I bought a bottle of The Balvenie 12-year-old. Inside the can was a pamphlet that gave info on “nosing” and “tasting.” (I’m trying really hard not to make fun of this, but, I must admit, there was nothing pretentious about the pamphlet.)
Anyway…
They recommend adding a bit of water to the Scotch in the glass to bring out the aromas and the flavor. The entire section was on “nosing” and “tasting.” Do they mean adding it just for sniffin’ and tastin’? What about regular drinkin’?
I’ve always had single malt neat…not even with ice.
What about you? And if you add a bit of water like they recommend (I mean, it’s THEIR Scotch; they ain’t gonna recommend something that will hurt the taste), how much do you add? They said a bit.
I suppose I shouldn’t be so hung up on what is “correct.” I should try it both ways and see which I like better. But I’m curious about what you do.
I drink mine neat, but the distillers all recommend adding just a drop of water to “open” the scotch. If I am trying a new single-malt, I might add just a drop or two of water. I get more of the nose when I do that.
I mostly drink whisky neat. Occassionally I’ll ad a dribble of water, nothing more - it does bring out different flavours to those you get with the pure article. But I’ve no doubt plenty of the publicity leaflets stuff is pretentious nonsense.
A teaspoon sounds about right - depending on your quantity of whisky . I’d say a whisky:water ratio of 5:1 or more. Anything more than that and you dilute the flavours rather than changing them.
Another way of estimating it - as you dribble the water in, you’ll see it make a glassy swirl in the liquor, rather than mixing immediately. If you lose that swirl, you’ve poured too much.
The above replies are correct, although I often enjoy an ice cube or two (maybe not “on the rocks” though). I love the way they make each sip different as they melt. You start with a powerful “hit” of warmth and alcohol, and as you slowly sip it, you are gradually introduced to mellowness and complex subtleties.
After the eighth or ninth glass, you are introduced to some extreme mellowness, of course!
For extremely high end scotch though, I’ll try the dribble of water as the others have said.
I just use it to blow fireballs at frat parties.
Juuuust kidding. I like the Dog’s way myself. Use one large or two smaller ice cubes and let them melt. This way you never add to much at once, and in one glass you go from straight to mellow. You’ll get the full range of the whiskey.
I do occaisonally add a few drops of water to my schoh, but usually take it neat. I do like cold drinks but will not add ice to single malt. I have been thinking about getting some of these glasses to solve the issue.
