You might have heard "experts" laughing about newbies putting some ice or water in their whisky and how inappropriate this is. In this post I want to explain when it is reasonable to put some ice or water into your whisky.
**First of all it is a matter of taste if you put some ice or water into your whisky or not. e.g.: most of the Americans always put some ice into their glasses, the Scottish and Irish people probably never do it. If you like your whisky with some ice cubes, do it. I just want to show you why you should/shouldn't put ice or water into your whisky in different situations.**
When to put some ice into your Whisky
NEVER! Whisky should be drunk a little under room temperature. If you put ice into it you freeze important tasting agents and flavors. Sometimes the whisky gets murky if you cool it down.
When to put some water into your Whisky
It can be useful to put some water into your baverage if it is the first time you try this whisky because most of the whiskies have a high percentage of alcohol (mostly 40-50%). So there is a need of incrementalism at the beginning. Otherwise your taste buds on your tongue will close and you will never taste the full flavor of this whisky.
Attention: Use water with a low amount of minerals and without a taste of its own.
If you get used to the taste of the whisky reduce the water. The water thins down the part of the alcohol and with this there is more room for different flavors.
Situations where you shouldn't put water into your whisky:
- The ordered whisky is such a rare and long matured drop that the taste itself counts. In this situation you shouldn't put water or ice into it because otherwise the taste of its own will be watered-down and the $ 25 for the drink are wasted. The more precious your whisky is the less water you should put in ;)
To sum it up: Try to relinquish ice as good as possible. If it is a warm summer day it can be reasonable to put some ice into your whisky. Your taste matters!
Cheers! Enjoy responsibly!
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Whisky Guide - What is Whisky? (here)