its like drinking a BBQ…4th glass now and getting used to it, not sure i’d buy a bottle though (drinking dad’s as he’s on his hols)

prefer a smoother whisky it has to be said….

I’m not a big drinker at all but I LOVE Ardbeg. Just like drinking a bbq peat bog.

Smokin’

It’s a very intense. I agree that one should not drink a lot of it at once.

If you don’t want it then feel free to send it to me – lovely stuff.

its ok im doing fine on it…6th glass now and grinning…(its needed tonight)

It’s lovely I was at the distillery last Tuesday and had a nice tasting session tried nine different expressions some of which were fantastic , nice 😉 also toured laphroaig lagavulin and bowmore 😉

Try a drop of water in it. Not dilute, but literally a drop. Some drams really don’t like it but Ardbeg explodes with water.

which Ardberg is it?
if it’s not ?Uigeadail, then you should savour its subtlety – I love my smokey, chewy, peaty Islay malts – but this takes some drinking
have you tried a splash of water in it?
EDIT: as cougar says, it really makes it a lot more drinkable
what is harsh and gasping becomes smooth and flavoursome

I have a splash of mineral water in most of my whisky’s, always enhances flavour….

still on 6th glass…..watching tigerland kids asleep and mrs out…bliss

If its supernova don’t add water it kills it even a drop

Your dad will probably murder you when he gets back and finds out you’ve drunk all his ardbeg and you don’t even like it much! And I doubt any court in the land would convict him for it.

On the subject of Ardbeg – anyone tried the 1990 – Airigh Nam Beist?

Looking at treating myself to a bottle.

Yes it was one of the ones I had last week my fav of the ardbegs better with a drop of water interestingly unlike the supernova which is better without. Corry and still young were other top ones 😉

cheers guv, tasting notes made it sound like it’d be right up my street

Tis gorgeous mate if your let down send it my way lol

I have a splash of mineral water in most of my whisky’s, always enhances flavour….

“Always”?

With respect, you either need to drink more whiskies or have no taste buds.

Adding water to whisky isn’t about watering it down, it’s about separating out flavours. Whisky is made up of hydrophilic and hydrophobic flavours, held in balance in the whisky. When you add water, you throw it out of balance; result, some of the hydrophobic flavours are repelled out of solution and escape as vapour.

Now, seeing as most of our sense of taste is actually our sense of smell, you’re essentially injecting flavour directly where you can measure it best – up your nose.

This gives us two issues.

1) different whiskies react differently to the addition of water. Some explode with flavour, some die completely. Eg, one on my favourite staple whiskies is Jura, but adding water to it just destroys it.

2) once you’ve added water, if you let it stand for too long, all the flavour escapes. For best results, I’d suggest a Glencairn glass (google it), or failing that a brandy snifter or even a red wine glass at a pinch.

I use a red wine glass. The Glencairn looks perfect. Want one.

“one on my favourite staple whiskies is Jura”

It takes all sorts… 😉 I thought it had the tang of stagnant tap water.

You get given a lagavulin glencairn glass free on the tour

In a blind tasting, I’d struggle…..

(I freely admit that I’m no connoisseur of whiskey though. Can’t even spell it.)

Whisky – Neandertal’s beer.

Just saying like.

Neanderthal’s were real men though weren’t they?

You get given a lagavulin glencairn glass free on the tour

are you on commission?

Oh I wish lol my favourite of all tho is the laphroaig 2008 cairdeas really nice like a ten cs with seawater 😉

I’m having a wee dram of Glenfarclas as we speak. Some folk on here must have dodgy taste buds, I like all whisky from Old Pultenay to Caol Ila & all those in between.
Never did get all that ‘Jack Daniels’ & other Whiskey/Bourbon derivatives though.

I’ve had to hide my malts away in a cupboard in the lounge if they are on view i can’t control myself.

Very much a Bowmore fan, ardbeg i find a touch too astringent for my palatte.

> With respect, you either need to drink more whiskies or have no taste buds.

You sound like a complete pillock there, I hope you realise.

You sound like a complete pillock there, I hope you realise

Wrong, Cougar has a point.
You Gordy, are now the pillock.

I knew one of his groupies would turn up. ;O)

I bet the op is unconscious by now 😉

Heheh – hope so.

ikea do stemless wine glasses that work well as whisky glasses

I have a bottle of nearly there that I’m trying hard not to blast through 🙂

Currently drinking Jura.

Mostly neat with 1 lump of ice…

Tonight with Ginger beer…

Had a couple in a nice Kenco filter coffee earlier…

I might just add a splash of coke to one in a bit…

Why?

Because I like it…

Because it really winds people up…

I also have HP Brown Sauce on my Sunday roast and drive a 4×4 that I don’t really need…

When you add water, you throw it out of balance; result, some of the hydrophobic flavours are repelled out of solution and escape as vapour.

What’s the science behind that then? Hydrophobic flavours would surely not be in solution anyway, by definition they’d be separated already – there’s tons of water in whisky already, and what would make them vapourise then all of a sudden, does their boiling point change when the new special extra water is added?

<seriously, while I might be grinning a bit while I write it I’m sure there’s actually an explanation>

Because I like it…

Because it really winds people up…

Stick with option A. Your option B there blows goats, although I agree with the general sentiment. :O)

I should really expand on that point Gordy…

I do it because I like it.

It’s an added bonus that it winds pillocks on here up.

There, sorted!

Hear, hear!

Each to their own I don’t mind how people do their thang, I just prefer to try it without any water then with a bit to compare then I know which I prefer . I used to use ice myself til I tried it without and found it nicer. Were all different so are our tastes just look at some of the bikes on here 😉 ain’t no wrong as long as you like it 😉 tho its a shame if people don’t try it in different ways as its very different and they may be one way they prefer I know I prefer different ones in different ways

It takes all sorts…

It’d be boring if we were all the same. But for clarity, I didn’t say it was my favourite, I meant it’s one of my favourites at the cheap end, if you see what I mean.

You sound like a complete pillock there, I hope you realise.

The opinion of someone I don’t know on the Internet has been duly noted.

What’s the science behind that then?

I was told this by a chemistry type. I didn’t analyse it too closely because he’s better equipped than I am to understand this stuff. Maybe it was a “lies to children” oversimplification.

I just prefer to try it without any water then with a bit to compare then I know which I prefer .

‘s what I’d suggest.

What’s the science behind that then? Hydrophobic flavours would surely not be in solution anyway, by definition they’d be separated already – there’s tons of water in whisky already, and what would make them vapourise then all of a sudden, does their boiling point change when the new special extra water is added?

Cougar is more or less right – some interesting discussion on the concepts at work here: http://blog.khymos.org/2007/06/03/new-perspectives-on-whisky-and-water/
Although the idea of adding a single drop of water to a 55% aqueous solution and noting a difference seems a bit far fetched.

The aroma compounds are volatile and will always have significant vapour pressure – they’re not boiling, they’re just being released into solution by the various mechanisms discussed in that link above.

Although the idea of adding a single drop of water and noting a difference seems a bit far fetched.

As one of nature’s sceptics, I’d agree. However, I can categorically assure you that it does. Try it. Why it does, I know not.

Actually, let me C&P the original article my mate wrote, I may have lost something in the translation. Moment….

Presented unedited other than formatting; this was written back in October 2001.

>>

Adding water to whisky

I was very dubious about this for a long time, but there *is* a scientific reason for it. It goes something like this:

The naturally occurring chemicals which are responsible for the flavours of whisky are of two sorts, hydrophilic (“water loving”) and hydrophobic (“water fearing”, these are the more oily components). Bottle whisky is generally of the order of 43-45% alcohol, the rest being water, with the flavour components present in trace amounts, and the whole lot forms a glorious homogeneous solution.

When you add water, you’re changing the water:alcohol balance (fairly obviously). This has the effect of repelling a proportion of the hydrophobic flavour components OUT of the solution. What happens is they escape as vapour into the space above the glass. Since a large proportion of our sense of taste is actually linked to our sense of smell, what happens is that our noses detect the extra vapour, and the taste of the whisky is enhanced.

However, whisky that’s diluted with water should not be allowed to stand, because over time the new vapours above the surface will diffuse away with the end result being that you’ve lost a lot of the flavour components.

The best results, I find, come when you add a small splash of water to the whisky, and drink it from a nosing glass, which is designed to funnel the vapours towards your nose. “A small splash” can be anything from a few drops to about 25% (volume:volume) – anything more really does tend to dilute the flavour components a bit too much unless it’s a particularly powerful whisky. But experiment with the flavours before and after adding water. A particularly vapoury malt such as 10-year Ardbeg leads little or no water adding, whereas some of the older more deeply-flavoured malts (the Glenmorangie special finishes come immediately to mind) benefit quite amazingly from a moderate sized splash.

</chemist>