Whisky Knowledge

How to Rate Whisky 2/3: Nosing and Tasting

November 2, 2009

As explained in the first article, it does not make sense just to give a score to a whisky without further explanation. This is why you always should write down tasting notes when you want to rate a whisky.

How to Rate Whisky 1/3: The Philosophy

November 1, 2009

To make it short: Rating a whisky means giving it a score that indicates how well you like it. You can use 1 to 5 stars or a certain range of points or whatever. In the whisky world, a 100 point system is predominant which was adopted from wine rating by Michael Jackson.

Cask Management and Whisky Quality

October 13, 2009
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In my last post about bastard malts I touched the question how difficult it is to recognize the distillery of an undisclosed malt. Taking this thought a step further leads to an interesting conclusion about cask management.

Bastard Malts 2/2 – Do You Really Want to Know?

October 8, 2009

How do we react, when whe drink a malt that we don’t know what distillery it is from?

With the cheap supermarket malts this is not much of a a problem. You get a whisky that is just about drinkable, and it’s not really important to know if it’s from Glen X or Glen Y.

Bastard Malts 1/2 – When You Don’t Know What’s in the Bottle

October 4, 2009

In the last decades, single malt Scotch whisky has gained an ever growing popularity among whisky lovers, mainly because it shows the character of a single distillery, sometimes even from a single cask. This is opposed to blends or blended malts where the master blender tries to create an specific taste by combining whiskies from different distilleries.

6 Tips for a Successful Whisky Tasting

August 20, 2009
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When you plan to invite some friends to a whisky tasting there are quite a few things that should be considered. And there are some pitfalls you should avoid.

Anorak question: Influence of the still size ?

August 17, 2009

Now here is a question that has been buzzing in my head for a while, and I have not found a statisfying answer to it yet.

We know that the shape of a pot still has a lot of influence on the distilled spirit.

Whisky and Vodka – Two Distant Relatives

August 10, 2009

Many people do not realize that whisky and vodka are actually two different sides of the same coin. In a way they are completely different, but both are made from grain – if you don’t take into account some weird vodka varieties made from potatoes or even molasses.

5 Essential Whisky Websites

July 30, 2009

This is small and subjective selection of websites that I think are improtant for whisky lovers. Of course there are a lot more of interesting sites out there, but this is what I regard as essential, if you have more than a causal interest in whisky.

Whisky Basics 4/4 – Maturation

July 25, 2009
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1. How whisky is stored

After distillation, whisky is filled into wooden barrels and left there to mature for several years. Some countries have specific legislation about whisky storage, especially the traditional whisky producers like Scotland or the USA.

Whisky Basics 3/4 – Production

July 24, 2009

1. How Whisky is Made

I will describe the process of making malt whisky. Other types vary in details, but the general process is the same

Whisky Basics 2/4 – Regions

July 23, 2009
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Scotland has by a large margin the highest amount of active distilleries in the world, so it is globally the most important whisky region. In terms of whisky, it is historically divided into several distinct regions.

Whisky Basics 1/4 – Types

July 22, 2009
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This is the first part of a series of four articles about the basic properties of whisky. Although it also contains some very basic information, it is not a necessarily a beginner’s guide. I want to investigate the influence of four principal factors on the character of whisky.

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