BEFORE even the most expensive whisky goes into the barrel, it is vodka-coloured and gut-wrenching. 'Don't drink it,' warned Whyte and MacKay's master blender Richard Paterson at a recent whisky blending class at the Grand Hyatt.
'You swirl it around in the glass and say 'hello'. And it says back, 'I want to go to sleep and lay down for 15 years, I'm hot on cereals and a bit aggressive, leave me alone'.' In 15 years' time this would be a very expensive Dalmore single malt: today its fumes alone are overpowering.
The first surprise about Mr Paterson is that - like most of his master blender counterparts - he does not drink his whisky straight. Not that he introduces ginger ale or soda or even ice (that gives the whisky a terrible shock) into the equation. But a dash of 'reputable' water brings out the real flavours of the drink, he said appreciatively.
Mr Paterson's profession and his genetic heritage have combined to give him an extremely sensitive nose. His non-identical twin brother did not inherit the acute sense of smell. 'My nose is longer than his,' Mr Paterson joked. Indeed, throughout the interview, he frequently referred to the size of his nose - 'you might as well capitalise on your more prominent features' - but he is no Cyrano de Bergerac. The nose of this professional 'nose' is not abnormally large. Just working overtime.
And, perhaps contrary to my expectations of someone who samples liquor for a living, it is not coloured by alcohol.
'If you are investigating 600 barrels before lunch, you can't taste them all,' he said. 'Whisky is not like wine: 97 per cent of the flavour is there in the smell, so you know the whisky's character without having to drink it.' As a master blender, he is employed to make the company's blended whiskies - blending a malt not only with grain whisky (to create a lighter, more fragrant drink) but also with up to 100 different malt whiskies from distilleries all over Scotland to make any one 'blend'.