Whisky U - How to make Scotch Whisky Tasting Notes 

this guy has the voice of god.

You've inspired me to start my own tasting and appreciation notes. I bought the proper glass and picked up a nice Macallan 10 yr single malt but I realized my experience will be incomplete without a monocle of my own.

i would love to have this guy as a professor. i could listen all day

I love this guy. Knows what is talking about. Not snobby, and very thorough.

I want a glass of this guy's voice.

I want to start drinking whisky! No, I want to drink whisky like Charlie, preferably with Charlie.

Don't pay too much attention to the colour of a whisky unless you know that it has no additional caramel (E150a) added. Most distilleries add E150a to lure the customer into thinking it is an old and mature whisky. Look out for the magic words 'natural colour' on the label of a bottle - in this case it actually makes sense to describe the colour of your dram.

I really like these clips... I could spend hours watching Charlie MacLean and (especially) listening to him. But I would like to add the probably most important point for tasting whisky (and appreciating it): Take your time. Take as much time as you can.

You're doing it all wrong! First you swirl it around bring it up and say, hello. Then you bring it back up and say , how are you? Quite well ....... thank you very much;'D I don't even drink , but for some reason I find scotch extremely interesting! Appreciate it!

Keeping notes is a good idea. You will remember where you are eight hours later.

All of these videos have been extremely instructive. Thank you very much for posting these.

His description of "Christmas Cake" is where you as a "novice" can understand perhaps! I enjoyed it very much! Tommie

Ardbeg is good. I'm a Bowmore man myself. If you're an Islay fan, you're alright with me

I recently purchased a Duncan Taylor 43-year bottling and noticed after leaving part of a dram covered for 12 hours the nose had changed quite dramatically. Very fun thing to do.

I've noticed that if you keep the glass you used unwashed for a day or so, you can often smell the wood of the barrel they used.

@Kaiser333333 Certainly a nicely balanced whisky. Thanks for your comment.

@Thomas Barger, the man never did imply that the drink has any ageing relation to Christmas cake, he simply stated that the taste was present in the palate .

informative, unpretentious, and fair. though i dont like to add water to my whisky, i find it does things to the finish that are unforgiveable. there are some whiskies that certainly do change with the addition of water, but i like a whisky as it, warmed in my palm in a glencarin glass and savored at any strength.

Ha...we'll be sure to let Charlie know...he can send you some tips. It is excellent to record. Cheers.

I really like this guy.

if charlie could bottle his voice.. it would score a 100 out of a 100!!......add the monocle, pure perfection!

The colour is really only interesting if the whiskey has no colorant added; the dreaded E150a. Probably all blends and most if not all of the large single malt distillers use colorant. The trend is, however, and thankfully so, towards less use of colorants and also of the flavour-stripping chill-filtration. Since the distilleries which don't use colorants are proud of this fact, they will clearly state it on the bottles, whereas those who do add colorant and/or chill-filtrate will not make statements about this (this refers to the US market; I believe that in the EU regulations mean the distiller has to declare additives like colorants. Adding colorant to Bourbon is illegal, I believe). Anyway, my point is that the colour often tells you nothing.

@HMM WHO, there's no shame is adding water to most whiskeys, my friends and I drink most whiskey exclusively with a dash of cool water. Burning is unpleasant, no matter what the snobs say

thanks or the tips but hope I will wake up for work tomorrow haha

he can be good voice actor

Ardbeg Uigeadail, that is all you need to know about whisky :)

I'm after a nice good brand of whisky in witch I can store away for a special time

A couple of things I find useful - firstly don't drink whisky when you are thirsty, it tastes better when your mouth is not dry start with something cheap but drinkable which will prime your palate After swallowing, breathe in through your mouth quite sharply and free the vapours in your mouth, you can also squeeze the flavour in your mouth.

yeah...i have little disagreement there... dont judge a whiskey by its color!!! most have E150 (caramel coloring) so the color will tell you less than you think... the three main things are Nose, Palate, Finish...

what's an example of a whiskey that doesn't taste like shit the following morning?

This is a great video, scotch is an amazing drink, and that is a great mustache. But 'Christmas cake...moist Christmas cake?' Is this really necessary for a spirit. At what point in history was scotch fermented with holiday cake? You may a well compare the flavor to unicorns and treasure trolls.

No matter what is the type of whisky I’m drinking; it’s always the same! He’s talking about the smell of fruits and smoky woods when all I smell is burning alcohol! Do I have a problem or anyone agrees with me?

physiologically speaking, taste localization on the tongue is no longer accepted as accurate. great video, thanks for the intro!

Interesting - however it is a myth that tastes are confined to certain parts of the tongue

the color cames from caramel as chrissept21 said. A 50 y.o. whisky without caramel has a pale amber color.

sounds English with Scottish notes on certain words

I'm about to do this with Jameson and be a classy son of a bitch

color doenst tell anything! most of the whiskys got caramel in them!!!

It's annoying and disingenous that those involved in the industry fail to mention e150 caramel colouring.