Sometimes it is very difficult to identify flavors. Flavor is a multidimensional thing and it can be muddle up by many things. How many times have you been to a restaurant and had the perfect meal. The second time around because of time, experience or a plethora of other things it tastes different, for better or worse. I was at my local watering hole Kraftwork recently tasting a few beers… I had a one beer an there was something about it…. then I was told to think ‘blue cheese’ and bam!! I was like wow! I taste blue cheese. There is no exact science that you can use to identify everything and we all will find something different while tasting a dram of whisky. Here is where Whisky Wheel comes into play, it helps to jog your memory.
Taste can be broken down in into five varying tastes: Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter and Umami (Savory). Aromas are broken down into ten groups: Fragrant, Woody/resinous, Fruity (non-citrus), Chemical, Minty/Peppermint, Sweet ,Popcorn ,Lemon, Pungent and Decayed. Every dram of whisky presents a unique bouquet of tastes and aromas. The only means we have of assessing the whisky is by nosing and tasting. While we can taste and smell many varying aromas, describing them may be a little more difficult.
If you do a search for Whisky Wheel you will find many varying types, but they all have a similar core structure representing a combination of tastes and aromas. While taking the Whisky Ambassador Certification class I used the Whisky Wheel below:
In the wheel above, there are 8 core flavor components (Woody, Cereal, Peaty, Fruity, Floral, Winey, Feinty and Sulphury). Each of these core components include several more detailed characteristics, as shown in the outer perimeter of the wheel. The idea here is that you are trying to collapse the outer wheel of individual characteristics into the core flavor components of the inner wheel for each whisky in question. By choosing a method to assign rankings of each component you can help to build your flavor profile.
The Whisky Wheel is designed to be a precision tool to help provide commonly used terms and descriptors for everyone. When doing a professional tasting you are trying to be as objective and analytical as possible, but as a consumer and we are tasting for pleasure we can afford to be a little more imaginative and a little less subjective that the Wheel provides.
So, at your next whisky tasting use your own words and cheer on your fellow aficionados!
Sláinte!
