Keeping a whisky journal
Most whisky drinkers forget what they tasted within weeks. A journal fixes that and quietly trains your palate. Here is what to write, how to keep it consistent and how to read it back.
Memory is a poor tasting record
Try to recall three whiskies you tasted six months ago. Most people remember the name of one and a vague sense of liking it. The details are gone.
A journal keeps them. It also changes how you taste. Knowing you will write something down makes you pay more attention. After a few dozen entries, you start to see patterns in your own preferences that you would never have noticed.
What to write down
Keep each entry short but complete:
- Date, the whisky's name and who made or bottled it.
- Age statement, ABV and cask type if stated.
- Price paid and where you bought or tasted it.
- Glass used and how much water you added.
- Nose, palate and finish, a few words each.
- A score and one line on whether you would buy it again.
The context lines matter. A whisky tasted at a festival after eight others will read differently from the same whisky at home. Note what you ate before, too. A spicy dinner leaves the palate dulled for an hour or more. Your notes will show it.
Taste the same way every time
Consistency makes notes comparable. Use the same glass, ideally a tulip-shaped nosing glass. Pour the same amount, say 20 ml. Let it sit for a minute or two before you nose it.
Count your water. A few drops from a pipette is a measurable amount; a splash from a jug is not. Note the room temperature too. A whisky at 32 °C in an Indian summer smells more spirity than the same whisky at 22 °C.
Words get better with practice
Early notes are often vague: smooth, nice, a bit harsh. That is fine. Start with broad families, such as fruity, floral, cereal, sweet, woody, smoky or sulphury, then narrow down: fruity becomes apple, then baked apple.
Use your own references. If a whisky smells of mango, jaggery or a freshly opened tin of biscuits, write that, not what a label says. Indian food gives you a huge library of aromas that most tasting wheels never mention: cardamom, kokum, raw jackfruit, ghee, curry leaf. Use them. Our guide to writing whisky tasting notes gives more structure for the words.
Paper, phone or spreadsheet
A paper notebook is pleasant at the table and never runs out of battery. A phone note is always with you, which matters at festivals and bars. A spreadsheet is the most useful once you have more than a few dozen entries, because you can sort and filter.
Give it columns for ABV, cask type, age, price and score. After fifty entries it becomes a small dataset. Sort by score and you may find you rate sherry cask whiskies higher than bourbon cask ones, or that your favourites cluster around 46% rather than 40%. That is information no label or review can give you.
Retaste to test yourself
Every so often, ask someone to pour you a whisky you have already logged, without telling you which. Write fresh notes, then compare with the old entry.
You will find some notes match closely and others do not. That is not failure. It shows where your palate is consistent and where it drifts. A trained palate is mostly a consistent one.
Retasting also catches bottles that have changed. A whisky opened a year ago and left half full may have lost some of its top notes to oxidation. Your old entry is the reference that shows it.
Use the journal when you shop
Before buying a bottle, check your notes on similar whiskies. If you have scored three heavily peated whiskies low, a fourth is probably not for you, however good the reviews. If you rate a particular cask type highly, look for more of it.
That is the real payoff. A journal turns guessing into choosing. Choosing well saves money at Indian whisky prices.
Start with tonight's glass
Next time you pour a whisky, write five lines: name, ABV, nose, palate and a score out of ten. Do it before you look up anyone else's notes.
Repeat with the next whisky and the one after. Within a month you will have a habit. Within a year you will have a record of your own palate that nobody else could write.
Common questions
What should I write in a whisky journal?
The whisky's name, age, ABV, cask, price, glass, water added, tasting notes and a score.
Is a spreadsheet better than a notebook?
Once you have a few dozen entries, yes. A spreadsheet lets you sort by score, cask or strength and spot patterns in your taste.
How much whisky should I pour for a journal entry?
About 20 ml is enough. Pour the same amount each time so your notes are comparable.
