Whisky Colour
This month my hints and tips column, is devoted to whisky colour. You should source a quantity of clear glass or plastic bottles between 50 to 100ml, easily obtained from medical or catering or glass bottle suppliers to start a reference library. From your current open bottles fill one small bottle and clearly label it, as you open each new bottle repeat the process. If you replace a bottle (of course drink the old small bottle contents) replace the contents of the small bottle; reason, in each batch of whisky there will be a slight change in colour.
Over time you will build up a library of bottles. Then grade them from lightest to darkest on a master sheet or spreadsheet you can take this along to most meetings together with any other reference books as allowed. This is a simple way of assessing by colour the contents in your glass in picking the blind; this is an aid and must be used in conjunction with the accepted criteria of nose, taste, finish and balance of the dram.
In my opinion, do not swill the dram around in the glass as in wine assessment. In some cases the spirit will have a good deal of oils in the glass and in some cases will carry slight colour as in Irish and blended whiskies, a definite game changer.
I have used this criteria to effect and assess in picking the whisky blinds and in competitions. Put simply this is a method to eliminate silly mistakes, as I am also guilty of in certain cases.
Roger Gillard, Laird