Niveditha Kalyanaraman
March 30, 2024
At home, whisky tasting is just the perfect thing for you and your friends to discover new tastes and learn more about the water of life, i.e. whisky. Here are the top 7 tips on how to host a successful whisky-tasting session at home.
Before picking up the bottles, you need to decide on the theme of your tasting. For example, you can choose whiskies all from one country (American, Irish, Scotch, English, or even Mexican whisky), or one region. It will be cool to select all one-age whiskies to explore their tasting features.
When you’ve decided on the theme, it’s time to choose the bottles for drinking. How many whiskies do you need for tasting? You will not need more than 6 bottles to properly enjoy the taste and not get hammered. 4-5 bottles will be just perfect to appreciate different flavours.
For a whisky tasting, choose small tulip-shaped glasses, or snifters. This is a perfect form that allows all of the aromas to be concentrated to one point at the top of the glass. Fill the glass to the widest point near the base to help open up the complex aromas and flavours.
You’ll also need two glasses of water for everyone: one for adding to the whiskies, and another one for sipping between tasting because hydration is key. Choose non-carbonated water at room temperature.
Drinking whisky is great, but offering some tasty snacks to accompany the spirits will make your tasting just perfect. Whisky pairs well with cheese, rye crackers, bread, and chocolate.
To make the most out of your whisky tasting, give your evaluation to all whiskies according to appearance, smell, palate and finish.
Don’t get super geeky — whisky tasting shouldn’t bore anyone. To get people excited and engaged, try blind tasting and let people guess which bottle they have just tried. This is a fun way to taste and train your senses.