It could be useful. It's available on www.whiskybible.com

If you like Bushmills, you could try other whiskeys from their range - like the 10 year old, 16 year old, 21 year old or the 1608 anniversary.

johnnyskeleton

You could go into the celtic whiskey shop on dawson street.

You should perhaps start off with the standard whiskies - blackbush, jameson, powers etc, then move on to the better whiskies - e.g. bushmills 10 y.o., jameson 12 y.o., redbreast, greenspot etc.

If you have money to burn, you could try midleton or some of the €100+ whiskies (e.g. jameson 18 y.o., bushmills millennium, redbreast 15 y.o).

All things considered, my favourites are the redbreast & greenspot as the good whiskies, blackbush as a cheap option, and maybe a bottle of midleton for those brother having a baby, best friend getting married occasions.

On how to drink whiskey, no matter what anyone here tells you, neat is not the only way to enjoy whiskey. Some whiskies, such as the greenspot & midleton are best neat, while others such as the redbreast are better with a bit of ice or chilled water. After that, it's a matter of purely personal preference, and you should try each whiskey in different ways and write down what you think of each. Try this again a few times but reverse the drinking order each time (remember that the first whiskey will often taste harsher, and if you drink a few in a sitting the alcohol will start to take control of your tastebuds.

As regards the technical terms, you can look these up from google. Most Scotch & bushmills are single malt, which I suppose makes for a smoother, but blander whiskey. Most Irish are blended whiskies which can have more variety but can also be harsher. Pure pot still whiskies can be the best or the worst, as they are usually stronger tasting. Cask strength whiskies are usually above the normal 40% alcohol content, so a bit of diultion is necessary to taste it properly.

The longer aged means more time for the flavour of the barrel to soak into the whiskey. In a blended whiskey, age usually means the age of the youngest whiskey, so a jameson 12 y.o. will contain whiskies which are at least 12 years in the barrel, with some up to 20 years.

The type of wood used in the barrels can be important, but IMO it is often overplayed. The only thing I find is that whiskies that have been matured in burbon casks tend to hit the back of my throat, but that's just me! All whiskies start in oak casks, and are often then put into sherry or burbon casks to make them sweeter and smoother. Some whiskies, like the redbreast, spend all their time in oak casks.

As for flavours, when someone says that whiskey has a chocolate nose or a vanilla pallette, don't expect it to actually smell like chocolate or taste like vanilla. However, the whiskey will often smell/taste in a way that reminds you of those things.

Most imporant of all, drink it the way you want to, and chose your own favourites.

Hammiepeters

Jamesons sometimes do educational tastings at Dublin food and wine fairs. Good grounding in the basics and a chance to try a few.
A minature set of Irish is available also out there as is a Scotch one with Dalwinhe, Oban, Tallisker, Llangvullan and Laphraoig. The scots ones are interesting. Some are peaty, some are not.
Irish whiskeys are really great. It's hard to go past the stock standard Jemmie at it's reasonable price.

n.catenthusiast

you should check the internet.

I've found a lot of that kinda stuff can be found on the internet,

Brockagh

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Most Scotch & bushmills are single malt, which I suppose makes for a smoother, but blander whiskey. Most Irish are blended whiskies which can have more variety but can also be harsher. Pure pot still whiskies can be the best or the worst, as they are usually stronger tasting. Cask strength whiskies are usually above the normal 40% alcohol content, so a bit of diultion is necessary to taste it

The type of wood used in the barrels can be important, but IMO it is often overplayed. The only thing I find is that whiskies that have been matured in burbon casks tend to hit the back of my throat, but that's just me! All whiskies start in oak casks, and are often then put into sherry or burbon casks to make them sweeter and smoother. Some whiskies, like the redbreast, spend all their time in oak casks.

Just a few things. Most Scotches are blended, not single malt. And most people would not consider single malt to be blander than blended whiskey. In fact, the majority of the blend is usually column distilled whiskey, often called silent spirit because of its lack of flavour. It's mostly just alcohol. Some, but very few, blends have more malt than grain whiskey.

And all whiskey is matured fully in oak barrels. Bourbon barrels are oak, sherry barrels are oak and port barrels are oak. It has to be fully matured in oak to be called a whisk(e)y.

A proportion of Redbreast is matured in sherry casks and the rest is matured in bourbon casks.

On this side of the Atlantic, just about everything is matured in barrels that have already held another spirit. The exceptions are Jameson Gold (a small proportion being matured in virgin oak) and the orgainic whisky from Benroamach (sp?).