Tasting

Begin with a clean, tulip-shaped glass in a quiet room without perfume, cooking smells or smoke. Log the sample, date, glass, room, serving temperature, whether the identity is known or blind, the measured pour and the time allowed to rest. The SWA’s traditional route begins with the sound of the opening and pour, then moves to sight; this archive holds both inside Observe.

Raise the glass against neutral light. Record hue, depth and clarity, then give it one controlled swirl and watch how the spirit returns down the bowl. The movement and ‘legs’ are observations, not a quality grade. Colour can offer a clue to maturation, but it does not prove age, cask type or value and must never influence the final score by itself.

Write literal evidence first—pale gold, clear, slow-moving—before interpretation such as refill bourbon or long maturation. If the identity is hidden, keep it hidden until every sensory note and the provisional score are complete.

Let the glass settle, then bring it towards the nose rather than plunging the nose into the rim. Take two or three short, gentle breaths and move away. High-strength spirit can numb perception; distance and patience reveal more than one deep inhale.

Record the first impression, then move from broad families to particulars: perhaps grain, fruit, floral notes, spice, oak, smoke, mineral or savoury character. Use familiar language and write only what you can defend. The SWA notes that different people detect different aromas and that description becomes easier with practice; disagreement is information, not failure.

Return after a minute. Once the neat nose is fixed, add only a few drops of still, unchilled water when useful, allow the glass to settle again and record what opens, closes or changes. Never replace the neat note with the diluted one—keep both conditions visible.

Take a small sip and let the whisky coat the mouth. The SWA traditional guide asks the taster to move the spirit across the palate and notice flavours that may differ from the nose. Do not rush to swallow and do not force the experience into a fixed tongue map; attend to the whole mouth.

Write in sequence. Arrival is the first contact: sweetness, acidity, alcohol, smoke or spice. Development is what unfolds next: fruit, cereal, oak, savoury notes and transitions. Structure describes intensity, weight, texture and the way those elements hold together. Separate alcoholic heat from flavour concentration.

Taste neat before making any adjustment. If water was useful on the nose, add a controlled amount and repeat one small sip. Note whether dilution improves definition and balance or simply thins the whisky. The better condition is part of the record, not a rule that every Scotch needs water.

Do not write the finish while still tasting the arrival. Put the glass down, breathe normally and notice how long clear flavour persists. Use short, medium or long as a first measure, then describe whether it fades evenly, changes direction or ends abruptly.

This pass maps directly to the SWA’s final sense, Touch: how the whisky feels in the mouth and whether flavour lasts or disappears quickly. Record texture—perhaps light, creamy, oily, waxy, drying or tannic—without treating richness as automatically superior.

Name the final flavours and the shape of the aftertaste. Distinguish warming alcohol from persistent flavour, and complexity from simple duration. Refresh with water and pause before another sample so the next whisky does not inherit the previous finish.

Complete every descriptive field before showing or calculating a number. This fifth pass is Martin Miles’s collection method, not part of the SWA five-sense guide. Its purpose is consistency inside this archive, not a universal declaration of quality.

The working scale is additive: Nose, Palate, Finish, Balance and Character each receive up to 20 points. Add them for a transparent total out of 100. Price, age, rarity, packaging, reputation and collectability receive no points. A distinctive whisky is rewarded only when that identity is coherent in the glass.

Publish the total with its five components, author, date, scale, blind or open status, serving condition, water used and confidence. Retasting may create a new dated record; it must not silently overwrite the first. Compare scores only when the method and conditions are comparable.