Sunday, February 13, 2011

Finally a glass made for tasting whiskey, and how to christen it properly. Whistlepig does the trick!

As I began tasting whiskey I sort of went with what I could get on hand to make it an enjoyable experience. I needed some small glasses with a little taper, and found some simple standard cognac/brandy snifters. They were inexpensive, and I could buy a few knowing that if I ever broke one I wouldn't shed a tear. As time went on and I ran around looking at whiskey, it was something I read about when tasting brandy that made me think I might be missing out on the tasting experience because of my glassware. The person said "When evaluating brandy never use a snifter, use a tulip glass". What??!? I thought.. you mean these so called glasses called "cognac/brandy" glasses should NEVER be used for as there name says... "brandy"?

Well it made me think if whiskey was the same. Certainly two revered products should be capable of a good glass right? So I was talking about my rye experience online with some very knowledgeable people on StraightBourbon.com, and on a lark someone pointed me to a Canadian Whiskey aficionado, and there stood in his hand on his webpage... something I hadn't seen before that was to me... very unique. What was that thing?! I asked myself.. and before I knew it I discovered he had in his hand a glass SPECIFICALLY for tasting WHISK(E)Y which is called a "Glencairn".

Long story short, I bought four of them finding a good online deal I think. Many times a single Glencairn glass can be a little pricey (not too bad), but also I would be peeved if I broke one of these (the glass is a little fragile). I am very excited to try the four glasses out on my next bourbon tasting, but I figured it made sense to evaluate it with something good. I used the glass while hunkering down and evaluating a bottle of Whistlepig rye whiskey, a 10 year aged straight rye whiskey made in Canada and bottled in Vermont.

The glass made some interesting surprises for me. To see how, take a look below at the video. Cheers!

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