Why Does Whiskey Taste Like Whiskey?
What do you taste…what do you smell when you take a sip of whiskey? If it’s Scotch, you may taste tar, or dried fruit, or marmalade. Trying a bourbon? Scents of maple, or blackberry, or coconut come from the glass. Irish? A lush selection of fruit, maybe a grassy freshness. Sipping a Canadian might yield caramel, roasted nuts, and a zippy note of spice. Japanese can offer a bosky note of greenery, perhaps smoky plum notes. Grab a small distillery whiskey, and anything’s on the table: barbecue, hot tires, strawberries, peanuts, or peppermint.
Not one of them is an ingredient in the whiskey. No blackberries, no peanuts, no marmalade, and certainly no tires have been added!
Then where do they come from? The answer to that question is found in the answer to a larger question: what is whiskey, and how is it made? There are flavors and aromas being made (or taken away) at every step, and every step is necessary to the way the whiskey tastes.