Writing whisky tasting notes: a working vocabulary for beginners

Why write tasting notes

Our memory for smell is unreliable. Two weeks after tasting a whisky, most of us remember little more than whether we liked it. Notes let you compare whiskies over time, track how your palate develops and buy more wisely.

Writing also makes you taste more carefully. Searching for a word forces you to pay attention to what is actually in the glass. Our guide to whisky tasting for beginners covers how to taste. This guide is about putting it into words.

A simple structure

Use the same structure every time:

• Basics: name, distillery, age, cask, strength, date and how you served it, neat or with water.
• Appearance: colour, briefly. It tells you little about flavour, so do not dwell on it.
• Nose: what you smell, neat and then with a few drops of water.
• Palate: flavour, sweetness, texture and how strong the alcohol feels.
• Finish: how long the flavour lasts and what changes as it fades.
• Overall: balance and whether you would buy it again.

Building a vocabulary

Group aromas into families. Start with the family, then narrow it down. Is it fruity? Then is it fresh fruit, dried fruit or tropical? Is it green apple or baked apple?

• Fruity: green apple, pear, citrus peel, banana, pineapple, raisin, fig, dried apricot.
• Floral: heather, rose, fresh grass, hay.
• Cereal: biscuit, malt, porridge, bread dough.
• Sweet: honey, vanilla, toffee, caramel, jaggery.
• Woody: oak, cedar, pencil shavings, toasted wood.
• Spicy: cinnamon, clove, black pepper, nutmeg, ginger.
• Smoky: peat smoke, bonfire, iodine, tar.
• Nutty: almond, walnut, marzipan.

The Scotch Whisky Research Institute flavour wheel organises families in a similar way. Our guide to beer aroma vocabulary shows the same approach for beer.

Use your own references

Specific words are better than vague ones. "Fruity" tells you little. "Ripe mango and orange peel" tells you a lot. Do not be afraid of Indian references. Jaggery, cardamom, jackfruit, chikoo, kokum or masala chai may describe a whisky better than heather or Christmas cake.

Build a personal aroma library. Smell spices from your kitchen, fruit at the market and flowers in the garden. Name each one. When the same aroma turns up in a whisky, you will recognise it.

Describing the palate and finish

On the palate, describe sweetness, any bitterness or dryness, the body and the heat of the alcohol. Words like thin, oily, creamy, mouth-coating and drying describe texture. Note whether flavours match the nose or surprise you.

For the finish, note how long it lasts: short, medium or long. Note what lingers: spice, smoke, oak or sweetness. A long, pleasant finish is generally a sign of a well-made whisky.

Habits that make notes useful

Taste in good light, in a quiet room, without strong smells around. Use the same glass each time. Note how much water you added. Write while you taste, not afterwards.

Keep notes short. Three to five words each for nose, palate and finish are enough. Compare your notes with friends or published notes after you have written yours, not before. Our guide to writing tasting notes that sell covers the different job of writing notes for customers.

Practise with side-by-side tastings

Your vocabulary grows fastest when you taste two whiskies side by side. Differences jump out that you would never notice tasting one alone. Try an ex-bourbon matured malt next to a sherry matured one, or a young whisky next to an older one from the same distillery.

Write notes for both, then read them back. If the notes look almost the same, go back and look for the differences. That act of comparing is how professional tasters train. Tasting with a small group helps too, because someone else's word often names the thing you could smell but could not describe.

Scoring, if you want to

Many tasters add a score, out of 10 or 100. Scores help you rank whiskies you have tried, but they are personal. Your 85 may be someone else's 75. Keep your scale consistent and use it to compare your own tastings over time, not to argue with others.

A score is only as good as the note behind it. A number without words tells you that you liked a whisky, not why, so always write the note first.

Common questions

What should a whisky tasting note include?

The basics of the whisky, then nose, palate and finish, with a short overall comment. Note whether you added water.

How do I describe whisky aromas?

Start with a family, such as fruity, spicy or smoky, then narrow it down to something specific, like green apple or clove.

Can I use Indian references in tasting notes?

Yes. Jaggery, cardamom, mango or masala chai can describe a whisky as precisely as any traditional term.