APPRECIATING WHISKY PIP HILLS PART II — PRACTICAL you can read PART I here) In the end, we chose five whiskies: Glenmorangie 10yo, Macallan 10yo, Bowmore 12yo, Glendronach 15yo and Ardbeg 17yo. All are top-class malts with a wide range of flavours. What makes them so distinct is that in each case the flavour combinations are different. Among the five whiskies, you can find fourteen of our fifteen basic flavours. Three of them exhibit seven of the flavours, one six and the other four—all at a concentration high enough to be readily detectable. The method then is as follows. You pour a shot of each into a decent nosing glass and cover with a watch glass. You then proceed to nose the whiskies briefly in pairs—taking care to replace the watch glass quickly, otherwise aroma is lost. Taking a given odour as the quarry, you seek it. For floral notes, look no further than the Glenmorangie on its own, for Glenmorangie has one of the most floral of noses. But once you have the idea of what you are after, try finding it among the other four. The Macallan has it, whereas the Glendronach does not. Likewise the Ardbeg and the Bowmore. What was easy to discern in the Glenmorangie is not so evident in the Macallan, though indeed it is there. It occurs, too in the Ardbeg, but not in the Bowmore—though you might be forgiven for mistaking it for the fruitiness, which the Bowmore has aplenty. And of course, you must search for the fruity flavour through thickets of peatsmoke, which takes a bit of doing. If we look at objective tasting notes for the five, we can analyse their flavours: Glenmorangie Macallan Bowmore Glendronach Ardbeg 10yo 10yo 12yo 15yo 17yo Smoky - - x x x Fruity x x x - - Floral x x - - x Vanilla x x x x - Pungent - - x - - Cereal x - - - - Musty - - - - x Harsh - - - - - Soapy x - - - - Sulphury x - x - Caramel x - x x - Nutty - x - x - Woody - - x - - Sour - x x x - Sweet x - - x x You will note that there are no entries under Harsh and only one each under Woody and Musty. None of the whiskies we chose could be described as harsh and those which show woody and musty flavours do so in very low concentrations indeed. With those exceptions, though, you ought to be able with a little practice and not a lot of whisky, to discover most of the flavours listed. In a short article such as this, there is alas no space to describe the odours more fully, or to show you how to obtain an acquaintance with them. The book does so at some length. There is occupation here for hours, weeks, decades—for beyond the fifteen basic odours there are literally hundreds of others, which you can discover once you have the technique and the experience. And you won’t anymore be impressed or dismayed by tasting notes on bottles—unless to wonder what prawn made them up, and why.