Flavor (Flavour?) Maps?

[Ihasadram]

I've come across several "Flavour Maps" online and I'm wondering if they are fairly accurate. Also, they all have two axes, comparing "light" vs "rich" and "smokey" vs "delicate." Are these the main classifications for whiskey? I had a long conversation today with the scotch person at the local liquor superstore and he kept equating "spicy" to "smokey," as far as I could tell. Should there also be a "spicy" vs "mild" axis, or would that be redundant?

[Ihasadram]

One of the maps I found also uses colors to distinguish certain categories, such as "fruity and spicy." In another thread of mine, someone explained to me that "spice" tends to come from use of European casks, and especially French casks. Is this chart using "spicy" in the same way?

http://www2.malts.com/index.php/en_gb/Choosing-Whisky/A-World-of-Flavour/The-Single-Malt-Whisky-Flavour-Map

[Diademo]

Many are using “whisky wheel” as tool for defining the flavour patterns.

http://www.whiskymag.com/media/nosing_course/Whiskywheel-Big.jpg

[jcarrick]

Ihasadram I find whisky flavour maps accurate to a certain extent but since most of these maps were created distilleries have become more adventurous with maturation and finishes, so two different expressions from the same distillery can sit in two very different places on the map. They are a good rough guide of the style of whisky each distillery produces. There is a good sized version of the classic "Single Malt Flavour Map" here on this site which I have in my favourites and refer to occasionally http://www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk/whiskyflavourmap.pdf

[Brummie]

[Ihasadram]

I found another article discussing one of these flavor maps and the use of European, and especially French, casks. If I understood it correctly, it said that aging in such casks will push the resulting whiskey over to the right by making it more "rich." So maybe some people call it "spicy" instead of "rich?" IDK.

I found another flavor map that uses a wholly different terminology and turns everything on its head. This Whisky Classified Flavor Chart way of doing things seems to be greatly outnumbered by the other chart though. I can't link it because I can only find it on Pinterest. But it puts delicate vs rich on one axis, and peaty vs winey/cake/floral on the other. So I guess it views delicate as an antonym of rich, instead of peated. And it treats peated as an antonym of winey/cake/floral.