A more refined taste?

Susan Delgado

I was reading the alcohol thread in D&D and I thought to myself "why don't I pick up on these flavors, smells, etc. that everyone is talking about?".

Even drinking wine I have a hard time distinguishing the different smells and flavors that are woven into the drink. I mean, I can definitely tell that a Cabernet tastes different than a Merlot, but I couldn't tell you all the different fruits or flowers or woods used in them purely based on a tasting. Same with chocolates, cheese, whiskeys, etc. I know they're different, I know when I drink them that they do not taste the same, but I cannot pinpoint what it is that makes them different.

So in the interest of becoming more knowledgeable and being able to recognize and enjoy the intricacies and subtleties of these things, how in the world do I go about refining my palate and learn how to recognize the wonderful different smells and flavors above "these are different and I like how that tastes"?

Davoid

Go to tastings

Develop your palate

It takes time

There are techniques to really smell and taste more deeply than you normally would by just eating something, but the main thing is training your palate to recognize more complex flavours

japan

It takes a bit of practice and experience to develop a palette, so don't worry that you can't distinguish these things immediately. It's also not an exact science, people writing tasting notes are generally trying to convey an impression, not precisely describe. They're more for people who want a means to compare different things they've experienced rather than for describing something to other people.

As for learning, what are you interested in? There are usually clubs and courses around that will help you pick up the basics.

adytum

Susan Delgado wrote: »

Even drinking wine I have a hard time distinguishing the different smells and flavors that are woven into the drink. I mean, I can definitely tell that a Cabernet tastes different than a Merlot, but I couldn't tell you all the different fruits or flowers or woods used in them purely based on a tasting. Same with chocolates, cheese, whiskeys, etc. I know they're different, I know when I drink them that they do not taste the same, but I cannot pinpoint what it is that makes them different. ?

I'm not sure if it's a misunderstanding or you just miswrote, but typically wines do not use anything in the fermentation process. The 'wine aroma wheel' is completely subjective and you shouldn't feel bad about not being able to "sense" any of the "aromas" since they're arguably all made up.

Beers, liquors, and other products frequently do use fruits and spices in the brewing process. Two of my favorite things right now are Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat and a hand-infused apple cinnamon vodka.

Most Sam Adams beer is absolute crap IMO, but the Cherry Wheat is fantastic.

You should worry less about being able to sense flavors, and worry more about what tastes good to you. Try a broader variety of goods. It can be daunting with wine, but beer is easy: if you go somewhere, and there's a beer you've never tried on tap, order that. Maybe it sucks, or maybe it's awesome, but you'll be able to develop a pretty refined taste using that method just by nature of trying so many different beers.

celandine

Again, don't worry about "aroma of huckleberries with a tinge of sulfur" kind of stuff. That's subjective anyhow.
You'll know if you have a decent palate for wine when:
1. Wine tastes good to you
2. Some wine tastes better than other wine
3. You can guess the grape without looking sometimes
4. You acquire some kind of "wine common sense." (i.e. "Jesus, you wouldn't drink that with chicken!")

Anything more than that isn't really about tasting or smelling, but about reading. Reading about wine can be a whole world if you're interested.

Esh

If you're interested in a book to help out, Oldman's Guide is the one you're looking for. Well written and great for beginners.

Darkewolfe

Congratulations! The answer is drink more!

BoomShake

As has been said, the most important piece of advice is:

Taste more. Taste more often. Taste more varieties of the beverage. Taste more things in general.

The biggest problem in developing your palate is not so much the ability to taste, but rather how to articulate what you're tasting. The world we live in puts the emphasis almost entirely on our sight vocabulary, recognizing objects and their associated names. Some attention is paid to sounds and feels, but hardly any is to taste (for the average person). That means that by now, your other vocabularies are pretty well defined, but taste is still something vague. You can start by looking up some common taste and mouth-feel adjectives to aid you, but the only way to truely remedy the situation is the same way you built your other vocabularies: practice.

Set up a regimen. Go to the supermarket each week and pick out a few new things to taste. Fruits are a good place to start. Smell them before you cut them, smell them after you cut them. Don't gobble, but deliberately taste while eating. Let it linger, pay attention to how it works in all parts of your mouth, note the after taste. Right after you swallow, suck a breath in through your mouth and let it out slowly through your nose; you'd be surprised at how much more you'll taste. Try to remember the characteristics of the flavor and associate it with its name. Eventually, things will become more familiar to your palate and you'll have the words to describe them.

You really ought to go to as many tastings in your area as you can. The ones I've been to let me first try to describe the aroma, taste, etc. of a wine on my own, and then went through it from their professional standpoint. In doing so, you'll be practicing your own tasting while the pro can then bring your attention to flavors you have confused and point out ones you may have initially missed.

The main point, aside from all of this, is to HAVE FUN. In the end, if you're enjoying tasting things and are figuring out at least a few things that you like, then I'd call that a win.

Paladin

some people think that the best wine tasters have residual deep throat taste buds which send taste signals down the vagus nerve - something that usually disappears after you're weaned off breast milk.


PS did you know that not all taste receptors are on your tongue



PPS also did you know that chocolate is not actually a taste? It doesn't stimulate your taste buds; the flavor of chocolate is actually you smelling the particles from the other side of the nasal sinus

BoomShake

Paladin wrote: »

some people think that the best wine tasters have residual deep throat taste buds which send taste signals down the vagus nerve - something that usually disappears after you're weaned off breast milk.


PS did you know that not all taste receptors are on your tongue



PPS also did you know that chocolate is not actually a taste? It doesn't stimulate your taste buds; the flavor of chocolate is actually you smelling the particles from the other side of the nasal sinus

That's how we taste most of the complex flavors. The tongue handles bitter, sweet, salty, sour, and savory/amino/"umami". There's a few other things it picks up on, but those are really sensations and not tastes.

And if we really want to get technical, you're not picking up the flavor from "particles of chocolate" in the nasal cavity, but the various molecules of the more volatile compounds contained within chocolate.

Haven't heard of the breast-milk and deep taste bud thing, but I have heard of "supertasters". They have a higher taste bud density, among other possible factors.

Paladin

blow your nose before eating

gross

Robman

Wine tasters have been shown time and time again to be wonderful people who make shit up as they go along.

Buy lots of different types of wine, figure out what you like, and don't feel like you need to describe your preference with bullshit jargon. Wine tasters can't even identify the same flavours on the same wine if they're doing a cleverly set up test.

FightTest

http://tv.winelibrary.com/2006/12/15/how-to-get-your-wine-palate-trained-episode-148/

(ps I would agree most people probably just make shit up to sound cool.)

Paladin

yes actually if the first drink you ever had was like cherry mixed with chocolate later on when you have pure chocolate drinks they'll taste like they have cherry in them cause your mind makes the association


Taste and especially smell are the most subjective things in the universe, almost literally, due to the unique development of the olfactory bulb in every person's brain and a variety of other things

Raiden333

Also, just in case you smoke and you didn't already know, being a smoker kills your senses of taste and smell.

I've been off smokes for a month and it's amazing how many flavors I'm picking up now.

Susan Delgado

All the suggestions are awesome. I really want to be more... aware, I guess is it, when I'm trying new foods or wines or liquor. I really like the idea of buying a new wine and/or different fruits and cheeses and doing like home tastings and taking my time experiencing the food and drinks.

I know I like Cabernet sauvingon but not Merlot, for example...my curiosity is how to better distinguish one winery's cab sav from another. My vocabulary is limited as far as being able to say "it's bitter" or "it's smooth". I want to know what it is that I'm tasting (or not tasting) and be able to identify it and describe it in terms other than "it's good".

This isn't just with wines either... I kind of feel like I have to have something be almost overpowering for me to really really taste it. And no, I don't smoke. I grew up around smokers, but have been removed from living with anyone that smokes for years now.

Maybe I have wimpy tastebuds?

EggyToast

You may simply have not been paying attention. I know for me I tasted a lot of wines to figure out what I liked, but now that I pretty much know what I like I tend to test the boundaries and want to know what to avoid and what to get in the future. I drink wine mostly with my wife, so we talk about it. "This tastes... hmmm" And then you pay attention to what your taste buds are telling you. A common description for white wines for us is "grassy," although it's not a common taste descriptor (since no one eats grass) but most people know what we mean.

Similarly, many people will describe some wines as "fruity." But what kind of fruit? Pomegranite and cranberries are distinctly different from plums and pears. But if you've never eaten dragonfruit or durians you won't know what they taste like, so stick with what you know. If you don't know, make something up -- "it's sort of like a strawberry-plum!"

As for knowing one winery from another, you really just need to devote yourself to drinking from a winery. I assume you're not buying very expensive wines. At the cheap end of the scale, typically what you're tasting for is more general anyway, and a particular winery's methods won't be that evident. But even with a basic palate you can do thinks like determine whether a particular year is any good. I did it by noticing that a wine I was a big fan of was suddenly bad. Sure enough, it was a new year (and therefore a new batch). So we made sure to avoid the 2007 grenache (they got better in 2008 but were never as good as in 2006).

One thing that might help you is to take notes. If you keep a written note of what you drank and what you thought of it, not only does it give you a guide for other tastings, but it lets you know what you drank so you can buy more of it

Paladin

Also don't try to get ahead of yourself and quantify tastes that you're not at all sure about. You'll always be pretty much right saying "it's good" or " it's bad" because that's how the brain was designed to process information. Trying to make qualifications just so you can impess your friends will just complicate your tasting ability. Be honest and simple, like a kindergartener, and the definition of taste will come easily enough.