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Soggy Kilt
Single Malt Member
Joined: 06 Dec 2012
Posts: 34
Location: Moray, Scotland / London
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 Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:40 pm Post subject: Drinking temperature |
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Does anybody here monitor the temperature that they drink their whisky at?
Over Christmas I left a small dram of Glenfiddich 18 close to the log fire and when I came back to it I was amazed at the difference. It seemed like the heat opened the malt up and released the full flavour and aroma.
I also noticed that whilst drinking a Laphroaig 10 in the pub that I enjoyed it more and more with each drink whilst it warmed in my hand.
I may be speaking rubbish but it just my personal experience and preference. Perhaps this is why I don't enjoy my whisky with ice. |
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Quaich1
Master Of Malts
Joined: 21 Apr 2012
Posts: 5749
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:51 pm Post subject: Re: Drinking temperature |
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| Soggy Kilt wrote: | Does anybody here monitor the temperature that they drink their whisky at?
Over Christmas I left a small dram of Glenfiddich 18 close to the log fire and when I came back to it I was amazed at the difference. It seemed like the heat opened the malt up and released the full flavour and aroma.
I also noticed that whilst drinking a Laphroaig 10 in the pub that I enjoyed it more and more with each drink whilst it warmed in my hand.
I may be speaking rubbish but it just my personal experience and preference. Perhaps this is why I don't enjoy my whisky with ice. |
Another good question. Actually, most single malt professional tasters prefer to sample and taste the malt unaffected by temperature, thus they handle the glass by the stem and do not palm the dram. Some folk who are in it only for the enjoyment of the dram may palm the dram and indeed it may well change the expression. Leaving the dram in the glass for 15 minutes or longer may open up the flavors in a fashion as water does. It's all personal preference and what one's goals are. The professional pundit wants to rate a dram so it is standardized and tastes the same from glass to glass without changing variables.
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"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946) |
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Soggy Kilt
Single Malt Member
Joined: 06 Dec 2012
Posts: 34
Location: Moray, Scotland / London
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:30 am Post subject: |
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I can certainly see the value in that when tasting.
On a personal level I definitely prefer my whisky once it has warmed slightly and had time to breathe. |
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Alastair
Master Of Malts
Joined: 13 Nov 2006
Posts: 1734
Location: Ayrshire - Scotland
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 1:11 pm Post subject: |
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| I think it depends on the individual whisky whether a bit of warming will do anything for it, personally i take mine at room temp. |
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bifter
Master Of Malts
Joined: 10 Apr 2012
Posts: 1403
Location: East Lothian
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Alastair wrote: | | I think it depends on the individual whisky whether a bit of warming will do anything for it, personally i take mine at room temp. |
I agree. For example, to me, bourbon-casked peaty whiskies taste best at room temperature or even slightly cool, whereas sherry bombs can benefit from a little warming in the hand, it gets the aromas going like a good cognac. Some tasters take a very dim view of letting the glass warm though.
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw] |
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albo
Master Of Malts
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
Posts: 1888
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| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:49 am Post subject: |
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It's another one of these, each to their own type thing.
Though to be honest, by the time you have poured, nosed sipped and enjoyed, most of the time the dram would have warmed up anyway. |
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Drover
Master Of Malts
Joined: 06 Jul 2009
Posts: 270
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| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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In Jim Murrays Whisky Bible 2013 he gives us his "How to taste whisky, the Murray Method" he says:
"Warm the undiluted whisky in the glass to body temperature before nosing or tasting. Hence the stem, so you can cradle in your hand the curve of the base. This excises the molecules and unravels the whisky in your glass, maximising its sweetness and complexity." |
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