WSET System to Tasting Spirits

Appearance
Color	Colorless - Lemon - Gold - Amber - Brown - Pink - Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Purple - Black

Nose
Intensity	neutral - light - medium - pronounced
Aroma Characteristics	e.g. raw material, processing, oak and Maturation

Palate
Flavor Characteristics	e.g raw material, processing, oak and maturation
Other Observations	e.g sugar level, texture
Finish	short - medium - long - neutral - simple - some complexity - very complex

Preparing for a tasting

Before tasting ensure:

There are no distracting smells
There is a good source of natural light
There is a white surface to help assess appearance of the spirit
You have a glass with a wide bowl that narrows towards the top (glencairn?)
You have a clean palate with no lingering flavors (e.g. coffee or toothpaste)
You are well hydrated

Recommended Approach

As Spirits are very strong alcoholic beverages (even though they’re already diluted). This makes it hard to assess a spirit even at 40% ABV. Thus it’s recommended to:

Pour a 1.5cL (or 0.5 US fl. oz.) sample
Assess appearance and the nose
Dilute sample with 1.5cL of water
Reassess the nose
Assess palate
Spit