of flavours which may be discernible in aglass of whisky is very long, it can easily bereduced to a manageable set of tastes whichanybody can understand and most peoplecan discover, given a little practice.

There are 15 main classes of flavours (by‘flavour’ I mean mostly aroma, for, as withwine, the nose is more important than themouth in determining what we taste). Theysplit roughly into three groups: the niceflavours which are always pleasing, no mat-ter at what concentration; the nasty flavourswhich are never desirable; and an inbetweengroup which may or may not be pleasing, de-pending on personal preference and promi-nence. This last group is important to ourperception of quality, for although they maynot be discernible in themselves, they con-tribute to a pleasing taste overall.

The most important nice flavours by farare floral and fruity aromas. These are never

found to excess in Scotch whisky, thoughthis is sometimes the case in other, lesserliquors such as bourbons and some fruitbrandies. The variety and range of floral andfruity aromas is astonishing. It stretches allthe way from ethereal aromas such as elder-flower to the deep, rich, dried-raisin notesone finds in some old sherry-cask malts.

The aroma of vanilla is often found in as-sociation with floral and fruity tastes. To-gether with caramel and nutty flavours, itcompletes the list of the flavours which areinvariably delightful. Vanilla is uniqueamong flavours in that we can perceive itonly up to a point, after which we do not ex-perience any increase in the flavour, no mat-ter how much the flavourant may be concen-trated. Nutty tastes abound in good whiskyand are reasonably easy for most people to

S one of the few pastimes that aresimultaneously sensual and in-tellectual, wine tasting has beenregarded as a respectable occu-pation since at least the 18th cen-

tury. The critical inspection of brandy is ofsimilar antiquity. But when, in the later-19thcentury, Scotch whisky displaced brandy asthe British gentleman’s preferred spirit, ittended to be taken with ice and soda andnobody thought of nosing it appreciatively.Only with the rise of malt whiskies 100 yearslater did significant numbers of people thinkthe flavours of a Scotch might be worthy ofthe attention of the connoisseur. With thegrowth of those numbers we have seen therise of organised whisky tasting as a minorleisure activity. Tutored whisky tastings areno longer a novelty, and increasing numbers

COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED140 CHRISTMAS 2005

Aof people now come together in pubs andclubs to inspect and savour malt whiskies.

Even among people who call themselvesexperts, I have noticed that the vocabulary ofwhisky flavours is small. Not only are mostof the terms vague, but important flavourcategories are often ignored altogether. Thescience of flavour is well developed, and soare the methods of analysing tastes and aro-mas, but it seems that little of this knowledgehas percolated through to the public prints.This is especially evident in amateur whiskytastings, and it explains why it is easy to set upas an expert without much fear of exposure. Italso explains why some whisky brands, jump-ing on the flavour bandwagon, can get awaywith describing in fulsome terms the flavoursof some very ordinary whiskies.

There is no excuse for this. While the list

For two centuries it has been the preferred drink of theBritish gentleman; but how many can truly distinguish its15 main flavours? Phillip Hills, a connoisseur, reveals all

TheartoftastingScotchwhisky

Talisker, the onlydistillery on the

Isle of Skye. Thedramatic Cuillins

tower beyond.

COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED142 CHRISTMAS 2005

identify. And no doubt you will say, ‘Yes, weknow what caramel tastes like.’ But do you?It is in fact difficult to discern, since whatmost people think of as caramel is made upof sweetness and vanilla, and the caramelby itself is difficult to pin down.

The group of ambivalent flavours coverssweet, smoky, cereal, aldehydic, woody,resinous and sulphurous tastes. Sweetnessmay or may not be desirable: people’s tastesdiffer greatly, and whether you appreciatesweetness in whisky will often depend onwhat tastes accompany it. Certainly I havetasted whiskies which I thought were toosweet. Smokiness is the range of flavourswhich derives from the peat smoke used todry the malt. It may or may not show up asthe actual smell of smoke, and is just as like-ly to suggest seaweed or fish or antiseptic. Ifthe smell is strong, you either like it or youdo not: the human race seems to divideabout equally on this. It is a taste which canbe acquired, at least at low levels.

Cereal aromas are present in many wines

and spirits, to which they make an impor-tant contribution. That said, it is difficult toput a finger on any one which exactly char-acterises the cereal flavour. It is present inmashed potatoes and malted milk, wheatbran and hops—and many whiskies.

The class of flavours for which we use theterm ‘aldehydic’ is one which is very com-mon in whiskies. The chemical term is usedbecause there really is no equivalent in ordi-nary language—and because the aroma isthat of aldehydes, the compounds createdwhen alcohols are oxidised. Acquiring theability to recognise it is no problem, though.Open a bottle of good-quality fino sherryand sniff. Sherry is heavily-oxidised wine andwhat you smell is mainly acetaldehyde. Onceyou know it, it is easy to find in a whisky.

Woodiness is the word used to describethose flavours which derive from the absorp-tion by the whisky of tannins from the woodof the cask. The longer the whisky is in thecask, the more tannic it will become—and

whisky tannins, unlike those of wine, do notsoften with time in bottle. For many people,woodiness is definitive of the finest whisky.This is mainly because very old whiskies arealmost always highly woody and highly ex-pensive. In fact many of them are not as goodas a decent 10-year-old, but neither buyersnor sellers generally want to know that.

As you will have gathered, woody whis-kies do not in fact smell of wood. The wordused for that is ‘resinous’. The pleasing aroma

of wood resins can, when at a low level, con-tribute to the flavour of whisky. So can sul-phurous flavours, detectable as a whiff ofrotten eggs. Both classes of flavour, though,are horrible at any strength. Sour, soapy andmusty aromas are almost always nasty, thoughthey may be masked by many other flavours.

The technique of whisky tasting is simple:put some of the stuff in a suitable glass, swirlit round and sniff; add a little water and sniffagain. Think as you sniff. Inspect the con-

Flavours Isle of Skye Glengoyne 8yo 21yo

Floral 6 5

Fruity 7 7

Vanilla 5 6

Caramel 5 6

Nutty 3 5

Sweet 4 5

Smoky 1 0

Cereal 1 1

Aldehydic 3 2

Woody 1 3

Resinous 2 2

Sulphurous 1 1

Sour 1 1

Soapy 2 2

Musty 1 1

tents of your consciousness and ask yourselfwhat you find there (being a little schizoid isa prerequisite of accurate tasting). You canprofitably continue to sniff for some time,for the spirit will progressively release itsbouquet, as the more volatile aromas evap-orate and disclose those which take longerto appear. You can tell most of what youneed to know about a whisky without actu-ally drinking it, but then, drinking it is thepoint of the whole exercise—and some aro-

mas reveal themselves only after the whiskyhas gone down, so drinking it is justifiable.

You may find identification of flavourseasier if you taste a whisky such as the Isleof Skye 8yo against Glengoyne 21yo [seetable above], which shows the results pub-lished in The Scotch Whisky Directory. Theflavour profile will tell you roughly what toexpect. Take each flavour category at a timeand sniff with that in mind. Over time, youwill learn to calibrate your responses to

COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED 143CHRISTMAS 2005

those of the expert tasters. Once you havedone that, you need take no nonsense fromwhisky bores or officious sommeliers. ■■¶ The writer will be hosting an exclusiveCountryClubuk Whisky Tasting for our sub-scribers in St James’s, London, on Thursday,November 24. Tickets are £25 each. Signedcopies of ‘The Scotch Whisky Directory’ canbe ordered from the CountryClubuk Library,priced £16. For tickets to the tasting and/orcopies of the book, please call 020 7291 8600.

Spey's unpollutedwaters are a key

ingredient of maltwhisky production.

This is Grantown.Half of Scotland'swhisky producersare located in the

surrounding glens.