The Australian Malt Whisky Championships
Those wanting to pit their tasting skills against other Australian whisky nerds have the perfect opportunity to do so each year at the Australian Malt Whisky Tasting Championships. I will be there at this year’s event, which is being held at the Art Gallery of NSW on 26 March 2022.
For those unfamiliar with the format, one week before the event, competitors are sent a list of 50 potential expressions of whisky, thereby given the opportunity, if they are unfamiliar with any, to go out and taste them. Then, on the night, competitors are supplied with 8 drams of whisky, and given 9 names, out of the original list of 50. They have 30 minutes to taste the samples and decide which is which, thereby also excluding the red herring amongst the 9 names. The person who correctly identifies the most expressions wins. Plays offs, also chosen from the original list of 50, are necessary in the case of ties.
Eight samples of whisky in 30 minutes. The maths (and physiological reality of that) should sink in. No one in their right mind would seriously intend consuming all 8 drams in full. Indeed at such a break-neck speed, compared with the usual leisurely pace at which whisky is best enjoyed, it is hard to imagine a single person being sober at the end of the event, but for some self-restraint.
I am reminded of the challenges faced by whisky blenders, who are often sampling and blending dozens (if not hundreds) of expressions every day. The only way that they can survive such a gruelling (!!) situation is by relying almost exclusively on their olfactory (smell) senses. Although there is much academic disagreement in research literature regarding just how much our sense of taste is influenced by smell, there is general agreement that smell has a very significant impact on how we perceive flavour (1), and this is demonstrated by the techniques of whisky blenders.
My strong recommendation to anyone new to this event is that they initially try distinguishing the various drams by nose (olfaction) alone. If there are some samples that, on the nose, have the distinctive character of a particular distillery, then assume that is the correct distillery, and preserve your limited capacity to ingest alcohol for those samples that remain a mystery to you.
A second piece of advice is to trust your first instinct. I recall at one tasting championship I thought I recognised a couple of the expressions immediately at the start, but later after I had consumed some samples of other expressions, I returned to these and lost confidence and became confused. I should have stuck with my first impressions, which were actually correct. My view is that we are usually at our best with our perceptions before alcohol has had a chance to reduce the acuity of our senses of taste and smell, and therefore we should trust our earlier impressions over our later ones.
Another recommendation is to know the limits of your knowledge, and make the most of what you do know. If you have never tasted a particular distillery before, exclude it from your list, and only try to place the distilleries you do know. Once you have identified known distilleries to the best of your ability, it really is just a case of chance as to whether you correctly guess the remaining ones or not.
Sometimes there are two very similar distilleries and styles. Try closing your eyes, focus on each in turn with small sips, try to recall other times when you have tried those expressions and what associations you have with them. For those familiar with my Double Pour Comparison (DPC) technique, it should be a little easier to ferret out which is which.
Lastly, be social and chat with the people seated near you. A common love of whisky brings us all together, and sharing the experience with others will enhance your experience, and remind you to relax and enjoy yourself. You might even be seated next to me!
Charles Spence, “Just how much of what we taste derives from the sense of smell?”, Flavour 4, 30 (2015).
