One of the most complex and sophisticated drams ever created by humans, scotch requires a skilled schnoz and a complex palate to enjoy fully. Your cronies will cock their eyebrows and nod in approval. Women will throw themselves at your feet. You'll probably crush your enemies and see them driven before you.

For now it's time to drop the keg to the basement and break out the copita glasses. It's scotch-tasting time.

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What You'll Need

• Whiskey
• Knowledge of the proper tasting technique
• Tasting glasses
• Spring water
• Coasters
• Fresh coffee and chocolates
• Cigars (optional)

Tips & Advice

Pick your poison

An assortment of different whiskeys is best for beginners. Pick a few single malts from different areas of Scotland, and compliment them with a few high-quality blends. You want to be able to offer a variety.

If you're trying several different styles, it's best to start with light whiskeys, then go to dark whiskeys.

For veteran tasters, set up a tasting of several "expressions" from one distillery or label. A classic tasting method is to try everything from one producer, moving from the younger whiskeys to the older whiskeys, or from the lighter-bodied specimens to the more full-bodied offerings. You can also zero in on an island or valley and taste all the different whiskeys from that area.

Prepare notes

Type up a sheet describing each whiskey in the order they will be sampled, and what to expect from each. Is there anything notable about the whiskey's history, its region of origin, or its taste?

Offer a list of flavors to expect, like vanilla, marmalade, Christmas pudding, coffee, black currant, tobacco, orange rind, cinnamon and ginger. This will help your guests describe what they like and don't like about each sample.

Leave plenty of white space for your guests to take notes. They'll likely taste something they enjoy enough to want again, so encourage notation.

Offer instruction

You may want to kick things off with a brief tutorial in how to properly taste whiskey. Refer to (or print out) our primer on How to Taste Whiskey.

Remind everyone to take it slowly. Give yourselves ample time to smell, taste and experience each whiskey.

Pick the glasses

A proper tasting glass must have a stem and it must be tulip-shaped. Use sherry glasses (also called "copitas") if you have them. You can also use a wine glass or a snifter. But the stem and the tulip shape are musts. Don't use shot glasses, so-called "whiskey glasses" or any straight-walled glass.

Set up a separate glass for each whiskey you'll be tasting. Or, at the very least, rinse in between each taste.

Have water handy

You'll be cutting your younger whiskeys -- the single malts and anything less than 15 years old -- with water to help them open up. Dilute your whiskeys slightly, bringing them down to about 35 percent alcohol.

Anything older than 15 years should be tasted without water, but it's OK to add water if you still feel like you need it.

Make sure the water is room temperature. Use filtered or distilled spring water from a bottle. Don't use sparkling water and don't use ice -- both will mask the flavors.

Complement the tastes

Downing a mouthful of coffee before tasting a whiskey is an excellent complement. In addition to awakening the palette before a taste, it can enhance the flavor of the whiskey soon to be sampled. Brew some fresh coffee and prepare small cups. Espresso cups are perfect.

Place some chocolates on the table. Shoot for 72 percent to 86 percent cocoa. Chocolate should be sampled after each whiskey.

Continue with the coffee-whiskey-chocolate rotation for the duration of the tasting. Just be sure to take your time -- you don't want the flavors to overlap each other, but only to compliment and enhance each other.

Cigars are great for the end of the tasting. Have everyone pour a glass of their favorite whiskey from the bunch, and enjoy it with a cigar.

Age it

If you'd really like to experience deeper flavors hidden in a particular whiskey, give it more time. Place a coaster over the glass to slow the evaporation. Come back to it in 20 minutes, then again in an hour, then again in two hours. See how the character changes.

Authors: How-To Wiki

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