Whiskey Expert (that’s me) answers questions
I was asked by Tasting Table to answer a number of whiskey related questions. Here’s what they were curious about along with my veryyyy abridged answers. Click the links to read more about each topic.
Whiskey tasting tips
Q: Should you warm up your palate before a whiskey tasting? Why? What’s the best way?
A: Yes! Here’s why
Q: What should you eat before a whiskey tasting?
A: Avoid strong-tasting foods like these
Q: What’s the best way to cleanse your palate during a whiskey tasting?
A: At the bare minimum, sip water. Here are some more effective ways.
Whiskey cocktail pairings
Q: What whiskey cocktail pairs well with grilled fish?
A: Penicillin & here’s why
More to come…
Other Posts
The industry as a whole feels somewhat intimidating and vast! So typically people will get comfortable in one category and not branch out to other categories because they are unknown. I understand this from a personal level and want to help others open their minds to other categories by making it simpler to understand the different types of spirits categories and subcategories without completely dumbing things down. I turned to ChatGPT to see if it could help me and to test it’s distilled spirits knowledge!
I’m currently bundled up on the couch online shopping for Christmas gifts. My default is to give everyone whiskey themed gifts because that’s what I know best. Luckily, most of my friends and family are whiskey drinkers anyways. If you’re looking for gift ideas for the whiskey lover in your life, then here are 5 types of gifts that would be perfect for any whiskey lover… along with many examples!
Jerry and I took an impromptu trip and our first stop was Denver. We only had time to visit one distillery while we were there. I chose a distillery that produces exclusively single malts, sourcing 90% of the barley that they use from local farms and paving the way for the American single malt category. They were founded in 2004 making them the first distillery to open in Colorado after prohibition. You already know who I’m talking about… we visited Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey!
Want to know how to tell yeast and bacteria apart just by looking at them under the microscope? It’s easy!
Recently I was able to spend some time in NYC and was so excited to pop in to Van Brunt Stillhouse located in Brooklyn. They are a farm distillery embracing the fact that whiskey is an agricultural product and they just celebrated their 10 year anniversary the week before we got there. I would highly recommend checking out Van Brunt Stillhouse! You can really taste that each whiskey was artisanally handcrafted.
Proof is simply just twice the percent alcohol by volume (ABV). But it seems silly to have both ABV and proof listed on a bottle of distilled spirits. So how did proof come to be? The development of the term “proof” in reference to alcohol concentration has many stories. Not all of them are historically accurate and I’ve definitely told the more fun ones that may or may not just be myths. Ultimately what it comes down to is taxes. Talking taxes is no fun, so allow me to start with the fun stories!
There are so many meaningless words on whiskey labels that just add more confusion to which bottle you should buy. These frivolous words don’t give any indication to what the whiskey will actually taste like and as consumers, what we really care about is whether or not we’re going to enjoy the whiskey. So let’s go over them!
Last weekend I ventured 1 hour & 45 minutes up the coast to Ventura Spirits, located in Ventura, CA. And it is such a cool, down-to-earth distillery producing craft spirits… I don’t use the word “craft” lightly. All of the ingredients used for their spirits are sourced from local farms around Ventura and they constantly have the goal of reducing waste in mind. If you are ever on the west coast, Ventura Spirits is definitely worth a visit!
This year, I curated four different whiskey advent calendars to choose from. Each one was filled with either 12 or 24 delicious whiskies from all over the world. The advent calendar I chose for my countdown to Christmas was, of course, the 12 Days of Top-Shelf Whisk(e)y. Here are my tasting notes!
Robyn Smith, PhD
I earned my PhD in chemical engineering, more specifically studying the kinetics of heterogeneous catalytic reactions. For the last two years I was the research chemist at a high tech distillery in Los Angeles, CA leading the R&D. I have experience creating rums, brandies and whiskeys at both bench top and production scales. I’m also a crossfitter, bodybuilder and strongfitter.
I was asked by Tasting Table to answer a number of whiskey related questions. They wanted to know all about warming up your palate before a whiskey tasting and how the best way to cleanse your palate during a tasting. They were even curious about pairing whiskey cocktails with fish dishes. I’ve included summaried of my answers along with links to the full articles.