Learning and enjoying the complexities of scotch

Creamy, malty, peaty and earthy are all different ways to describe one of Scotland's most enjoyed exports: scotch.

If you're a seasoned drinker or new to the game, a scotch tasting can be a great time. But what's the right way to savour a glass of scotch?

On Friday night, Saskatoon's Co-op liquor store hosted a private scotch tasting night. Saskatchewan Weekend host Eric Anderson was at the event and he caught up with Ross Willness, a certified sommelier.

Willness was quick to fill in the gaps on how to taste, drink and enjoy scotch, and he showed Anderson around the 33 place settings, each with six scotch samples.

"Like any other beverage, it's really up to personal interpretation and up to personal preferences," Willness said, noting that's why the regional variations that scotch is famous for are so important.

Each region in Scotland has its specific taste and style of how it makes scotch.

Examples are highland scotches, which are cleaner and more complex in their flavours, but also easier to sip on their own, according to Willness.

Conversely, the island scotches tend to be more peaty and heavier, requiring more time to think about it and "more to chew." Drinkers need more time to find the flavour, especially if it changes over time according to the drink's temperature.

"The best way [to drink it] is to let it linger in your mouth for a little while, that way you can kind of activate your whole palette," Willness said. "After you've swallowed the actual scotch, you can see how the taste lingers," also known as the finish.

Sometimes the finish can last for a long time, he noted, and sometimes the long finish will change in flavour.

"The older it gets, the richer those subtleties are, and the more they can change over time," he said.