26/12/2022
Chapter 2
Noted (Pt. 1)
Forgive me, but I’d rather be honest with you from the start rather than having to apologise afterwards.
This chapter (and the next one!) is about my take on whisky notes and our intricate relationship…
Notes perception
If you have been a whisky fan for decades you might either agree or disagree with my position, no offense taken if it’s the latter.
If your journey has instead only recently started, your understanding and perception of whisky notes is probably still very little. Apart from being able to discern what’s peated or not, (even if I still struggle to do that sometimes). You possibly feel disappointed or inadequate at times. This is a deception and I hope my words will aid some of the pain. And perhaps offer a different way forward for when you’ll face your next drams. Regardless of that, relax, we have all been there at some point, even Mr Johnnie Walker!
Whisky notes do exist
Yes, they do exist, that’s not the point of this discussion.
The point is that they only have a subjective and not an objective reality. Yes, you can detect the most crazy and unexpected scents and flavours in your glass (a glencairn glass if you are sitting in a respectable whisky bar or have invested that extra fiver for it…).
For instance I love when whisky notes stimulate a specific memory or experience of the past. Like when in a Glencadam 10 I smelled the crappy 2-in-1 shower gel/shampoo that my mum used to put in my swimming classes shower bag when I was a child. This gives me an emotion and I love it, but unfortunately it comes with the limitation that the emotional content can’t be understood by anyone else (well, perhaps by my brother who used to swim in the lane next to mine).
Reading whisky notes written by others has been extremely useful at the beginning of my journey. Sometimes it still is to be fair. They helped me to identify in my mind whiskies ‘styles’ and ‘categories’, anticipating a broad-brush picture of what to expect. However, I quickly realised that they were someone else’s reactions and feelings, and how difficult it was to make them mine as well. Too often I have been really biased by reading these prior to tasting my whiskies. This is what over the years slowly drove me away from reading tasting notes by others, or at least to read them as if they were “the right answer”.
A deeper experience
The matter in question, often misconsidered in my opinion, is that notes only exist as far the individual nosing or tasting the whisky. The guy sitting next to you could find in it a totally different cornucopia (or a whole supermarket aisle in some instances) of notes.
Yes it can be fun to name and compare notes with your buddies while sipping a dram, but that might be pretty much it, and we want (or can have) a deeper experience…
In summary, I don’t read others’ whisky notes as if they were the gospel and even more rarely I share mines, on the assumption that they might affect the other person’s perceptions. Suggestion to the subjective senses of taste and smell of the other person is the last thing I would like to pass on…
Drams
and more...
Today's drams
- Glencadam 10 – 46%
There are plenty of whisky reviewers online. If you really can’t live without reading someone else’s notes, this is a great place to start. By the way, this is not a payed advertisement. As all other side notes, is a sincere free mention to important components of our whisky journey.