I wanted to come up with a
Scottish Single Malt sampler set, highlighting the wide range of tastes that
single malts can offer. The idea is to have a quick way of understanding what
type of whisky one likes, and then be able to zoom in on the personal favourite(s),
without burning a hole in one’s pocket or one’s liver.
The dataset used is the
well-known whisky dataset of 86 single malts rated along 12 taste dimensions:
body, malty, nutty, smoky, tobacco, medicinal, spicy, honey, winey, sweetness,
fruity, floral.
This is the sampler I came up
with:
The 86 whiskies were split into 7
groups and a single malt has been recommended for each of these.
Compared to the ‘average’ single
malt (overall), each group of whiskies displays distinct characteristics.
What do you do if the whiskies
recommended above aren’t available, or are not exactly to your taste? Read on
and find out.
Starting from the beginning:
Each whisky is represented by a
node (dot) and the relationship between them is shown by a line; the darker/thicker
the line, the stronger the relationship, the more similar the whiskies. There
are clearly 2 groups above, coded red and turquoise, within the red and
turquoise groups there are dark red lines, but in between them, just thin
yellow lines. The red whiskies tend to be spicier/smokier and the turquoise
ones sweeter.
Focusing on the spicier/smokier whiskies
and only looking at the stronger relationships (filtering out weak
relationships between whiskies that are not that similar):
2 groups emerge clearly, while
tobacco is a common taste between them, Tullibardine, Fettercain and Craigallechie tend to be spicier,
nuttier and maltier than GlenDeveron/MacDuff,
Royal Brackla, Caol
Ila, Pulteney, Lagavulin, Laphroaig
and Clynelish who are more
smoky, medicinal, as well as have more body.
Looking at the mass of whiskies
on the bottom right, it is apparent that the relationships are also not that
close; there are not that many strong relationships. There is room to refine
the sampler further.
Focusing on the area highlighted in red:
Isle of Jura is most deeply connected to Talisker (normalized link strength of 0.99) and Oban (0.97).
Balblair is most deeply
connected to Cragganmore
and Oban
(0.98 and 0.97 respectively). Cragganmore is most deeply connected to Balblair
and Dufftown
(0.98 and 0.98 respectively), Oban to Talisker and Ardberg (0.99 and 0.99).
Loch Lomond however is most closely connected to Glenmorangie
(0.99), Isle
of Jura (0.98) and Bruichladdich
(0.98), Glenmorangie
to Loch
Lomond, Balblair and Inchgower (0.99, 0.98, and 0.98), Inchgower to Loch Lomond,
Glenmorangie
(0.98, 0.98).
Therefore, Ardberg, Talisker, Dufftown, Teaninish, Oban, Isle of Jura, Balblair
and Cragganmore
make up a group of smoky, spicy medicinal whiskies with body.
Loch Lomond, Glenmorangie,
Inchgower,
Springbank,
Dalmore,
Bowmore,
Isle of
Arran, Scapa, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabain, Highland Park,
Glen Scotia make up the group of light balanced medicinal,
honey whiskies.
Looking next at the turquoise, sweeter whiskies group:
The sweeter whisky group has 3
clear segments. Glenfiddich
is on its own as a sweet, floral, fruity light whisky.
AnCnoc, Aultmore, Speyburn, Dalwhinnie, Glenallachie, Glenlossie,
Glenkinchie,
Miltonduff,
Ben Nevis,
Tobermory,
Cardhu,
BenRiach,
Auchentoshan,
Tamnavulin
and Strathmill
are honey, fruity, floral and spicy.
Contrary to the spicier whisky
group, the large group of whiskies is much more deeply linked (a mass of dark
connecting lines) and hence is not segmented further.
Hence the whiskies are grouped as
such:
The sampler simply picks one
representative from each segment.
If the recommended whisky on the
sampler is not available, just replace it with another member of the segment.
For example, if Fettercain
isn’t available, try Tullibardine or Craigallechie.
If you find that you’d like
something ‘in between’ two whiskies, simply explore the range of whiskies that
are linked to both groups. For example, if one is unable to choose between Talisker
and Highland
Park, then Loch Lomond or Glenmorangie who are connected
to both segments would be good choices. Similarly if you’d like something ‘in
between’ Macallan
and Auchtentoshan,
you can try BenRinnes,
Balvenie
or Dalwhinnie.
Happy discovery!
