The Essential Guide For Whiskey Beginners

So I think it's high time the Whiskey Tribe puts together the essential Whiskey Guide for Beginners. Now we have narrowed it down to what we think are the five key areas to really start out on the right foot. We're going to dive into those right now but we're also going to need your input in the comments because it's not going to be possible for us to be comprehensive in a single episode so you can consider this to be kind of like a jumping off point, a highlight reel, broad strokes of all the main things you Right now you and I are fortunate enough to be the host of Whiskey Channels on YouTube. It's great, it's awesome, massive community who helped us launch a crowdsourced distillery and they've sent us a lot of bottles to taste and review along the way. There's really five key areas where if you're getting into whiskey it could go off the rails if you aren't really sure of like the context of everything that's happening right now. The first one, You don't need to be rich to explore whiskey. The reasonable amount of money that's going to change a bit based on the whiskey category. Yeah but we're going to start with say 30 bucks. 30 bucks? Somewhere around 30 dollars gets you choices. It's not fireball right? So you do need to be prepared to get past the dollar jello shop price point right? But if you're willing to set aside a reasonable amount of money to explore a new and interesting category, this is absolutely attainable. I think I would start with three things. Okay. So I'm going to say Four Roses Small Batch around the $30 range. Yeah. And I'm mixing it up a bit because we normally would just say Wild Turkey 101. Well our community would say Wild Turkey 101. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great whiskey. And it's a great bourbon. Right? Sazerac Rye is a great rye and we picked this one and a true classic by even whiskey fanatics. Still go back and drink this and appreciate it. Yeah. But still accessible. Probably closer to the $40 range. So we're about 30 bucks. You can get your foot in the door with something that's really worth pouring and exploring a little bit. 30 bucks for the rye. Right. And then about 40-ish once you get into scotch because current. So we just established that for 100 bucks you can have three whiskeys that you wouldn't be ashamed of even in a whiskey crowd. They would be grateful to drink. Asterisks. Asterisks. But we won't get into the Yeah. But there are people who consider themselves serious about whiskey. About dropping money on whiskey and money equaling value. Right? And so it's possible someone is someone going like well until you've tried a Port Ellen. Right. Which this is a half bottle of Port Ellen. Yeah. This cost $2,000. Yeah. And this is what happens. Someone will say oh if you're just getting into it you should try and then you go look at what they suggested you try. And you're like I can't afford $500 on a bottle. I'm not even sure if I like whiskey. There is a point of diminishing returns. Absolutely. So don't don't feel like man I can't afford $250 per bottle and they're talking about how amazing this is. Don't worry about it. It's not going to be a $250 difference between that and then something that's going to be you know at a more entry-level price point. We've done a lot of episodes about every angle of whiskey. In the description we're going to have these five key areas that we're going through. We're going to be listing our own videos that we think would be really helpful. And the comments. Other episodes from even other channels that you think would be really good. Free for all. Do it. Absolutely. Absolutely do it. Link to the episode and then why you think it's going to be a worthwhile episode. One more good tip. Thing to keep in mind in regards to your budget. Yes the deeper you get into whiskey the more expensive it's going to be. But that expensive rent. That mortgage you're paying. That could easily be used somewhere else. Quite frankly in your whiskey collection. And there's free shelters all over the place. It's safe. Secure. Surprising amount of privacy too. Oh yeah. Interesting notes. The next big area where you kind of need to get pointed in the right direction. Glassware and technique of consuming the whiskey. Yeah we're talking about the specific way that you approach a whiskey in a glass because a lot of this sounds footsie. Some of it is science but when you have to explain it people's eyes glaze over. Right so first and when it comes to technique the glass that the whiskey is in it makes a difference. It does. But let's not let the perfect be an enemy to the good enough. So let's start with you put out a budget. You bought three bottles. You took them home. You watched online and you saw all the whiskey people using these fancy glencairn glasses. And they're doing neat pours which means without any ice it's just the whiskey by itself. Let's assume that you're new to hard liquor in general not just whiskey. When you go to smell it the alcohol and ethanol in that glass is going to overwhelm your nose and sort of like shut down your ability to smell anything past ethanol. Right. Now there's nothing for that but time but there are a couple of shortcuts. The first is open your mouth. Let the air flow through your nasal cavity instead of building up in your nasal cavity. You're basically breathing through your nose and your mouth at the same time. Now second one is if you pick it up and it burns you're too close. Back it off and back it off in small increments until it stops being ethanol heavy. Right. That it turns out is the right place for both your nose and this glass. Usually if somebody's coming from a background where they don't really have a lot of experience it's like in college. You get you know a container with alcohol and you shoot it back. Not talking about shots. We're talking about how to best take apart and explore a whiskey in a way that helps you better understand what's going on in that bottle and in that glass. A lot of times people throw back things and then what you get is this blast of evaporation. Right. And it's like oh oh it burns oh it's hot. They go and and you would your brain would think that if you drink it slower it would be even more burning. But it's not. Right. Because if you just take a sip and I always say about like you would drink really hot coffee and then you just swallow it gently. You're actually letting things sort of gently spread across your tongue. The evaporation is a little bit more mild and you're opening up things in that whiskey. Now the goal of both of those things is to get your brain to tell you what it thinks it's experiencing. Yeah. And the easiest way to do that is ask yourself what does this remind me of. And then a lot of people suggest that you hold that in your mouth for a bit. Let your mouth acclimate to that alcohol and then slowly just let it spread across. One of the things that you can do and which whiskey aficionados will do is add just drops of water to that whiskey. Not a ton. Actual drops. Now this is an area where people can get very very opinionated very very quickly. It's like well the type of water and the minerality content in the water and all this other stuff. Honestly. Like if you could just get some bottled water. That's it. You're good enough. But the main thing that does make a difference to a surprising degree is once you add that water how much it changes the whiskey even with just a few drops. But what happens is you sort of start to push some of the oils of that whiskey to the top. The water sort of unlocks things in that glass. Yeah. And all of a sudden it'll smell and taste a little bit different. One of the next things you can do if the nose is too aggressive just use a bigger glass. That's true. Because what happens in a bigger glass which by the way is what you're more likely to get at a bar. The difference between something like this and this night and day. Yeah it's very rare that a bar has Glen Cairns. Or every once in a while you'll you'll get something like this. Which has happened to me more than once. No it's more common than it should be. The reason why you even want to mess with like nosing the glass it seems kind of footsie but it does give you a different angle on that whiskey. And you're looking for like the layers and the notes. Specifically what kind of flavors can you find in that whiskey. And that's what the nerds are going to talk about. Like I got some graham cracker and toasted marshmallow and grassy and all this other bullshit. But this you can go exploring something like this. You really have to be digging deep and then a big old glass that's not going to help you. One of the best ways without truly watering down your whiskey is to get a single big rock in your glass. Yeah. So it doesn't melt too quickly but it cools down the temperature of the whiskey and adds water incrementally. Which will soften the effects of the ethanol and it will sometimes actually open up new things in that whiskey. There's so many tips and techniques and suggestions again in the comments if you see some other creators videos that are really worthwhile for technique when it comes to whiskey. There's another episode on our channel called Tin Whiskey Hacks where it's things like you get a few drops on your hand you rub them together and that is a really great way for you to be able to pick apart those specific layers those flavors without getting punched in the nose by the alcohol. Right. But if you are trying to understand that whiskey the ice will dilute it over time pretty quickly and it's going to drastically change the flavors. That's why most people start with like a neat pour and then do whatever the hell you want. Especially with a lot of small ice cubes. So I think the biggest tool that you're going to have in tasting will be the glass and it does matter but don't again let the perfect be an enemy to the good enough. Use what you got and then. We always used to say the best whiskey glass is one that has a hole on only one side. So there's a lot of tasting techniques nosing techniques out there. One of the most fun things to do is to try and create your own. Right now I'm experimenting on a brave new nosing technique using our nosing and tasting dummy. We're going to see if we get a nice aerosol of this whiskey as he pairs it with a beautiful cigar. Can't wait to see what happens. so We recently got a sponsorship offer from HelloFresh. That's America's number one meal kit. Now before we take on any new sponsor per usual we have to try it experience it and like it ourselves. I've actually had HelloFresh before. My brother made it but I've never made HelloFresh myself. So I had Dan order me a few meal kits from the HelloFresh there. First of all it's delicious. We've made three things so far. Every single one of them was great and they offer a ton of recipes for you to choose from each week. It arrives at peak freshness and flavor. Also saves tons of time. My wife really liked this. It cuts out all the stressful meal planning. Also the pre-portioned ingredients mean there's less prep and less wasted food. So you can skip the grocery store and get chef curated meals with pre-portioned ingredients delivered to your door and it's flexible. You can add extra dinners or lunches to your weekly order and easily change your delivery days or food preferences or skip a week whenever you need to. But there is one fatal flaw. Anybody can get those meal kits. They're fresh. They're affordable. They're convenient and as a big deal youtuber I should only be eating michelin stars from secret menus. Dan order me some ambrosia. Big deal. Pretty sure you're like a small to medium sized deal. You've heard of I mean the food of the gods. Yeah. Yeah. Tell Hello Fresh I want the ambrosia meal kit. How exactly are you a big deal? Look at my hat. You drive a 2012 Ford Focus. I was recognized at Home Depot once. Ordering now. Oh hey look it's already here. It must be that super fast youtuber delivery. All right read me the instructions. Step one is clearly a burnt offering. Is this right? Step two you gotta sacrifice a virgin. I'm not a virgin. Hush now super virgin. And finally feast upon the ambrosia. There's nothing in here Dan. You do know the box is the ambrosia right? They sent me the good stuff. This is tinder you can tell. You seen this marbling Dan? Make sure you get the yeah you got it. This is really what a best cut is. Yeah. Oh yeah you're doing it. You're doing it so good. Seasonal recipes and fresh pre-measured ingredients delivered right to your door. Hello Fresh makes cooking at home fun easy and affordable. Go to hellofresh.com and use code whiskeytribe14 to get 14 free meals plus free shipping. So the next area that you really want to get a good grasp on is health. So we went and found the healthiest member of our distillery team. It's not me or Daniel. No it's really not. She's working though. First things first. Look give up shots. So well basically if you're trying to get into the whiskey scene and you're exploring whiskeys shots aren't going to do anything for you. Yeah yeah. No they're just gonna eliminate how much more whiskey you get to try later on purpose. A big part of this conversation is going to be personal like knowing yourself your body your schedule and even like genetically there's a component to people getting into issues with substance abuse. I know if it's in your family you could be predisposed to having a problem with alcohol so be keeping that in mind and then also pay attention how much you're drinking each night and honestly if you're a part of our tribe and you're a part of the newsletter yeah then you'll always be notified when we do our quarterly dry week. Yep which is our chance for our entire community to take a week off of alcohol just to sort of keep tabs on how we're doing. The main situation you don't want to fall into is if it becomes so automatic that you don't even think about it that's where it becomes a slippery slope. It's just I walk through the door I'm going through the motions this is my habit this is my routine I'm pouring some hard alcohol that's when something can become a dependency issue because there's no thinking that goes into it there's no intentionality. So this is why we as a tribe have really prioritized several times a year checking in on how much we consume. What? That's really good. One more helpful tip about health. A lot of times it's hard to weigh that ideal balance between good times and living a healthy lifestyle. Fortunately your fitness center often has room for water bottles and nobody said it had to be full of water and you can combine the experience of whiskey tasting and exercise. All right Daniel this next area is something that we are very big advocates of because it's so so common for somebody to get into whiskey find a brand that they really like and then they just stop and they become advocates for this brand is the best whiskey in the world and there's like an entire like ocean full of options. So this is almost to me the second phase of what we talked about earlier about finding your whiskey budget yeah because this is also a way to expand your whiskey budget yeah without expense you know blowing your wallet. Yeah so we're talking about exploring whiskeys yes don't just limit yourself to a single category it's great to find favorites but there's always a next great whiskey that you couldn't imagine what was in that bottle in that glass and there's a few different ways to go about doing this. Option one is you know buy budget or affordable whiskey so you can expand your whiskey selection without going broke. Yes a really good thing that you can do is just google people's bank for your buck whiskey lists. Whiskies that are punching will above their weight and there's a lot of them out there. You don't have to spend an arm and a leg to get something that's really nice in a glass but beyond just kind of whatever your budget reality happens to be there's other things you can do. Make some whiskey friends and then you get access to their budget of whiskey. Now we're talking about mooching. Yeah very much in my wheelhouse. It's real and it had to be mentioned. Yeah going to bars with friends. Yeah whiskey tastings. There's whiskey events. Whiskey events are becoming very very popular these days. There's two things with whiskey events that are really amazing. One you can go to a whiskey event at your liquor store and oftentimes they're free or you can go to specific whiskey events where they've curated hundreds of distilleries into one room. That's pretty amazing exploration. Speaking of exploration and retail stores like the gold standard the unfair standard by which all other liquor stores and retail stores can now be judged is the episode we did with Irene Tan. That is like the explorer's dream come true. I'll let you it'll be linked in the description below but it's the top eight things people hate about liquor stores and my god is she doing some amazing things in her store because she's catering to the whiskey explorer. There's one final one I think which is whiskey trails. Oh yeah. This is growing. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is famous and their Kentucky Bourbon Trail experience is astounding. I think right now runner-up closing in fast is the Texas Whiskey Trail. It's a good one. That we've been a part of for a long time now. Yeah. It lets you go to distilleries and if you're a member go for free and get a tour and try some things or get access. So there's a ton out there for you to explore. The opportunity to experience things in a glass that's the most fun for us. Yes I agree. While we're exploring a few other good options worth mentioning are taking up new hobbies like kayaking, looking for financial opportunities, all of the drugs or you can go straight to the source and join the cartel. If you want to simplify things a little bit you can sit down and explore your feelings with a good buddy. Why are you smiling? Hey buddy. So how are we feeling today? Leave the bottle. So the the fifth key area you really want to be aimed in the right direction this is navigating opinions because my god. This is such a gate like a stopper for people who are even thinking about getting interested in whiskey as they tiptoe into it. Yeah. And the world is so aggressive with people who consider themselves to be experts. Right. With strong opinions. Right. And they just sort of slowly back out of the room. So there are a tremendous number of people who see themselves as gatekeepers into the world of whiskey and you can only pass if you prescribe to these you know certain preferences. Yeah and you'll never know. Or all over the place. You'll never know until you step on it. There's a video I think that would be very very helpful for you to watch it's called the tasting truth snobs don't want you to know. And we sat down with a wine sommelier and we were talking about the subjectivity of taste and how even the masters the most experienced experts celebrated experts in the world can be totally tricked and fooled by simple reshuffling of glasses and expectations with blind pours. So to go into this thinking that there is a true and pure standard by which all other whiskeys can be judged and this is the correct and proper way to do anything. It's a subjective reality and you got to come to terms with that. When you get to the expert the real experts like the people making the whiskey people blending the whiskey they are as a whole gracious and kind and open-handed open-armed and love good questions. Yeah and if you aren't going to like an in-person event if you're online if you're going to like social groups and enthusiast clubs and affinity groups are basically what these are. Look and see if they have a frequently asked questions section because a lot of people will show up in there and they'll just ask the same two questions over and over and that can become tedious for people that are there regularly. Even the people who are nice it's like oh again. But most of these groups will have an FAQ and that FAQ will do a tremendous job in getting you up to speed with the conversation at large because this is an evolving conversation things from month to month year to year that the priorities that the whiskey community at large are discussing it shifts and evolves. The main point is to just have fun don't take it too seriously there's a lot of people that are trying to get you to take it way way too seriously but the purpose of whiskey is to have fun and as far as we're concerned the the main goal with a whiskey pour it's the experience that you want to have around that bottle around that glass with really fun interesting cool people. Yeah where you are and who you're drinking with far more important than what you're drinking. So as you know navigating the opinions of the internet can be tricky and in the whiskey tribe rule number one is the best whiskey is whiskey you like to drink the way you like to drink it. Let's see what the internet has to say about my favorite whiskey. you