Should I drink whisky with ice or without ice? Regret knowing too late

The weather in Beijing is almost hot these two days. Especially when I come back from home at 3 or 40 degrees, pass me a glass of whisky with ice. It's not too nice.

So every summer, besides drinking some iced cocktails, whisky with ice is my best choice every day.

I don't know if you have this feeling, high temperature always makes people uneasy, but after drinking a glass of whisky with ice, the temperature drops, which reduces the activity of alcohol molecules and makes the wine less spicy, so I unconsciously drank two more glasses.

At this time, serious people came again, saying that adding ice destroyed the flavor of wine. In fact, Uncle Nan thinks that "whisky needs ice", just following his own heart. Of course, from the brewer's point of view, it takes a lot of time and energy to brew a high-quality single malt whisky, but after adding ice, the tongue becomes numb, and there is no way to feel the traces of this wine flowing through the tongue, which wastes their efforts.

Therefore, when we take whisky with or without ice seriously, we must know exactly what ice cubes mean to whisky.

As far as taste is concerned, the function of coolness is to inhibit the "play" of some flavor compounds-the higher the coolness, the greater the inhibition. Cold ice blocks will inhibit taste buds such as citrus and honey, while taste buds such as oak and peat will be particularly prominent. The former is weakened, and the latter is highlighted, which breaks the balance between the two that the brewers strive to establish.

Whiskey on the rocks

As far as the taste is concerned, whisky that has just been added with ice will feel quite refreshing at first taste if you drink it immediately. On the one hand, the temperature of liquor was slightly reduced, and the alcohol stimulation was inhibited; On the other hand, the ice has just begun to melt, and the effect is similar to that of water, and the aroma is partially opened. Then, as soon as the ice wine enters the mouth, it will quickly absorb heat and reduce the temperature of the tongue. Then, your mouth will continue to heat the wine, releasing more aroma and taste in the process.

If this process is followed, that is to say, the less whisky is drunk, the longer it stays on the taste buds, the greater the warming effect and the stronger the taste will evolve. It's just that it's easy to eat and the wine feels better. Because, once the ice begins to melt, it will have an additional dilution effect. The biggest and most intuitive feeling is that the alcohol concentration is reduced, the flavor is suppressed, and the taste is reduced; Low temperature also paralyzed the tongue, but could not taste the wine.

Generally speaking, whisky with ice, with the passage of time until the ice completely melts, the overall taste feeling is temporarily improved, and then continues to decline. But if we don't consider tasting and use ice properly, then we will be very comfortable to drink. So, drinking preference is a very personal thing, or the same sentence: do whatever you want.