WHISKEY tasting tools
Blind Bourbon Tasting Tool
Discern Distillery Brand Profiles
Learn to Judge/Rate Whiskey: Drinking with Intention
Learning to truly taste whiskey is a journey. The first, most important step, is to start sipping whiskey with intention, rather than drinking whiskey for effect. Tasting a pour with intention means that you have a plan. You are sipping and tasting, not simply drinking, paying attention to flavors, aromas, textures and taking mental notes or actual physical notes about what you are experiencing in each particular pour. I have developed an on-line blind bourbon tasting tool (dark version) for this purpose.
For those of us who are “tasting with intention” there are two broad categories of tasters.
1) The Whiskey & Bourbon Enthusiast
These are folks who are expanding their palate, describing the flavors they taste and rating whiskey according to what they like or don’t like.
2) Professional Tasters & Judges
These people go beyond identifying flavors that they taste. They often evaluate whiskeys in a blind tasting and they have a process for evaluating a pour to determine what methods the distiller used for making their whiskey and identifying the whiskey production fingerprint of each pour.
Bourbon & Whiskey Blind Tasting Tool
I have developed a bourbon tasting tool to help me (an hopefully you) identify a pour if it is one of the major bourbon brands during blind tastings. And to help know and remember the primary characteristics of certain brands (see table below). This just points you in the right direction, or eliminates some choices. It’s not meant to be perfect (you still have to use your own palate and experience!)
Try the Bourbon Blind Tasting Tool (white version).
Bourbon Flavor Comparison Chart (By Distillery)
| Distillery | Signature Flavor | Secondary Notes | Style |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Beam | Nutty / Peanut | Grain, light sweetness | Classic, approachable |
| Buffalo Trace | Cherry / Dark Fruit | Cinnamon, brown sugar | Balanced, fruit-forward |
| Brown-Forman (Old Forester) | Banana / Estery | Caramelized sugar | Sweet, aromatic |
| Heaven Hill | Honey / Citrus | Orange peel, spice | Balanced traditional |
| Maker’s Mark | Wheated / Bready | Honey, soft fruit | Smooth, low spice |
| Wild Turkey | Apple / Spice | Cinnamon, oak | Bold, high-proof |
| Four Roses | Floral / Fruity | Berry, light spice | Elegant, complex |
Tell me what you think!