A glossary of whisky terms
You may be like me, dear whisky-loving gentlemen, but one of the things I like to do when I’m tasting is to share my experience with others. That’s why, in this column, I’m offering you a glossary of whisky terms to help you talk about my favourite spirts.
To be clearer, I’d like to talk about the words we use to describe the taste profiles of different whiskies. Enjoying a good elixir is one thing, but describing it to others can sometimes be complicated. So I’ve put together a short (but not exhaustive) glossary to help you better understand and express what you’ll be tasting next time.
A Glossary of Whisky Terms: The main aromatic and taste families
Let’s start with the major aromatic and taste families. To do this, I’ve drawn freely on the book Iconic Whisky: Single Malt and More by Cyrille Mald and Alexandre Vingtier (published by La Martinière).
The two authors have developed twelve distinct categories to classify different profiles: fruity, floral, sweet, cereal, woody, vinous, sulphurous, smoky, oily, mineral, marine and herbaceous.
Each category has subdivisions to express the different tastes more precisely.
Fruity:
- Cooked fruit—candied citrus, fruitcake
- Dried fruit—grapes, figs, etc.
- Fresh fruit—green apples, blackberries, etc.
- Citric—citrus, blackcurrant
Floral:
White flowers—lily of the valley, lily
Fragrances—rose, violet, etc.
Flowering—apple blossom, orange blossom, etc.
Officinal—hawthorn, angelica, etc.
Each family has its own sub-families, which will enable you to put into words the sensations you experience during the different stages of tasting (nose, mouth and finish) and to put into practice this lexicon for speaking whisky. A downloadable image of the Mald-Vingtier aroma wheel, adapted by Gentologie, will follow in a few days.
I warmly recommend that you buy this book, which will be with you for a long time as you discover whiskies. You can buy the book here (In french).
A Glossary of Whisky Terms: An exemple
It’s one thing to have the words to describe how you feel when you taste a whisky, but how do you go about it? Allow me to give you an example of tasting notes:
Product: Balvenie 12 year old triple cask
- Nose: a woody nose with notes of sandalwood, damp cask and cinnamon.
- On the palate: rather sweet, with hints of honey, yellow apple and brown sugar.
- Finish: a very vinous finish with hints of Oloroso (Sherry) casks, which leave a certain dryness on the palate as with a very tannic wine.
Here is how tasting notes might appear using a glossary of whisky terms. The main purpose of this stage is to give an account of your personal tasting experience. Afterwards, it’s interesting to compare your impressions with those of other guests to see the similarities and differences.
Bear in mind that there is no right or wrong answer. Tasting is above all a personal exploration that draws on our experience and olfactory memories (for example, if you’ve never smelled or tasted caramel or pepper, you’ll never be able to find that taste again).
Writing down your impressions helps you better understand what attracts you to a product. Over time, you can choose products based on their taste profile rather than what other people think of them.
I therefore invite you to take notes the next time you taste a Scotch and share your impressions with your friends. This will help you develop your palate and, by listening to other people’s notes, you may discover nuances that you had missed.
Have fun and don’t let it go to your head: the tasting experience is first and foremost an enjoyable moment, not serious work. . . although 😉
Enjoy your tasting.
