what are you enjoying tonight?

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dennishoddy

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Cool little hole in the wall place.



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tRidiot

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Larceny: I've really been enjoying Heaven Hill products. I have several bottles of their Elijah Craig B517 and now C917 tucked away for a day far, far, into the future.

Drank a late coffee on the way home from The Gathering Place in Tulsa, now having a hard time dozing off - so I just got up and poured myself some Larceny, too! Neat, of course... I think I'll see how far I can get into the DVR'd Thunder game from tonight before I drift off again... lol
 

MacFromOK

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Just ran across this article. Don't have any whisky (lol, or whiskey) on hand at the moment to verify the principle, but it is interesting. :drunk2:

"Yes, You Should Add Water to Your Whisky & Here's Why

It may sound like blasphemy, but adding water to a glass of whisky has been proven to change the look, smell, and taste of whisky—and for the better.

Aroma molecules, more similar in composition to alcohol molecules, tend to bind together; like attracts like. But with a few drops of water, the aroma molecules are dislodged from the alcohol and are freed into the air... and the scent, once locked in the liquor, is now discernible to your nose.

This is extremely important to enhancing the flavor of your whisky, because smell is an integral part of detecting flavor—in fact, the sensation of flavor is a combination of taste and smell. Therefore, it stands to conclude that anything that increases your sensory perception of one thing will lead to a similar increase in the other sense.

And speaking of taste, the drops of water affect what is detected on the tongue, too: the Thinking Drinkers also state that water makes the tongue more receptive to fruity and salty flavors, not just the usual sweet and spicy flavors of strong liquor. This further increases the complexity of what is detected upon first taste of the whisky.

So, to summarize: adding water not only increases the aroma of the whisky, it also increases our receptivity to more complex flavors that would otherwise be hard to detect amongst the strength of the liquor.

Okay, I'll Bite. So How Much Water Do I Add?

Cook's Illustrated ran a taste test that gave tasters increasing 1 tsp increments of water per 1 1/2-oz. sample of 80-proof whisky. Tasters were already able to discern more complex flavors and aromas after just 1 tsp, but most preferred the addition of 2 tsp of water (which diluted the whisky to 65-proof, but also allowed them to appreciate the sweeter, fruity flavors in the liquor).
"

https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/yes-you-should-add-water-your-whisky-heres-why-0167281/
 

O4L

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Just ran across this article. Don't have any whisky (lol, or whiskey) on hand at the moment to verify the principle, but it is interesting. :drunk2:

"Yes, You Should Add Water to Your Whisky & Here's Why

It may sound like blasphemy, but adding water to a glass of whisky has been proven to change the look, smell, and taste of whisky—and for the better.

Aroma molecules, more similar in composition to alcohol molecules, tend to bind together; like attracts like. But with a few drops of water, the aroma molecules are dislodged from the alcohol and are freed into the air... and the scent, once locked in the liquor, is now discernible to your nose.

This is extremely important to enhancing the flavor of your whisky, because smell is an integral part of detecting flavor—in fact, the sensation of flavor is a combination of taste and smell. Therefore, it stands to conclude that anything that increases your sensory perception of one thing will lead to a similar increase in the other sense.

And speaking of taste, the drops of water affect what is detected on the tongue, too: the Thinking Drinkers also state that water makes the tongue more receptive to fruity and salty flavors, not just the usual sweet and spicy flavors of strong liquor. This further increases the complexity of what is detected upon first taste of the whisky.

So, to summarize: adding water not only increases the aroma of the whisky, it also increases our receptivity to more complex flavors that would otherwise be hard to detect amongst the strength of the liquor.

Okay, I'll Bite. So How Much Water Do I Add?

Cook's Illustrated ran a taste test that gave tasters increasing 1 tsp increments of water per 1 1/2-oz. sample of 80-proof whisky. Tasters were already able to discern more complex flavors and aromas after just 1 tsp, but most preferred the addition of 2 tsp of water (which diluted the whisky to 65-proof, but also allowed them to appreciate the sweeter, fruity flavors in the liquor).
"

https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/yes-you-should-add-water-your-whisky-heres-why-0167281/
Yeah, a teaspoon at a time is a bit too much.

Usually you can add a few drops at a time to see how it changes and opens up the whiskey.

I will do this sometimes when I am tasting something new especially if it is very high proof like 120 or more. After trying several sips at full strength it can be very interesting to see how different notes seem to be uncovered by adding a little water.

Because I am used to drinking Whisk(e)y neat, 80 proof already seems watered down to me but someone that is not used to the alcohol burn might enjoy adding a few drops of water after the initial tasting.
 

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