with or without ice?

SanctTom · April 13 2017 at 3:31PM

Here, Horst talks about water dilution:

"You always have to dilute high ABV whiskies to get the full potential out of your whisky. A few years ago, I diluted every whisky above 50% ABV. ...[Today,] above 52/53%. ...And those whiskies below this magical limit, I never dilute."

Well, so much for personal opinion... :wink:

kroman · April 13 2017 at 5:04PM

Yeah, I know that "Leuning...@horst_s Leuning" has spoken. And while I don't completely disagree with him, I approach whiskies slightly differently.

I will always have my first sip of the bottle neat. I don't care if it's Aberlour Abunadh at 60% ABV, Balvenie 12yr, or Jack Daniels Old No. 7. This allows me to taste the whisky in its most pure form. Plus, if the distillers put their blood, sweat, tears and time into the whisky's production, I feel like the least I can do is to enjoy the first sip the way it was bottled.

In the case of higher ABV whiskies, I'll agitate the liquid to help coax out the alcohol before sipping (sorry Ralfy..."no shakey shakey"). @ben gave some great advice in a previous video: If the whisky is "hot" on the tongue, carefully blow out air with the whisky still in your mouth; it helps "push out" a little of the alcohol.

If I feel like I need to add water, then I'll add teaspoons of water until I'm happy. Or in the case of Jack, I'll add ice and coke! As I continue to drink from the bottle, I will periodically have a sip neat again, just to see if the whisky has mellowed or changed.

And for some perspective, I remember watching a video of the brand ambassador for Glendronach/BenRiach/GlenGlassaugh where he said to add no water to cask-strength whiskies. I wouldn't go that far, but it is worth noting.

Noodles_2 · April 15 2017 at 1:20AM

@kroman

kroman said:

If you want to have a whisky with ice, I would recommend Johnnie Walker Black, Glenmorangie Original, Talisker 10, or even Balvenie 12 doublewood.

I wish I lived in the land of affordable Talisker 10!! But it is $60+ here in the NYC Metropolitan Area!! Where is it priced in the JW Black range???

Noodles_2 · April 15 2017 at 1:25AM

@kroman

kroman said:

@ben gave some great advice in a previous video: If the whisky is "hot" on the tongue, carefully blow out air with the whisky still in your mouth; it helps "push out" a little of the alcohol.

Thanks for sharing. I am going to try this technique with Ardbeg 10, which, though not particularly high in ABV, gives me an unpleasant nose-full of alcohol fumes when tasting.