Tasting & Evaluating Flashcards
What can affect your ability to judge spirits?
Hayfever, head cold, covid-19 and fatigue
Why does a spirit’s colour and intensity give so little about its Quality away?
Because it’s wide open to manipulation. Unlike wine.
Before tasting spirit, what should you do?
Note the colour, intensity and clarity
Then add a little water before tasting
What is it called when a spirit turns cloudy with the addition of water?
Louching
Spirits made from what react with water and go cloudy?
Aniseed
Is a hazy spirit faulty?
Probably. But there are unfiltered spirits that are supposed to be hazy
What process removes colour from spirits?
Charcoal filtration
Wood matured spirits have their own range of colours:
Why?
What are they?
The colour range is natural and narrow. Lemon Gold Amber Brown
Unclean aromas from the heads of a distillation smell of what?
…and from the tails, which smells do you get?
…cork taint?
Heads: Solvents
Tails: Plastic, sweat, cheese
Corked: Musty, damp cardboard
A spirit free from smelly heads and tails aromas is said to be ?
Clean
as opposed to “unclean”
Of the five tastes:
Which 2 are the most important?
Which 3 are the least important
Most important: Sweet, Bitter
Least important: Salt, Sour, Umami
Can a freshly distilled spirit contain any sugar?
Nope.
It’s always added
Even if you can’t obviously taste sugar (as in off-dry) in a spirit, how can you tell?
The texture. It’ll have a certain viscosity.
Vodka is a special case when considering a spirit’s Finish (length and complexity) and Purity. Why?
Unlike the rest of spirit world, it’s quality is determined by it’s lack of taste and length: aka
“Crisp, Clean and Smooth”
Like a new bedsheet?
Expressiveness in a spirit is determined by its: (2)
Precision
Clarity
