Too much water can make whiskies taste the same:
While adding a little water is popularly thought to "open up" the flavor of whisky, a Washington State University-led study indicates there's a point at which it becomes too much: about 20%.
Researchers chemically analyzed how volatile compounds in a set of 25 whiskies responded to the addition of water, including bourbons, ryes, Irish whiskeys and both single malt and blended Scotches. They also had a trained sensory panel assess six of those whiskies, three Scotches and three bourbons.
Both tests found that adding a little water could change how the whiskies smelled, but after 20%, they may start to have the same aroma. Since smell and taste are often closely linked, this likely affected the spirit's flavor as well.
[...] Whisky is a mix of compounds that run the scale from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, in other words, ones that are attracted to water and others that are repelled by it. The addition of water sends the whisky's hydrophobic compounds into that headspace and leaves the hydrophilic ones behind, changing the aroma of the liquid.
Journal Reference:
P. Layton Ashmore, Aubrey DuBois, Elizabeth Tomasino, et al., Impact of Dilution on Whisky Aroma: A Sensory and Volatile Composition Analysis [open], Foods 2023, 12(6), 1276; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12061276
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday June 07, @09:03PM (14 children)
don't add any water!
Easy peasy solution.
Sheeeit.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 07, @09:07PM (7 children)
On the rocks is best. Yeah, you get a bit of water, but most of the water stays solid.
And, yes, I have noticed that if the Scotch sits on the table too long allowing the ice to melt, it loses some of it's wonderful aroma. That means it's time to throw it back, and order a new one!
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(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07, @09:33PM
This explains so much...
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday June 07, @09:35PM (3 children)
You can actually get rocks/stones, that you freeze and put in the drink and that keeps them cool without adding much water to the mix. There are once made of metal to.
(Score: 5, Informative) by vux984 on Wednesday June 07, @11:20PM (2 children)
They're pretty worthless though in real terms as the phase transition of ice from liquid to solid requires (relatively) a TON of heat compared to what it takes to bring a cold stone or piece of metal to equilibrium temperature with the liquid. The upshot is that ice keeps the drink cooler and for much longer than rocks; to the point that most people not selling them (or not trying to justify having bought them) think they're basically pointless. They do cool the liquid down a little bit - they are cold after all, but its hardly worth it.
Put it this way: the cooling effect of using rocks wears off so fast, that you'd have to drink it so quickly that if you were using ice it wouldn't have melted anyway.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by coolgopher on Thursday June 08, @05:04AM (1 child)
Which is why at least some of the stainless steel ones [amazon.com.au] have an internal gel.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday June 09, @07:52PM
Yeah, those are potentially interesting; I'm betting ice is still going to be a lot better, but without knowing the gel volume or it's freeze/thaw characteristics or doing some actual experiments I really can't say whether this is just a marketing gimmick or a truly effective design. In theory though its going to be an improvement over stones.
Here's another variation:
https://originalbos.com/collections/best-sellers-1/products/original-balls-of-steel-whiskey-coolers [originalbos.com]
Interestingly these guys have a graph on that page, which isn't a terrible graph, and it suggests they really are markedly better than stones. They don't include ice cubes in the comparison; but its promising.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Sulla on Wednesday June 07, @10:09PM (1 child)
Why are you chilling whiskey? Good lord man have you no decency.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by quietus on Thursday June 08, @10:32AM
Out of curiosity: is there actually a best temperature for whisky, like with wine and beers?
(Score: 3, Informative) by darkfeline on Thursday June 08, @12:28AM (5 children)
The summary both mentions it in the first sentence and then explains it, but adding a bit of water strengthens the smell of the whiskey.
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(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday June 08, @01:57AM (1 child)
I'd say, swirl it around in the glass if you want to smell it. Warm it with your hand and sniff the vapors. Use what (used to?/still is?) called a brandy snifter: fits in the palm of your hand to allow the brandy to warm and release vapors into a small opening.
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(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Thursday June 08, @02:28AM
> Whisky is a mix of compounds that run the scale from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, in other words, ones that are attracted to water and others that are repelled by it. The addition of water sends the whisky's hydrophobic compounds into that headspace and leaves the hydrophilic ones behind, changing the aroma of the liquid.
The water drives aromatic compounds to the surface. Warming it does a similar thing but I imagine it affects different compounds as the mechanism is completely different.
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 08, @02:04AM (2 children)
I usually drink whisky etc neat without adding water or ice.
The typical 40% ABV is watered down enough for me.
(Score: 4, Funny) by darkfeline on Thursday June 08, @02:30AM (1 child)
Chemicals hitting your nose extranasally (from outside) and intranasally (from inside) smell completely different. I hope you aren't drooling into your glass.
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(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 08, @07:42AM
And the various stinky tofu I tried smelled like poop whether outside or inside my mouth. Yes I know many say it doesn't smell/taste the same inside vs outside.
But to me, if your sense of smell has stuff outside smelling completely different from when inside then your sense of smell is the broken one.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07, @09:39PM (1 child)
I thought it was just another marketing technique to shortchange the customer.
The vendors would be furious if the customers started remitting partial payment, tendering strips of newspaper in lieu of currency for payment of watered down moonshine.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by kazzie on Thursday June 08, @04:03AM
At a tasting session at my local distillery, the staff member offered to add water: with a pippette. My group had two identical samples, so we decided to do an A/B test. A single drop of water made a significant difference to the smell and taste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07, @09:57PM
Unless my math is off, 20 % dilution means adding a a quarter of whisky volume to the water. To a standard glass of 4 cl that's 10 ml. The most that a reviewer like Ralfy adds could be that, but only to much higher alcoholic strength whiskies than what they used in the study (43 %), like around 55 and above. Otherwise, he usually adds a maximum of one "teaspoon" of 5 ml, and sometimes even just a few drops.
(Score: 5, Funny) by krishnoid on Wednesday June 07, @10:24PM (1 child)
But then again, too much whisky makes everything taste the same.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07, @11:32PM
Only to a point, but if you keep going it can end up leaving a really bad taste in your mouth.