The Top 5 things whisky drinkers are doing wrong

“How to drink whisky?” is a common question asked by many, but enjoying whisky goes way beyond the actual drinking of the spirit. From the most recent whisky-newbie to the more seasoned long-term malt enthusiast, we all fall for the same traps and mistakes – repeatedly.   Here are the Top Five things that whisky drinkers are doing wrong…

1. We’re always yearning for the next malt up the ladder

You’re sipping on a sensational Glenfarclas 30yo; a rare treat in itself…..when suddenly you wonder what the 40yo must be like?  Or you’re comfortably enjoying the Laphroaig Feis Ile 2017 bottling, when it suddenly occurs to you that the 2022 bottling might be even better.

Too often, we have a great dram in our hands, but our brains get ahead of ourselves and yearn for the next expression or age statement up the ladder.  We need to learn to be content with the “now” and appreciate that, for most of the distilleries with an extended core-range of products, even the flagship or entry level expression can be a wonderous and top-notch whisky.  Glenmorangie “The Original”, Ardbeg 10yo, Talisker 10yo, Glenfiddich 12yo, etc, are all great examples of such drams.  Yes, there are other expressions in the range, and they might be older or have had some exotic cask finish treatment, but it doesn’t necessarily make them better than the gem you’ve already got in your hand.

2. We fall for colour

We’re suckers for colour, ain’t we?   Despite everything we know about the influence of ex-sherry casks versus ex-bourbon casks, not to mention the presence of E150 caramel (yes, folks, Scotch whisky can have artificial colouring in it!) we still fall for the trap of thinking the darker whisky will be better.

I’ve deliberately tested this many times at tasting events and whisky fairs when I’m exhibiting, where I’ve poured out two different drams into separate glasses.  One is dark, one is pale, and I offer them to the punter.  Invariably, they reach for the darker whisky first.

Is it the instant assumption that the darker whisky must be older, better, or more expensive?  Or do we collectively associate a rich hue with a sumptuous oloroso sherry butt?

Some of the best whiskies I’ve ever tasted came from ex-bourbon barrels and were wonderfully pale in colour.  Some of them, despite great age, were amongst the lightest coloured whiskies I’ve encountered – the Springbank Millenium 50yo being a case in point.  So why do I forget this every time someone plonks some whiskies in front of me, and my eyes light up at the darker ones?  And I know I’m not alone.

Of course, the flip side of this equation is the simple fact that darker whiskies, more often than not, can actually be fairly disappointing.   There are many possible reasons as to why this might be:

• The whisky stayed in the cask for too long and is over-oaky, dry, and tannic.

• It was poor whisky anyway that simply had a healthy dose of E150 added to give visual appeal.

• It was poor whisky from a tired cask that the bottler tried to give sparkle to by finishing it off in a wine cask.

Don’t judge a book by its cover, and certainly never judge a whisky by its colour!

3. We’re dogmatic disciples of the celebrity writers

I once encountered a man at a whisky fair who told me he didn’t buy any whisky unless it scored more than 90 in Jim Murray’s Bible.   There’s so many things wrong with his stance that we could write a whole separate piece on it!

The point is, whisky drinkers turn to the reviews and writings in various publications, be they periodicals or hardcopy books, and take them as gospel.   “If Jim or Dave said this, then it must be true”.   Now don’t get me wrong…..I’ve met and chatted with most of the current crop of high-profile writers.  They’re great people, and I respect both their work and their opinions enormously.   But I don’t hang my hat on their tasting notes or take their scores as the universal, infallible truth or authority.   They’ve got their tastebuds and you’ve got yours.   The whisky drinking public (that’s you and me) need to taste for themselves and make their own minds up.  Before you dismiss or slag off the most recent release from Glen Bagpipe because you read that Mr Writer gave it 55/100, taste it for yourself and make your own decision.

(For a related discussion on this matter, in particular, how different whisky writers assess and score their whiskies, check out this article here).

4. We ignore the people

Whisky is made by people:  A farmer planted and harvested the barley.  Someone took care to ensure it was malted correctly.  Depending on the distillery, that same person may even have turned it on the floor.  A brewer added water and yeast and then monitored it for a couple of days whilst it fermented into a beer.  A stillman then distilled it and chose which bit to collect for you to drink.  And a warehouse worker then filled it into a cask and put it away into a warehouse, where it lay for years.  And, finally, depending on the bottling, a blender may have combined several casks, or perhaps even several different whiskies, both malt and grain, to create the whisky that is in your glass. 

And, going one step further, it may even be that the only reason you know about the bottling or the reason you purchased it in the first place, is because a brand ambassador left Scotland and travelled to your country to tell you all about it.  Whisky is made by people – let’s not forget that.  If you’re drinking a particularly old bottling, there’s a good chance the people who made it have retired or may even have left us for the big distillery in the sky.  Before contemplating how to drink whisky, consider how it came to be in your hand.

It’s too easy to focus on the liquid alone, or the brand, or the price tag, or the rarity.  Distilleries provide employment for communities (Bruichladdich being a great example), and plenty of folks in Scotland right now are working graveyard shifts from midnight to 8.00am so that the next generation of whisky enthusiasts can enjoy the product in 10 years’ time.  Toast them, the next time you raise your glass.

5. We over-focus on provenance

This last one is perhaps more aimed at the single cask drinker:  There is too strong a focus or reliance on the provenance of the cask, rather than the actual flavour or style of the liquid inside it.   Leaning for a moment on my Scotch Malt Whisky Society background, I’ll give you a classic example:   I repeatedly get enquiries from members who are seeking a bottling from a particular distillery.  “When’s the next Aberlour coming in?” or “I hope there will be a Bunnahabhain on the next Outturn” are examples of the many such phone calls or emails I receive.   These people are completely overlooking or forgetting the magic and beauty of the single cask:  Every cask is different!   And, in the case of single casks from the SMWS, more often than not, the casks will be very different to the commercially available expressions.  That’s the whole point!  One of the reasons the Society (and any other independent bottler) exists is to provide alternative expressions.  If you really like Aberlour a’Bunadh, then buy Aberlour a’Bunadh!  If the independent bottler’s cask of Aberlour is from an ex-bourbon barrel, then it will taste nothing like the a’Bunadh (which is made from ex-sherry casks) and you’ll be very disappointed.

The same goes for my colleague who loves her Bunnahabhain – she’s a great fan of the 12yo, and her luxury dram is the 25yo.  Turns out, also, that she hates heavily peated whisky.   So, when the SMWS bottled a very heavily peated Bunnahabhain that was distilled back in 1997 when Highland Distillers did some experimental peated runs, she didn’t read the fine print and found herself with an expensive bottle that she couldn’t drink.   Too much focus on the provenance, rather than the flavour.

The extension of this is the tendency of drinkers (and some producers!) to focus on and celebrate the cask and its provenance, rather than the whisky inside it.   People get excited about a cask that is, say, 80 years old and had a wonderful previous life in the sherry industry, and overlook whether or not it actually produced a great malt whisky!   Or we fall for the marketing of the limited edition, special release whisky that came from casks that were felled on the north slope of the Ozark mountains; air-seasoned for 721 days; assembled by a blind cooper; toasted by hand using matches; and matured specifically in the back corner of Warehouse 13 where monks once knelt to pray!  The truth is, who cares??  Does the whisky taste nice? is what we should be focussing on and celebrating – not the increasingly long-winded provenance that marketeers now insist on thrusting upon us!  (For an exploration of how whisky marketing departments are increasingly showering us with superfluous information, you might like to read this article here).

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Got one more you’d like to add?  Scroll further down to the Comments section…

Cheers,
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PS: And if you were wondering how to drink whisky or perhaps even how not to drink whisky – you might like to check out our video on that very topic here.   Meanwhile, there’s something else to do with whisky enjoyment that we don’t endorse…but we’ll let our colleague, Matthew Fergusson-Stewart tell you all about it:  Read it here.