I just got my first bottle of cask strength malt (Macallan)and find it rather overpowering. I'm wondering how much water, if any, people generally add? Would diluting it down to about 40% alcohol just defeat the purpose of buying cask strength?
Please do not take offense... I received the same bottle as you describe as a recent birthday present. Water will not help it. Try a different CS malt before you figure your preference.
It's worth working down, a splash at a time, until you find that you like it. It's also worth sipping a bit of very pure water between sips of Scotch. At least for me, that both tempers the strength of high proof beverages and explodes the flavor. Generally, I taste at full strength, then dilute to a roughly estimated 80-90 proof for sipping.
That would depend. I prefer cask strength because it's unfiltered, and because no bottler seems to have figured out that they should charge by the proof gallon; custom bottlings of excellent Scotches are not generally priced in proportion to their proof. It is not unreasonable (nor unusual, there's a _reason_ that's the popular proof) if you find that you prefer 80 proof, to consider a high proof bottle as discounted mix-it-yourself. Diluting to 80 proof would defeat neither of those reasons. The floating ghosts formed by the oils forced out of solution are a bonus, if you're a philosophical sort.
OTOH, I've encountered a few cask strength Scotches that are at least equally tasty, proof dram to proof dram, at higher, if not full, strength.
But really, all in all, it's your money, your palate, your Scotch, in the privacy of your home. Why are you asking US? Do what thou wilt, no?
But for Malt's sake, don't use tapwater, for most definitions of tapwater.
Martin
But with this bottle or any other, how much you add is a matter of personal taste.
Most people suggest that the first time you try a malt, cask strength or not, you begin by tasting it as it comes out of the bottle. Then add a few drops of water, taste (and smell) again, a few more drops, and so on, until you find the sweet spot. It will be a different spot according to individual taste.
If you simply dilute down to 40 per cent or some other preordained percentage, chances are very good you'll overshoot the level where it tastes best to you.
cheers.
bill
I take a sip and hold it in my mouth for a few seconds to work the Water of Life down with the Water of My Life before swallowing. With stronger CSM's, like Aberlour A'bunadh, I hold it in my mouth a little longer.
It's also worth sipping a bit of Guinness between sips of whisky. YMMV
It is for this very reason that given the choice between a CS or non-CS bottle, I'll go for the latter.
I respectfully disagree. What if the bottler overshoots the mark by watering everything down to 40 or 43 per cent for the mass market? Perhaps some of those whiskies would be much tastier at, say, 47 per cent, or 49.
If you're diluting from CS a few drops at a time to determine how you like it best, you'll eventually hit that sweet spot. If you start with non-CS, you'll never even know the sweet spot existed.
CS lets you choose the strength at which you drink it. Non-CS doesn't, or at least severely limits your choices.
Not that there's a lot of CS available where I live.
cheers.
bill
I, for one, have found that I *like* the high proof and mostly just rinse a snifter and shake it, allowing what water clings inside to dilute my cask-strength whisky. I may be in the minority but the high proof seems to provide some nuances that conventional strength whiskies do not or have only in a very diminished amount.
Just a personal preference. I say, let everyone drink the way they like! I apply this to whisky, wine, beer, you name it.
regards, Joe
As I always prefer to add a drop or more of H20 to every malt I've ever tasted the above doesn't apply to me.
It also makes it extremely difficult for some of us to get the right amount of water spot on and overshoot the sweet spot.
With all respect for other opinions (this is, of course, a matter of personal taste): Personally I do agree with Bill and Joe on this. There is another point to it: The standard 40 or 43% of any given label is (at least often) not the same as what you get when diluting the Cask Strength version down to the same strength. There can be differences both in age and in casks chosen for the specific bottling. In addition, even official bottling CS's are often un-chillfiltered.
For example, the 10 yo Laphroaig CS has a different, more pure style than the 10 yo 40% - probably due to the selected casks. It is also more nuanced - probably due to the fact that it is un-chillfiltered. I wouldn't recommend to dilute the Laphroaig CS much (if at all) my self, but even if one did dilute it to 40%, one would still have a different whisky than the non-CS. Another example: The Glenfarclas CS is at least two years younger than the 10 yo non-CS, but even so seems more complex and "mature", and actually less spirity(!).
My own simple rule to avoid overpowering the palate: Higher strength smaller sips. To dilute or not is in my experience not always connected simply to alcohol strength. There are whiskys at 40 or 43% that I prefer with a few drops of water, and there are some CS's I prefer undiluted.
Gunnar
"Joe Halbleib" skrev i melding news:9aEcc.202043$Cb.1780222@attbi_s51...
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.