WSETII Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is the best type of glass to taste with?
ISO glass with .5oz of liquid
What is the systematic approach to tasting?
Appearance, Nose, Palate
Appearance is
Clarity, Intensity, Color
When can a quality spirit be hazy?
When they are not filtered and are chilled or have added water
What happens to aniseed spirits when water is added?
Louching
What is louching?
when a spirit turns opaque and cloudy when water is added
Where would louching be noted?
Under other observations
All spirits when they come off the still are
colorless
Any color that a spirit has is added
after distillation
What is intensity?
How easy it is to see through a spirit
What is the five point scale of intensity?
water-white opaque medium pale deep
Water-white should be used to describe spirits that are
colorless such as vodka
Opaque should be used to describe spirits
that cannot be seen through at all such as creams
The majority of spirits described as pale medium or deep got their color from
oak or caramel
When can spirits matured in oak have some or all of their color removed?
Because of charcoal filtration
The majority of spirits aged in oak have what intensity
medium
If the producer does NOT use caramel and their spirit is either matured in oak for a short amount of time or in used barrels the color is likely to be
pale
Spirits aged a long time, matured in new oak, or had a lot of caramel added would be described as
deep
Why should you not swirl the glass when smelling spirits?
Enough alcohol will evaporate causing your nose to go numb to smell
How do you determine if a spirit is clean or unclean?
Are there any faulty aromas?
If the spirit smells overlty of solvent, then
the distiller has included too many volatile aromas that should have been in the heads
If the spirit smells overly of plastic, cheese or sweat then
the distiller has included too many aromas that should have been in the tails
Musty, damp-cardboard aromas indicate
cork taint
The most commonly encountered fault is a spirit
becoming out of condition as a result of a bottle being opened too long
Intensity should be described as
light medium or pronounced
What is the exception to intensity
vodka-which is described as neutral
The table of suggested aroma/flavor words is called
the spirit lexicon
What are the three groups of the spirit lexicon
raw materials
processing
oak and maturation
What are processing aromas?
aromas created during during the steps required to make the alcohol such as smoke
What are oak and maturation aromas?
they are linked to the oak and influence of oxygen during oak maturation
Once you have assessed the spirit, it is suggested to
dilute it with water and start the process again
When adding water to reassess the nose it is recommended to
add the same amount of water as the liquid being assessed
The two important tastes that come from your tongue are
sweet and bitter
All newly distilled spirits have no
sugar when they come off the still
Ethanol has what kind of taste
sweet
You would use the term dry
when your trying to assess whether sugar has been added after distillation
When would you use the term off-dry
when there is a small amount of sugar added after distillation
A good way to determine if sugar is added after distillation is by
texture
An off-dry spirit will have what kind of texture?
hint of syrup
A spirit that is sweet but where sweetness is not the defining characteristic is
medium
The term sweet is used to describe
liqueurs or other flavored spirits
Texture refers to
how the spirit feels in the mouth
The first step to determining flavor and finish is
how does it taste when in your mouth
What is the second step to determining flavor and finish?
How long does the flavor last once you spit it out and whether they are simple or complex
When assessing the length of the finish you should only focus on the
positive flavors
What is a simple finish
finishes with a single flavor
What is a complex finish?
when the finish has many flavors
What is the exception to finish
neutral-vodka
What is the best way to assess finish
draw air over your tongue once you spit the spirit out
When judging a spirits quality you should use what criteria
Balance
Finish
Expressiveness
Purity
What can be defined as good balance
all of the flavors working together and not overpowering one another
In terms of finish, what does a quality spirit have?
complex flavors that linger and evolve for several seconds
What are you looking for in terms of expressiveness
precision and clarity in the flavors and textures
When will you look for purity
in vodkas
What are the levels of assessment
good
acceptable
poor
very good outstanding
