Kristiane Sherry

Mar 4, 2025

How to taste whisky: Getting the most out of your dram

Appearance, nose, palate, finish – formally tasting a whisky can seem complicated. Here’s how to dive into your dram without getting caught up in the technicalities.

There’s a difference between drinking and tasting. If you take one thing away from this feature let it be this: you don’t need to formally ‘taste’ a whisky to enjoy it. Drinking with friends, enjoying cocktails, just chatting over a whisky – these are all more than valid. And they certainly don’t involve analysing what a whisky looks, smells and tastes like. If you never get out a pen and paper to ‘taste’ an expression in your life, you’re no less of a whisky drinker.That said, it can be incredibly fun to taste whiskies. To get stuck into what it delivers, from first glimpse to final sip. Tasting is often useful when working out your aroma and flavour preferences. And it certainly has a role when describing what a whisky is like to others. So if you do want to learn to taste, or hone your palate, here are some handy tips.

The tasting order

Convention suggests that you look at the whisky’s appearance first, followed by the nose. Appearance is simply what the whisky looks like, while the ‘nose’ describes what the whisky smells like. For appearance, it’s about describing the colour and how intense it is, for example, light copper. Don’t overthink it!

When it comes to the nose, think about how ‘pronounced’ it is (how loudly it’s ‘shouting’) as well as actual aroma descriptors. Write it all down!

Once you’ve spent some time on the nose, move onto the palate – or what the whisky tastes like. Take small sips, and don’t be afraid to spit! Again, consider the intensity and how pronounced it is. Think about texture too. How the whisky feels in your mouth is just as important as those individual tasting notes.

When you’ve swallowed the whisky (or used a spittoon) the last thing to muse over is the finish. This means the impression that the whisky leaves. Is it short, medium or long? What flavours are left lingering? The key here is to only talk about the positive elements that linger. If something is a hot, burning mess, it doesn’t matter how long the finish is. It’s not going to be a good whisky.

Some people like to write an overall impression of the whisky across appearance, nose, palate and finish. This is especially useful if you’re tasting to keep track of your whiskies, or if you’re working out your preferences.

Just remember – if your tasting notes will be used by other people, try and stick to describing the whisky using universally understood terms. While it might be evocative for you, no-one else knows what your Grandma Betty’s high-days-and-holidays perfume smelled like.

CREDIT: Markusspiske and PIXABAY

Appearance doesn’t matter

You read that right. Despite what we’re taught, and what brands would have us think, the colour of a whisky is (almost always) irrelevant. Why? Because many distilleries add e150a, or caramel colour, to their whiskies. This is supposed to be for consistency, so that the bottlings always look the same batch-to-batch. Unless a label says ‘natural colour’, you’ve got no guarantee that your whisky is that hue.

Is that important? Not really. Some whisky purists prefer natural colour whiskies, and it does speak to a certain authenticity of the product. But a whisky’s colour has absolutely no bearing on its quality, or what it looks or smells like. So don’t get stuck on it.

CREDIT: KRiemer and PIXABAY

Take it slowly

On both nose and palate, approach the whisky gently. You don’t know how pronounced it’s going to be! If a whisky is a heavily peated Islay that’s shouting especially loudly, all those smoke notes might be overwhelming if you stick your nose straight in the glass. Go gradually. See how much you can pick up from afar before you go in close.

The quality question

Tasting is really helpful when you’re working out just how good a whisky is. Think about whether there’s complexity across the nose, palate and finish. Is there lots going on, or is it a relatively simple story? Does everything feel coherent, or is something a bit spiky?Just because something is complex, doesn't mean it’s automatically good. In the same way, a simple whisky might not be bad! The most important thing really is balance. How harmonious is it? Does anything stick out too much? This is what to think about when working out if something is good, very good, or exceptional.

CREDIT: felis_w and PIXABAY

Tasting can be hard. But it’s also meant to be fun!

Don’t worry at all if you struggle to pick out aroma and flavour notes. Like most things in this world, it takes practice! Learning to taste is like building up muscles – the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Not loving all the analysis? No drama! Whisky is for drinking, not tasting after all. Kick back and savour. All that matters is that you enjoy your whisky.

CREDIT: Our Whisky Foundation and PIXABAY

FOUR FABULOUSLY FLAVOURSOME WHISKIES TO HONE YOUR PALATE

The spicy rye

RyeLaw is no regular rye whisky. For starters, it's made in Scotland! Secondly, it's bursting with all manner of toasted oak, hedgerow berry and menthol notes. If you really want to wake up your palate, compare a rye like this one with a single malt – the different characteristics of the grain raw materials will be really apparent.

The smoky sensation

Islay's newest whiskymaker Ardnahoe is the perfect starting point if you want to explore the smoky notes that come with peated whisky. Sea spray and dark chocolate notes shine through alongside the evocative bonfire embers. Peated whiskies offer so much more than just smoke!

The creamy bourbon

Our very own barrel pick all the way from Kentucky! Buffalo Trace is a bourbon icon, and this sumptuously spiced yet effortlessly smooth bottling proves that point flawlessly. It's a great whiskey to nose and taste if you want to get to know the complexities on offer from corn-forward expressions.

The fruity single malt

Casks contribute a huge amount when it comes to flavour – and if you want to get exploring the influence of red wine casks, this Tomatin bottling from Finn Thomson is a wonderful place to start. Expect loads of sweet spices alongside jammy hedgerow berries. Just delightful.

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