Blind tastings

[Kraaijeveld A.R.]

Not really an answer to all your questions, but let me just tell you how I did the blind tastings/scorings for the recent WM Independent's Bottler's Challenge.

First of all, no tasting notes were necessary, only scoring the whisky on a scale from 1 to 10, with halves being allowed. I always drink a good glass of water after each whisky to try and cleanse my palate as much as possible. I tasted/scored each sample twice. First I made flights of between 5 and 10 whiskies (so no more than 5-10 whiskies on an evening). Flights were determined by region and age categories. When I'd gone through all of the whiskies and given them a score, I went through them a second time, but this time arranging them in flights determined by the score they got first time round. So that meant all whiskies scoring 6 together, then all whiskies scoring 6.5, then all 7s, etc. This way I could fine-tune my scores, making sure that a whisky I scored, say, 8 in the very first flight was of equal 'quality' to a whisky I scored 8 in the last flight. 

Hope that makes sense ....

Lex




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Fly, you greatest fool
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Dr Alex R Kraaijeveld
School of Biological Sciences
University of Southampton
Bassett Crescent East
Southampton
SO16 7PX
tel: (+44)-(0)23-80593436
fax: (+44)-(0)23-80594459
http://www.sbs.soton.ac.uk/staff/ark/ark.php

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-----Original Message-----
From: MALTS-L at RZ.UNI-KARLSRUHE.DE [mailto:MALTS-L at RZ.UNI-KARLSRUHE.DE] On Behalf Of Mike Davis
Sent: 12 September 2006 12:40
To: MALTS-L at LISTS.UNI-KARLSRUHE.DE
Subject: Re: Blind tastings

Ah, yes, blind tastings.  That brings up some questions from this novice.

As a wine buff for a few decades, I know blind wine tastings well.  However
whisky tends to be a bit different.  I have not been to an "official" blind
whisky tasting, only my own setups.

Having read with some interest the escapades of groups like the Malt
Maniacs, I am amazed at the sheer number of drams tasted in a session.  With
wine, it is quite acceptable to use unflavored crackers to clear the palate
between samples.  I don't find that to be as effective with whisky.

Whisky also tends to numb the nose and palate after a few drams, whether or
not you swallow.  How can you effectively and accurately evaluate the nose
and palate of the 10th dram?

Personally, I have to live with a whisky for a few sessions, which means
(for me) buying the bottle.  The palate needs to be free of recent food
contamination.  I also need some time to allow the nose to develop,
experiment with drops of water (which can be a very fascinating and
revealing process), determine the appropriate dilution, or dilution steps to
reveal the layers of complexity, makes notes and then return to the bottle
on a later date and sample under my "optimum" conditions with no time
restraints, free from conflicting odors such as perfume or scented deodorant
of others in the room.

I find additional complexity during different sessions, and often change my
personal rating after a few drams.

Perhaps what I'm asking is for experienced session tasters to defend their
evaluation techniques against the inevitable palate changes that take place
during blind tastings with a large number of samples.

Mike Davis
mldavis2 AT sbcglobal DOT net
http://www.pbase.com/mldavis2/ 

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