I run a liquor store and I was hired with zero drinking experience. Your videos help me suggest things to people who don't know exactly what they want. Very informative stuff, and quite fun!
As a beginner in whiskey I think the reason people want smoothness to start out with is because the alcohol over powers the flavours and being a beginner its hard to pick the subtle flavours when they are being over powered.
I don't know that it's so much about "overpowering the flavors", because as a beginner, it's often about which burns your mouth and throat the least, so in other words, it's the burn and the associated pain that overpowers experiencing any potential pleasure. At least I'd say that's the case for total newbie rookie beginners. Pain obliterates all senses.
No surprise really, smooth (ie “easy to drink” in a “can throw it back” sort of way rather than “piss weak”) whiskeys drunk in short order... yep gonna get start wrecking havoc with the brain.
Smooth = completely inoffensive. No burn, no tingle, no sharpness. Mostly vanilla and sweetness. Cardhu 12 year old is the best example imo. First time i drank that I didn't think it was scotch, My gf at the time drank lots of it because its a very easy drink. Although its a little pricey for what it is, when its £40 for a 70cl here and the equivalent volume of glenfiddich 12 is £28
@@samcass7621 I cant remember. I think ive had a glass of it bought for me at some point (the name rings a bell) but clearly I dont remember it well enough to remember tasting notes
My pick would have been glenmorangie, (I've had cardhu 12 but I got one quite early in my whisky tastings), It's my "I want to just have a whisky, whisky", having it after anything else, it has absolutely no fight at all. And yeah it's a bit pricy for what it is, I'm always amazed at how good glenfiddich and glenlevit are for their price, the other week there was a 15 year glenlevit for £30, absolute bargin!
When I use the term smooth it refers to several things. 1) creamy, rich, oily mouth feel 2) rounded flavor profile where flavors roll seemlessly from one to the next 3) low alcohol burn and/or barrel spice impact regardless of actual proof.
It’s very nice right?! I have opened one like a month ago. Really like that Irish smoothness and rich taste :) I’m going to drink one now:) cheers mate!
wonderful isn't it? All my inlaws have to do to get me to come over is let me know my FIL picked up a bottle. Generally a little to rich for my blood though.
For me, smooth means you can drink large quantities without feeling an unpleasant alcohol burn. It has nothing to do with flavor: a whisky can still be considered smooth even if it has very strong flavors. So, to me, Isla whiskys like lagavulin 16 and ardbeg 10 are in fact very smooth. Dalmore and Glenfiddich as well, absolutely. And a blend like the Green label is to me much much smoother than the Red label or a basic bourbon like Jack Daniels.
@@konatrees if you are looking for sweetness then I'd recommend focusing on bourbon. there is a lot of sweetness in scotch but there are a lot of other flavors that for a beginner might be overpowering, whereas bourbon is universally sweeter
To me smooth would be something on the sweeter side with lower abv. Thank you guys so much for introducing me to Glencairn glasses. It really helped me find a love for trying and exploring whiskeys. Learning to describe flavor profiles is so fun!
My usual go-to for people who say they don't drink much whisky and I want to give them something "smooth" is Oban 14. If they still don't like it, welp.. more for me. haha
"Smooth" just means it doesn't kick you in the nuts or burn your mouth when you drink it. Doesn't make you cough or gasp. Some might equate smooth with boring or flat. Nailed it right at 1:48, "Goes down without a kick or a punch or anything that make you pause or wince.”
I'm quite late to this but really enjoyed the video and an interesting concept. For me, smooth equals a nonconfrontational flavor profile. Bladnoch 10yr is an excellent single malt I've recently come to appreciate and to me embodies a smooth Scotch whisky.
That's why drinking Irish whiskeys seem so lame compared to Bourbons. They don't have enough flavor and the light mouth feel leaves me wanting something more
So sad to see Balvenie not making the list here. My personal favorite authentic scotch whiskey and personally I find smooth to mean that it creates almost a coating of the mouth that makes it literally feel smooth and go down very easy and with minimal burning. The Balvenie 30-year was amazing for this when I managed to afford a bottle once. It was like drinking liquid 1930's masculinity somehow. Pretty sure I woke up the next morning and my mustache had curled itself in my sleep
Weirdly enough some of the smoothest I've had are really peaty scotch. Somthing about the oil and the smoke seems to hide the burn. My general thought is smooth is what I can pass to a non whisky drinker and have them drink without pulling a face.
Why a non whiskey drinker and not a drinker in general? If the non whiskey drinker is a drinker of other strong alcohol like vodka, tequila and/or lots more they wouldn't be new to the alcohol effect. So they may not pull a face either but that doesn't mean what they're drinking is smooth right?
So I tried Laphoaig 10 recently I heard Rex describe it as making out with a cigar smoking walrus. Which was exactly right not a fan of peated scotch but weirdly it had no burn at all.
I've had many a bottle of Jameson Stout edition and it is definitely one of my favourites.... I am a beer guy mainly (though I have been trying different whiskys and rums recently and i've been enjoying the journey) I'm a lover of dark beer and this sit really well with me and as soon as I tasted it I got all of the typical stout flavours from it... 100% would recommend to anyone and its also inexpensive (about £20-£25 here in the UK) I tried the IPA edition one.... didn't enjoy it as much... you can taste the hoppyness from the IPA barrels and personally I don't think that belongs in a Whiskey. Also, I love Eagle Rare... not as smooth as the Jameson Stout but id still say it was a smooth Whiskey
To me smooth is something that isn't overly aggressive on the pallet while still remaining flavorful and enjoyable. Something that you can just throw over a large ice cube and enjoy on a hot summer's day.
Aberlour or Angel's Envy would be the "Smoothest" that I can think of off the top of my head. For most people I have talked to Smooth would be missing the bite or phenolic burn and essentially missing anything that makes an uncomfortable feeling.
I was going to add here that smooth is a texture and not a flavor but then Rex quoted me saying so... so it would be redundant to say that here. When I think smooth I think silky, velvety and sometimes oily depending on the finish. As pointed out in this video, nothing beats Irish in that category. For a bargain Irish that is smooth and sherried try Bushmills Black Bush for under $30.
Jameson has an ability to essentially dissolve in a mixed drink or over ice. Straight? In your face. A drop or two of water and you are looking for where it just went.
Yeah, for me smooth is the lack of the sharpness at either end of the taste. It sort of starts slow and ends slow. Or just like, single minus blended taste profile.
In my head, when I think of "smooth", I think about 12 years. And you showed a few of the ones I like. Of course, those can be a little expensive. I have Jameson Whiskey I think that is smooth, but also because it is very sweet. I prefer less sweetest which can be hard to find under 12 year Whiskeys. I will drink the sweet stuff, but look forward to trying a couple you mentioned that I haven't had in the hopes to find a decent middle ground. Someone mentioned Angels Envy below and I have had that in some mixed drinks, but never tried it straight. I will have to give it a try, though I have a feeling its sweet. Happy holidays all
I'll be honest, I appreciate the finish these days as a part of a whiskey. Where I think smooth is perfectly apt is wine. If the finish on wine isn't smooth I'm just not a fan, it's brutal crap for me. If I want something with a harsh finish I'll go fine some gas state boxed wine, otherwise if I'm paying 50 a bottle for a lovely Cab-sauv I want a smooth finish.
Smooth is when it feels like you get punched in the face, fire coming out your nose, and you can't stop coughing, brings tears to your eyes. That's smooth
I am the representative for the anti-Glenfiddich 12/monkey shoulder initiative. There is a present vomit flavor that makes it unpalatable. We shall be rememebered!
Smoothest I've ever had is Tullamore Dew at room temp from a fresh opened bottle. Smoothness is how far to your stomach it gets before you feel/react to it. Two fingers in a glass that goes right down fresh without a prior drink that then simply warms you from your lips to your butthole is a 10/10 smooth. That's the joke about people gagging/choking on something and accidentally spraying out out and saying "schmooghth" The smoother the drink the less it reacts with the moisture in your mouth. Its a sign of less volatiles and oils.
Yes Tullamore dew 10 year black label is the best and smoothest whiskey I have ever had I’m not sure if it was ever imported to the US but I would love to find a case of it
A 25 year old Glenfarclas 105 is still the epitome of a smooth whisky to me, second best is the Glenmorangie Lasanta as the sherry cask conditioning just makes it that much sweeter. Honrable mention for a whiskey is Jameson 18 year old - damn expensive so I haven't had it for a long while but on testing all the available whiskeys it bneat the Red Breast hands down. Honorable mention goes to Penderyn sherrywood as that stuff is fantastic.
Metabolic tip: if you enjoy a tipple, eat more butter and cut out the table sugar. Poly unsaturated fatty acids, aka PUFAs, found in industeial seed oils, mess up cell's mitochondria. This will lead the cell to resist the insulin signal to open up and take in more food and nutrients. The groundwork is laid for metabolic disorder: diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Also, table sugar contains 50% fructose which can only be processed in the liver by the same pathway the body metabolizes alcohol. So more butter and less to no table sugar. Other glucose only carbohydrates can be used by the all cells in the body, IF the mitochondria is not plugged up by PUFAs.
What I have always found to be unexpectedly "smooth" it was Laphroaig 10 or for example the select, which just have a very very light begining in taste with overall no noticeable alcohol. It seems harsh from the smell but the taste while carrying peat of course brings such a smooth and nice mouthfeel and development in taste, it‘s lovely.
For me, before I got more in to tasting notes, Smooth = soft (like soft water soft), light in alcohol, no burn, almost umami flavors (i.e. pleasing flavors). Happy new years to all you MBs!
One of the smoothest I’ve had is Sexton Single Malt Irish Whiskey. Delicious green apple notes and absolutely no burn going down. Plus the bottle looks really cool. Don’t judge me.
Smooth, to me, comes from that oily mouth feel (typically non-chill filtered) whiskeys/whiskys and the rounded flavors you find in older and blended scotches. Jameson Blender's Dog. Glenmorangie 18 y.o., Jonnie Walker Blue Label. But I also tried a 12 y.o. Bunnahabhain that seemed pretty smooth to me. Easy to drink doesn't equal smooth in my book. I like Glenfiddich 12... it's light with a simple, but balanced flavor of apple and vanilla. It's easy to drink, but I don't think of it as "smooth".
I can see what he means... It's a strong flavour but has a very velvety mouth feel to me. One of my all time favorite whiskeys though so I might be biased 😉
To me, the word "smooth" equates to complimentary balance with minimal burn. In other words when tasting a distillate I have not had before, I look for balance in the tasting notes. If the sweetness is complimented by the spice notes or say smoke and you can taste all of the elements without one overpowering the others, then it is smooth. When you have too much ABV all you taste is the alcohol, when you have too little it is often difficult to distinguish the notes. Anything between 43 and 55% falls in that category. I must admit though that Jameson Caskmate Stout Edition is one of my favorites and I would consider it smooth. I also like The Tyrconnel, both for the price and the taste.
An old Springbank taste like a really good water, very balance and as a Whisky is taste very expensive, So got one from 1967 , That a not open yet! Think a love it but my favorites are from Islay!
Please also review 2 "budget" Indian Whiskey's namely Oaksmith (blend by Shinji Fukuyo) and Maqintosh by Amrut. They're taking the market by storm here in the Budget segment.
I used to think I wasn't "adult" enough to drink whisk(e)y. Now I have a bottle on Monkey Shoulder on my shelf at home because of you guys. Thank you so much for all of the information and tons of laughs. Keep up the great work.
@@mikekeller5202 We already have a totalitarian dream with the 40% minimum rule, making a new rule changes nothing except all Whiskey gets more flavorful.
Another fine episode good gentlemen. Happy to say that I received a bottle of Redbreast 12 and a bottle of Monkey Shoulder for Christmas. I hope your Christmas was equal as great for the two of you. :)
I am really surprised Jameson is on the list twice....however I have never tried the stout edition. So maybe it is warranted. I agree with the irish whiskey's in my opinion go down easier. On that comment I would recommend Middleton's Very Rare. While maybe not cost effective, I really like. You feel the heat going down so you know you are having some kind of alcohol but it's not like black jack where you have to chew it down
I've said smooth alot of times. Eagle Rare was "Smooth" for me and I see it made your list but it's also what got me back into bourbon. Young college days or was Jim Beam and I always got a bite or burn if you will from and I wouldve rather just drank beer. Eagle rare is what did it and idk if smooth is the word to use or just an easy drinker, plus it has a decent amount of flavor to it. Nothing too complex but once again better than Beam. Alright back to your video.
Smooth = Well integrated. The balance of flavours (nose, palette, finish), legs (mouth feel), and alcoholic burn/tingle/bite/sharpness don't lack/overpower, compete, or become offensive. I think the the higher quality the scotch, the more it complex and ever changing nose and palette, rich and oily mouthfeel, very minimal or no alcoholic burn/tingle/bite, and long finish. I've had very high ABV scotches that are super smooth, and low ABV scotches that were super offensive. So although a scotch with lots of legs indicates more oils, richer mouthfeel, and higher ABV, it doesn't necessarily indicate how much it may burn/tingle/bite.
My definition for smooth is going to be how much it burns. One of the best whiskeys I've tried so far has been Wyoming whiskey. It's a weeded bourbon so there's almost no burn going down. It's bottled at 44% abv.
Wow you guys are great! Love your videos just discovered you guys yesterday while searching more history on Yellow Spot Whiskey. That is my #1 favorite ❤
@@demetriscott7880 If you're in the US Demetri, yellow spot on sale for $79.99/bottle on internet wines... Thinking of picking up 2 to stay stocked myself.
The smoothest whiskey I've ever had is a hard to find in a shop in the states. Single malt welsh! (I doubt that's the right term.) If you ever run across a bottle of Penderyn, give it a try. I don't drink it enough to be certain which bottle I like the best, but I think it could be Penderyn Myth.
"Smooth" - alcohol for people who don't like alcohol. In rum world, underproof hooch served with extra sugar and caramel coloring in a pimped up bottle for that "premiumizzle" effect. "Dude, Zacapa is a super smooth rum..."
Any particular reason Canadian whiskeys didn’t make it in here? A lot of my non-bourbon drinking friends say they prefer Crown Royal or Pendleton over bourbons because Canadian whiskies are “smoother”.
for me smooth is Strathisla 12-year-old, Nikka from the barrel, Cardhu Gold Reserve , Chivas Regal, Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt, so much to choose from
I just want to say, that I absolutely love your whole setup for this video. As somebody who has a startup podcast and potentially gonna do videos later - you guys are definitely inspiring. Loved this video!
Iv found Glenlivet Founders Reserve, went down really smooth. I didnt get any sharpness and minimal burn going down. Definitely a nice daily Scotch. Could Definitely pick up a honey and malty flavour.
This is one of your best videos guys. The explanation of beginners looking for texture vs flavor is really insightful and something I’ve tried to explain many times during tasting classes to people who are struggling to find all the flavors and feel the only can taste alcohol.
The note about smooth being a texture, not a flavor is spot on! Smooth can often times be more flavorful than harsh, especially in something like whiskey or wine.
I think of "smooth" as "the absence of bite"... not always a good thing, but not always bad either. Either can be desirable, depending... even though taste is subjective, some things (like bite) do blend well for taste in many cases.
This is the video ive been looking for since i got into whisky, ive tried about 30 scotch and irish whiskies now and i would say that dalwhinnie 15 or monkey shoulder are the smoothest scotches and the irish i would choose is the jameson stout cask. Personally i would describe smoothness as the drink having no bite or spice or strong challenging flavours, you want vanilla honey and caramel for a smooth taste, without that peppery face churning feeling
I'm glad I'm hearing some good things about Jameson Caskmates here. There are just so many whisk(e)ys in the world to try, and I wasn't sure whether it was worth trying the stout edition or any of the others, but it sounds like there's a lot of value in doing a comparison to standard Jameson. Sweet!
Why is vacuuming a winebottle a thing for preserving the wine, and vacuuming a whisky bottle not?? The problem with to much air in the whiskybottle would be solved... I think.
"reasonably accessible" talking about eagle rare lol... Come to Ohio, you'll never see that bottle ever again. Also, basil Hayden straight bourbon is probably the smoothest bourbon I've had
@@barrystephens900 in Ohio we can get Weller Special Reserve pretty much any day and Weller Antique weekly. Buffalo trace maybe once a month if you're lucky and camp out, and eagle rare once per year, definitely have to camp out.
Stated at #7 on the list and as a pretty ignorant drinker who’s trying to expand their palette without bankrupting himself or becoming a full on alcoholic - I’ll be surprised if Monkey Shoulder doesn’t show up here, from my experience of a few it seems the least imposing I’ve had even if I think flavour wise the best I’ve tried is Woodford Reserve.
