help with tasting and nosing

[Nickcurtis]

i have a few whiskys and have tried many more but i seem to have a problem with picking out the smells and flavours of a whisky. i can tell if its a lovely or maybe a bad whisky and a simple or complex whisky but how can i improve my senses, is it just a case of keep trying more whiskys

thanks for any help

[opelfruit]

Pretty much, you've got to have something to benchmark against. Don't look for specific things at this stage either, it's more likely that you'll smell and taste things that remind you of other things, you may not smell lemon but more something that reminds you of something light and citrus, or you may not taste oak but get that drying tannic taste.

The more you do it and the more you train your sense and they climatise against whisky then you'll be able to pick out more and more notes. It's also a good excuse to buy more!!

.....The more food and general things you've experienced over your life also help ads you may find something herbal that you can pin point and it turns out that you've never eaten salted liquorice before ....so how can you identify it.
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"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[Islay Pete]

Hi Nick, do you use a special whisky tasting glass, these make a huge difference to your experience of any whisky.

[Nickcurtis]

Hi, yes I use a glen Cain glass and it makes a massive difference. I'm good at picking out dried fruits so I must have eaten a lot of Christmas cake in the past 😀 So I can tell the wife more whisky is better 😋 I will keep practicing and trying to pick out more and more smells

[junta]

I still have difficulty being specific, but I have found that asking myself questions help.

Example:
I smell fruit. Fresh or dried? Light or dark? Cooked or raw?

I really love it when I get to identify the specific scent.

[IndianaBlues]

I miss my sense of smell if only I'd gotten into this hobby sooner!!

[Nickcurtis]

I like the idea of asking questions to myself. Is it this or that, quite simple but stops me being indecisive. I have to say that the smell of whisky is my favourite part (drinking it is a close second)

How much tasting do you think I would have to do so that I can teach my senses to pickup up more flavours: everyday, one a week, one a month?

[opelfruit]

Well the more you drink the quicker you should train, but I'd say variety it's more important than frequency.

I too enjoy the nose and finish more than the taste as I can sit nosing a whisky for ages, and still tasting the finish for ages, but the taste only lasts as long as it's in you're mouth.
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"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[junta]