I lead a number of people through my first tasting tree, and got consistent feedback:
- Sherry beats LightBlossoms 3-to-1. This may be that people like the sherry-cask flavor, but it may be due to the fact that Macallan is a $40 bottle, and Glen Moray is a $26 bottle. So people asked me to up the quality of the LightBlossoms exemplar. The problem is, there's a big jump in price. Nonetheless, I've chosen a new exemplar for my tastings: Bunnahabhain 12-year, available for $46.
- People who got a chance to try SweetSmoke later liked it a lot, and were surprised it's not in the original line-up. In addition, they would complain that the Bowmore Legend (the DrySmoke exemplar) was way too one-dimensional. Accordingly, I've swapped SweetSmoke (Old Pulteney) in to the primary lineup. If you make it to the end with SweetSmoke, that's when you'll try the DrySmoke.
So far, Laphroaig (Peaty), Glenfiddich (Floral) and Macallan (Sherry) have done well. Glen Livet (Tangy) came out on top once (which should be no surprise, it's the best selling single malt in the US), as did Old Pulteney (SweetSmoke). Based on the changes I'm making, I expect to see SweetSmoke some more.
The new form also includes the long awaited taste descriptions for each cluster, and a list of all scotches, the cluster they belong too, and where I could find it, a good price. Print it on a duplex printer so it's a single sheet.
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