When cleansing your palate, it is important to know what you want to taste. The most common palate cleansers include bread, sorbet, pickled ginger, and water. These are all neutral substances that scrub lingering flavors off the tongue. Sorbet, not to be confused with sherbet, is a frozen dessert that contains no dairy and is made of fruit and water. The sharp flavor and lower temperature stimulate the taste buds for future flavor reception. Bread can be used in many forms to cleanse the palate as long as it is not flavored. Crackers also fall under the bread category and should be used with the same restrictions of being unflavored. For optimal tasting experience, certain foods and beverages should be avoided. Any dairy, such as butter, will coat the taste buds and trap previous flavors.

It is important to remember that anything you ingest can subsequently affect how future flavors are perceived. If you are wanting to taste finer nuances and complexities, a clean palate will be your best bet for tasting as many dimensions of a flavor profile as possible.

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“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

There comes a time in our journey where we meet someone who is just stepping onto the path. Perhaps the most important lesson that can be shared is that there is no wrong way to whiskey. Just enjoy what you like and share it with whomever will tolerate your ramblings. That being said, there are preferable ways to introduce newcomers to the water of life.

First start with whiskey, something that is of a relatively low proof, not crazy expensive, and “smooth.” You want a bottle that is easily recognizable but will not elicit any adverse reactions from that one time where bad life choices were made. If you have multiple whiskeys for your guest to try, do your best to start with the most friendly and mild bottle and work your way up in complexity and proof. There are some people who are naturally drawn to bold and vibrant flavors but that is not always the best plan for introductions. 

If you are on your home turf when introducing someone new, feel free to break out your preferred glassware – Glencairn. The nose is quite possibly the most important of the introductions. It will be the first impression of the whiskey and there is a good chance the alcohol will play Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots with the newbie’s nose. It is important to ease them in at this point by wafting the glass by the nose in a similar fashion to a science class. 

Your first sip should be similar to taking a sip of hot coffee; just swallow the whiskey and don’t think too much of it. This sip is to acclimate your palate to the alcohol content of the whiskey. After that sip, continue to nose the glass – you will be able to discern more smells and tastes as you acclimate to the alcohol. 

Water, ice, and mixers or cocktails are all options to help explore a whiskey. Water is probably the best to use to open up and explore the whiskey in the glass while ice will suppress some of the alcohol burn and flavors. A cocktail is an excellent way to introduce whiskey to someone who may not be interested in whiskey as a standalone beverage. It is also nice to have a few cocktails up your sleeve to round out your whiskey knowledge.

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PB&W is advertised as a peanut butter whiskey with a bottle displaying a bag overfilled with peanuts. At first pour, it is very easy to tell that something is not quite right with this “whiskey.” Underneath the pull away cork is a fine layer of sugar followed by a wave of peanut butter aroma. Being a wine person myself, I look at viscosity quite frequently. I am no expert but there should not be much trailing when drinking whiskey out of a glencairn glass. 

As far as taste goes, it is not surprising that the only flavor present is peanut butter. I tried multiple ways to drink this “whiskey.” Slow sipping made me feel like I was drinking syrup. Shooting it brought out the only trace of whiskey this bottle has to offer, which was a burning sensation trailing all the way down. Changing the temperature only made things worse. The bottle claims “best served chilled,” but I am convinced that there is no way to serve this bottle. The only way I was able to tolerate consuming PB&W was to kill it with a stronger source of sugar. Their slogan is “bring your jam!” and I understand why. This bottle cannot be consumed without mixing it or pairing it with something sweeter. To date, my most positive – yet still negative – experience has been drinking PB&W and eating three week old stale brownies my wife made. Personally, the brownies were more enjoyable but the additional peanut butter flavor was a nice touch.

When you are getting a flavored whiskey, you pretty much know what you are getting into. Most of the time it is to avoid that strong alcohol taste. The ideal situation is to have something smooth and chilled to enjoy. These whiskeys are not suited for tastings. There are no complexities to them and offer little to no flavor. My next experiment with PB&W will involve sweet dairy to make a float-type drink. I am determined to find a solution for this bottle because I have never encountered a bottle that won’t seem to end like this one. 

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One important note about these glasses is the amount of liquid they hold. These are designed for small amounts of whiskey, so you will have many refills, but it is worth the extra pours. Glencairn tasting glasses are meant for just that. These are not the kind of glasses that are used for mixed drinks. When I bought my glasses, I decided to go with a four pack on Amazon like this one. The price for a single glass compared to a four pack was much higher. In the spirit of sharing, I also thought it would be nice to have my friends be able to enjoy using a tasting glass.

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