Virtual Whisky Tastings

Virtual Online Tastings 

Virtual online tastings are perfect for groups of friends, as part of a private corporate event or simply a teambuilding to get your colleagues virtually together. Here are a few tips for guiding you through hosting a virtual tutored tasting, perfected over the years  by our whisky experts from our Edinburgh home at The Scotch Whisky Experience.

Whether you are sharing Scotch memories from a recent visit to Scotland, or starting on a voyage of discovery yourself, you no longer need to be in the same home or bar to enjoy a dram together, now distant colleagues, relatives and life-long friends can come together on many platforms to enjoy an online whisky tasting.

Preparation 

Ensure that everyone joins your call well-prepared with all that they will need.

• Scotch – we suggest that the very best way to taste is by comparing drams side by side.  This will allow you to compare and contrast one whisky with another and helps immeasurably both in teasing out the differences, and in deciding which whiskies you prefer. Anything from two to five whiskies is a good number, any only a small tasting measure is needed.
• Water – in Scotland our pure natural water is one of the key three simple ingredients for making Scotch whisky and a glass on this is essential for your tasting experience – (more will be revealed)!
• Glasses – ideally have each whisky in its own glass, allowing for the comparison.  Don’t be too worried about the type of glass, but if you want to make the very best comparisons then a tulip shaped glass with a blown to examine the colour and body, and a tapered mouth to hold the aromas is best.
• Aromas – a great (and fun) way to get your brain connecting with your sense of taste and smell is to give it a quick exercise! Gather a few household aromas – spices, herbs, flowers, fruits, cereals, baked goods, smoked foods.  It’s best to avoid artificial scents as they can be very powerful.
• Food – this can play two different parts, a neutral cracker or Scottish oatcake will neutralise the palate between drams.  Or, a chocolate or some cheese are two never failing matches that will enhance your tasting and bring a whole new dimension to the whisky.
• Distillery map of Scotland

The order of things 

• Ensure that everyone has all that they need and are settled
• Ask people to share some of their chosen household aromas – this encourages lots of memories as aroma and scent are deeply embedded in some of our oldest memories.
• Have a look at our video together on how best to nose and taste Scotch whisky.
• Choose the order of your whiskies from lightest to heaviest and you are ready to start nosing and tasting!
• With your first dram search for some of the aromas that you discussed together.  Although Single Malt Scotch has only three simple ingredients – Barley, Water and Yeast, natural chemical compounds create flavours that remind us of spices, herbs, flowers, fruits, cereals, baked goods and smoked foods, to name but a few!
• Before you move to tasting check the perfect pronunciation of our toast / cheers here is Scotland “Slàinte Mhath“, and don’t drink it all!  You will want to go back and compare and contrast.
• Make sure that you enjoy any food matches as you go along.
• Before the drams are finished make sure everyone has one last comparison between each.  Our sense of smell changes as it is exposed to all the different flavours of each whisky, and as the whisky opens up it changes over time, so you may have a different view about a whisky each time you come back to it.

Takeaways 

• Which whisky did you prefer?
• In the main did you enjoy the whiskies straight, with water, or did it vary dram to dram?
• Were there any staller food matches?
• Any big surprises?
• Which whiskies do you want to try next?

Make sure you follow us on all our channels to find the inspiration for your very own tastings.  Our brilliant “whiskies of the month” blogs and social posts will give you themes, stories and tasting notes to get you started!