NOXOLO MIYA
One might joke that the only way to taste whisky is to pour yourself a glass and drink it, but there is more to learning to appreciate the flavours of whisky, and it is often easier to learn what you like and dislike by comparing samples side by side.
Trying whisky in a tasting setting rather than one by one is a great way to sharpen your palate, compare samples directly, and have some fun with friends.
In partnership with The Star, the Whiskyshop hosted a whisky tasting competition that saw four people win double tickets valued at R1 100 each. On arrival, the winners were awarded welcome drinks, finger food, and a top-notch whisky tasting experience.
The Whiskyshop is a proudly South African whisky store that was launched in 2021 by Brett Jacob and Hector McBeth.
The owners boast more than 50 years of combined experience in the field between them. They do mini-whisky festivals and training in both retail and hospitality, and the store offers one of the largest retail selections of whisky in South Africa.
Located in Fourways, at the Gantry Lifestyle centre, this whisky-dedicated store offers a large, curated, and quirky range of whiskies, as well as some incredible brandies, gins, rums, tequilas, and a limited wine offering. The idea behind Whiskyshop is experiential, which means "see, touch, and taste“. Set in a library-type environment, tastings are offered as well as educational sessions.
Co-owner Jacob began the step-by-step session by educating the group on the history of whisky and the visual side of identifying a good bottle of whisky.
Referred to as "the water of life" by the Irish and Scottish people" whisky is made out of certain materials and one of them is barley, which is picked from the fields in Scotland," said Jacob.
"Whisky is made out of barley, corn, rye, and wheat; they all get blended together."
"So the first thing you’re gonna do when tasting your whisky is to swirl it around in the glass and look for the legs; the thicker the legs, the more the oil, and that means the more the alcohol. You also need to look for colour, because the ‘off-gold’ or slightly gold colour shows how much caramel has been added. Although it’s generally preferred not to, some whisky distillers want all their bottle colours to look the same, so they add caramel to standardise the colour, even though it’s preferred not to add any artificial ingredients to it."
"For the nosing side, when you raise your glass to the nose, you need to breathe out with your mouth and let the aromas from the glass naturally come into your nose. They will come in by themselves by you just breathing out your mouth and not through your nose, and that's the right way to nose your whisky."
Commenting on her first whisky tasting experience, Ruby Sithole said: "After entering The Star competition, I was shocked that I won but coming here, I decided to bring a friend. We're both having a good time, I got to try different kinds of whisky and I think I'm sold, I'm now a whisky person. My favourite bottle was from the Christmas edition that the Whiskyshop offers. I learnt so much today, most importantly that I can now tell how old and expensive a whisky is just by its smell and legs."
Another winner, Nthabiseng Issa, who came to the whisky tasting event with her younger sister, said: "I bought the newspaper, and as I was going through it, on page 2, I saw there was a competition for whisky tasting. I decided to enter, and I was lucky enough to get the email on December 14 that I had won. From this tasting experience, I can say that what I tasted was super; I liked everything, and it is an experience that will stay with me forever."
The Star