Introducing Approachability
With my palate fully reset after taking a nearly 12 month break from Whisky, when I began trying some that I used to rate as 2 or 3 in Quality, I began to notice both the strength of the alcohol on the nose and the burn of the alcohol on my palate. That was until I re-tried some of my original, older favourite Whiskies that I had described at the time as “super smooth” or words to that effect. In my own experience (and yours may vary) the stronger Whiskies I drank and/or the more regularly, the less I was noticing or caring about how gentle a Whisky was. In truth I had begun to gravitate towards grungier, smokier and more heavily peaty Whiskies gradually over time.
Looking back, there was a term that many other Whisky enthusiasts had used that I had never given a second thought…for whatever reason I can’t explain.
“Approachability”
Definitions for what an “Approachable” Whisky means, do vary quite a bit but the general intention is one that doesn’t have alcohol burn and is hence easier for those not accustomed to (or desensitised to) a stronger alcohol presence.
In general Whiskies are rated based on their Nose and Palate, but from what I’ve seen so far, Approachability (whenever it’s mentioned) isn’t. Since our Olfactory sense (Smell) is interrelated to our Gustation sense (Taste) I suspect many think it’s fine to just combine the two.
For me though, whilst it might be easier to combine them, since we don’t do that for Nose and Palate, why do that for Approachability? It makes no sense. Ultimately I found that whilst they’re often similar, I’ve come across inoffensive Nosing Whiskies that burned my Palate and vice-versa.
Therefore my intention is to rate every Whisky, past (where there’s evidence/recollection) and future against two Approachability scales…one for the Nose and one for the Palate as per below:
Approachability: (Nose)
- Super Gentle, no detectable nose spike at all
- Relatively Gentle, minor nose spike present
- Stronger Alcohol presence, may get a small spike
- Very Strong spike
- Multiple Strong spikes
What’s a “spike?” I’m glad you asked. The Trigeminal Chemoreceptor in our Olfactory sense responds to irritants that indicate to the brain that what we’re smelling might be harmful to us. The concentration of Ethanol vapour that triggers this response will vary from person to person and some Whiskies, based on how they’re produced and aged, will trap Ethanol more readily in liquid form, thus resulting in less escaping as a vapour, hence impacting the Trigeminal Chemoreceptor far less.
So what’s a “spike?” Oh yeah, so for me a high concentration of Ethanol presents in my nose as a shooting or stabbing sensation. It’s extremely brief, like a sensory overload of a sort. It’s not exactly painful but you can’t miss it. Ideally a glass of Whisky will only release scents of the dram itself with almost all of the Ethanol trapped in liquid, making the dram very approachable on the nose.
Approachability: (Palate)
- Super Smooth, no detectable burn at all
- Relatively Smooth, slight burn present
- Moderate Alcohol Burn
- Strong Burn
- Numbs my tongue
So what does “burn” mean? There are many different kinds of burn on the palate. The obvious is temperature…too hot…burny tongue…ow, ow, ow. I clearly don’t mean that. There’s spicy burn, that can present as a burn from eugenol that generally tastes like Cloves, then there’s Oak burn that comes from various tannins, ellagitannins and lactones extracted from the barrel. In many cases these present as an astringency (particularly the tannins) but many just call that burn as well. That’s not what I mean either.
So what’s “burn” in the John Chidgey context? It’s the uncomfortable dulling, tingling sensation caused by the ethanol. Like it or not, ethanol impacts the taste buds by impairing their ability to function, reducing their overall density in different taste receptor areas on the tongue. This tingling sensation doesn’t present as a taste, and this is key, it’s the burning sensation, and that’s what I’m referring to as “burn” in this context. Again, the concentration of Ethanol that triggers the burn sensation will vary from person to person, how regularly they drink, what they drink, what they eat beforehand and some Whiskies, based on how they’re produced and aged, will trap Ethanol more readily in liquid bonds such that less Ethanol directly impacts the taste receptors.
I will be gradually reviewing ALL of my previous reviews and wherever I have made comment regarding the approachability I will ammend the review summary to capture this. The goal is to extend the Whisky review list to include filtering by Approachability.
As examples of extremes: Johnnie Walker 18 Year (P1) is one of the more approachable Whiskies on the palate I’ve ever had, with the Smokehead High Voltage (P5) being the least approachable with it seriously numbing my tongue.
I hope that this additional dimension makes it easier to futher refine and fine a great Whisky that’s appropriate for you.