Whiskey Tasting Etiquette 101: The One Comment You Should Never Make

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough," as Mark Twain once famously noted. It's a declaration of appreciation that celebrates quantity while still distinguishing quality. At the end of the day, there's good whiskey and bad whiskey. Even so, when you attend a whiskey tasting event, refrain from trash-talking a particular whiskey. It's poor manners to berate a whiskey that you don't like at a group tasting event.

As a general rule, it's always a better idea to emphasize the good attributes of what you like than to emphasize the bad qualities of what you don't. Heavily criticizing one particular whiskey variety in the flight can be especially cheeky if the tasting is hosted by a distillery, because all of the offerings in the lineup came from the same producer. If you really favored one of the whiskeys, speak positively about that star. 

Instead, treat each dram with consideration and appreciate its complexity. Didn't like the flavor? Take the educational opportunity to see what other qualities you can identify. For instance, you might hold your glass up to the light to observe its color (amber or mahogany hues often indicate the use of sherry casks, while golden hues suggest aging in bourbon casks). Or give it a sniff (80% of the whiskey's flavor lies in its nose) and see which notes you can name. Pear? Herbs? Biscuit? Ash? Feel free to wax a little poetic here. You're at a tasting event, after all.

Whiskey tastings tend to follow a similar structural cadence. Typically, the host prefaces each glass by sharing each sample's name, followed by a brief description of its age, the distiller who made it, and perhaps a few of its identifiable flavor notes. The floor is then turned over to the guests to ask questions and share feedback. 

If you didn't care for a certain offering, try phrases like, "This one isn't quite my style," or more specifically, "That one might be a tad too smoky/peppery/vanilla-forward for my taste." That feedback targets the whiskey's unique profile, not its quality. Plus, hosts generally hand-select every single whiskey in your flight in preparation for the event, and they only want to subject you to products they actually thought you might like. Spare your host any uncomfortable feelings, make yourself look like an in-the-know aficionado, and keep any criticisms to yourself (or else convert 'em into precise, non-damning feedback).

Ultimately, we invite discerning imbibers to refer to an adage by another iconic writer, Raymond Chandler, who observed, "There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren't as good as others" — and to reference these 10 more rude behaviors to avoid at a whiskey tasting.