Whiskey Blending with the Experts: Sharpening the Senses

“You have to know the science side of it to make something. You have to know the art side of it to make something good.” —Rob Masters, master distiller, Family Jones Distillery

The world of whiskey has seen many trends and fads come and go over the years. Most recently we’ve witnessed the rise of cask-finished whiskey, single barrels, and hazmat-strength releases. However, a new yet old-school trend is starting to take hold in American whiskey: blending.

The truth that we in the business understand is that most of the whiskeys you see on the market are blended, unless the label carries the term “single-barrel” or “single-cask” (even if those are unregulated terms). That said, the words “blend,” “blended,” or “blending” have long carried a taboo in this country, leading consumers to believe they suggest a lower quality or cheaply made product. [PAYWALL]

However, the industry is starting to see a softening of resistance toward blended products. This is partly thanks to the rise of independent bottlers and blending houses. (Disclosure: I cofounded a blending house.) But it also has to do with small producers, who tend to be nimbler and more innovative than the larger legacy distilleries, seeing some interesting experimental whiskeys come of age. Finally, education about blending has also been key to this change of heart.

The Art Side of It

I’ve always argued that whiskey is a magical spirit. It’s the perfect combination of art and science. (Rob Masters sums it up nicely, above.) The science really comes from production—taking grains, water, and yeast, and distilling it.

Justin Aden, head blender at Stranahan’s in Denver, puts it simply: “You cannot make a great whiskey without terrific and consistent fermentation.” There are so many choices you can make over the course of this process that will impact your product and create wonderful aromas and flavors.

Distillation certainly has been the star of the big whiskey boom of the past few decades, with most of the attention paid to the choice of grain, mash bill, yeast selection, fermentation style, distillation method, and the cuts coming off the still. The distiller has become the rock star of the craft-whiskey movement, but that’s really only part of the story.

“As I delved deeper into my learning, I discovered that blending is the one area that really shapes the final whiskeys that I was tasting out in the wild,” says Ryan Ciuchta, head blender at Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn, New York. “Coming from a publishing background, I often compare the distillers to writers and us, as blenders, to editors.”

Every great whiskey starts off with a plan. “When I begin conceptualizing a new blend, I need to create a full picture of what that whiskey will be as an experience,” says Amanda Beckwith, head blender at Virginia Distillery in Lovingston, Virginia. “This means everything from the season and location I would most want to enjoy it in, to the foods that I would pair it with.”

This foresight should extend to the earliest aspects of whiskey development. When developing a new product, this full picture of the desired experience informs the decisions you make during production. At each step of the process, sensory analysis is crucial. It may seem that those who work in this field have a natural talent, or a superlative palate, but that comes down to experience more than anything else.

“The best blenders have a mix of natural talent and a willingness and humility to work at it every day,” says Aden at Stranahan’s. “I’m very fond of the maxim that ‘hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,’ and that’s quite true in whiskey-making.”

Marianne Eaves, freelance distiller and blender, and a former master taster at Brown-Foreman, adds other qualities. “I think maybe even more than your tasting ability is having a passion for quality and the patience to not just throw in the towel and put out something that is halfway done when things don’t go exactly the way you hope.”

As with other endeavors related to sensory analysis, people smell and taste things differently, and anyone can develop their skills. “There are certainly some people who have an innate ability to detect nuance and even particular off-notes in a spirit, where others simply will not have that sensitivity,” says Beckwith at Virginia Distillery. “For those who may not feel sensory comes naturally, there are plenty of ways to sharpen their abilities.”

Sensory as the Foundation of Blending

Whiskey-making is a long process. Being able to identify not just the positive aromas and flavors, but also any off-notes and what may be causing them, is an operational task that requires full buy-in from everyone at the distillery, from top to bottom. It’s tedious and arduous, but it’s necessary.

The famed master blender Nancy Fraley teaches a course called “Nosing for Faults,” in which she guides participants through every step of the process, so they can see where different faults can occur. Mark Vierthaler, head distiller and blender from Whiskey Del Bac in Tucson, Arizona, recently led a thought-provoking session on sensory analysis at the American Craft Spirits Association convention in Denver. They both make clear how important it is to establish strong sensory protocols to ensure that your spirits are being produced to be the best they can be for quality, consistency, and positive growth.

“A great way to begin training your nose and palate is by establishing a sensory vocabulary,” says Beckwith in Virginia. “This means being curious and taking the time to not only think about the aromas and flavors one experiences, but also the causes behind them. It’s crucial to be able to identify where specific aromas and flavors originate, how they can become enhanced, masked, or complemented.”

A great resource for establishing this vocabulary is the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, which offers sheets full of descriptors as part of their Systematic Approach to Tasting program.

To train your nose and palate to be at a level where you can participate in this discourse takes time—and then you just keep learning.

“Training takes a lifetime,” Aden says. “It took me hundreds of thousands of whiffs and drams, obsessive note-taking, and many hours of contemplation, on and off the clock. I also follow a general philosophy of taking time to smell the proverbial flowers—to both literally train the nose but [also] mostly to better develop the synapses for joy and what life is all about.”

Taking that Focus into Blending

At Kings County in Brooklyn, Ciuchta agrees that blending is a discipline that requires repetition, intensity, focus, and hard work—as much or more than it requires talent.

“The commitment to the process is far more important than an innate sensory ability when it comes to being a blender,” he says. “There are sensory courses and tests that many operations will require, but I believe they can be studied and learned. I don’t think I have a special palate or above-average sensory-evaluation skills. I am just committed to putting in the work and taking it seriously as a craft.”

When Eaves got her start at Brown-Forman, she was trained by their all-women sensory team. “It is actually a scientific fact that women have more sensitive noses and palates, and thus better taste,” she says. “I do a lot of blind nosing for myself to keep up my palate memory. … Without the visual cue, it becomes more difficult to differentiate between different fruits, such as pear and apple, or strawberry and cherry, or tangerine and orange.

“I find it really fun, and I love a challenge when it comes to testing my nose,” she says. “Your sense of smell is three-fifths of your ability to taste, which is why I primarily focus on that aspect.”