Scotch Whisky Flavour Profiles

'Big data' came to the fore in 2013 with Edward Snowden and the allegations around NSA snooping. 

But big data is more than government over-reach and surveilance. 

When it is combined with data visualization and the wonderful world of culture the results can be not just appealing but indispensably useful.

Case in point: this graphic was created by Christopher Ingraham (Twitter @cingraham) with the original concept and code by Kevin Schaul (Twitter @kevinschaul)

Hat tip to data scientist George Piatetsky (Twitter @kdnuggets) for alerting us to it on his twitter timeline. 

It is basically a flavour profiling of 86 scotch whiskies based on 12 flavour categories: 

• Sweetness

• Fruity

• Floral

• Body

• Smoky

• Tobacco

• Medicinal

• Winey

• Spicy

• Malty

• Nutty

• Honey

Each scotch has a radar diagram that illustrates the characteristics of that whisky. 

You can download a full resolution png file at this infographics website. 

A SukasaStyle #ScotchSunday reminder: everyone's palate is different but some characteristics should stand out based on the region, distillery, and method. 

The next time you enjoy your dram remember how useful big data can be.

Arijit Banik for SukasaStyle