Tasting Skills: from "smooth" to hedonistic"

It's tea time ladies, grab yer mugs! Drink it fast or sip it slow. About glasses, how ta crook yer pinkie, nosing and tasting techniques and equipment. May your cup - and your women - be bottomless!
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Capn Jimbo
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Tasting Skills: from "smooth" to hedonistic"

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Where do you fall on the tasting continuum?

Consider this...

I have a good friend who likes Irish Whisky, and in return I tried to introduce him to fine rum. It was not long before I realized that he'd never really thought much about the idea of "tasting". To him "tasting" was little more than the sensations you got when tossing em down.

Of course, Sue Sea and I tried to get him to slow down and explained that "tasting" was really a series of slow and pleasant events, from enjoying the bottle, discussing the origin and quality of the rum, the pour, observing and swirling the spirit for color, body and legs, an extended nosing with discussion, then actually tasting it. Yup, with more discussion and reflection.

Not just tossin em down.

In his defense he tried, after all he was a guest and I was pouring fine booze. He concentrated and we queried him on his experience. "What are you smelling?". "It smells nice."

"Do you get any fruitiness? Spice? Vanilla?". "Well, I'm not sure, it's sure nice though". "

How about the taste - are you getting that honey entry and the raisin?" "Uh, well, I'd say it's smooth, really smooth. Nice. Smooth".

And so it went. We encouraged him to trust his own life experience, and simply list adjectives that occured to him. We emphasized that there was no right and wrong, and that whatever he experienced is what it's all about. He simply didn't get it. "Nice" and "Smooth" was as far as he could go, and for him that was pleasant experience enough.

The truth: he's not dense, he's a typical beginner!

Actually the evaluation of quality has been intensely studied, particularly in the world of wine. Some of the basic debates concern whether tasting is an affective, cognitive or sensory experience, ie is enjoyment an emotional or intellectual process, or just a direct response to our sensory input? What makes a drink pleaureable? And is there an inherent aesthetic or beauty to a spirit?

Now I'm sure you may have read how different people observe life. Some are cognitive - who might say "I think this rum is...". An emotional or affective person might exclaim "It's nice!". And a sensory person might offer "I taste vanilla".

But it's not that simple either.

Actually most tasters - regardless of experience - react to a wine or spirit in all three ways, in various combinations. Not to mention that tasting is both subjective and objective. One extensive study showed that tasters identified 38 different criteria, but these fell into a number of categories:

Newer drinkers were most concerned with "extrinsic" qualities. These are the most obvious, as exemplified by my friend. For rum these would include strength, taste, smoothness and balance. For a newer drinker "pleasantness" is the number one criteria. "I liked it. It's nice and smooth". Some will express some elementary tastes like "It's strong... sweet... hot... vanilla-like..." and so on. Newer drinkers don't know what to expect, so they focus on little more than "I like it" or "It tastes good".

So what's next? Read on...
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Capn Jimbo
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The intermediate taster...

Post by Capn Jimbo »

What's next? The Intermediate Taster...


We left off with the new wine or spirit drinker. The big tipoff: if anyone you know exclaims how "smooth" a rum is - or how good it tastes - he's a beginner. And of course the marketing boyz know this and concoct luscious descriptions that even Robert Parker couldn't fathom.

Let's move on.

An intermediate taster has developed an interest in vocabulary and and has begun to develop and to trust his or her own. At this stage the taster has found trusted reviewers and has begun to test and compare their descriptors with their own. As an example Dave Broom's "banana" is Sue Sea's licorice or anise. Her "rindy" is my "leather".

It is at this stage that a budding rum taster should be familiar with the four or five basic styles of rum, and should have a reference standard for each (the main Rum Project website covers these). The intermediate taster will begin to recognize the style and is starting to judge whether a rum may be a member of that style.

The styles? According to Dave Broom they are Jamaican, Demeraran, Cane Juice and Cuban. For historical reasons - and taste too - I've added Barbadian, and we are debating an identifiable Dominican profile. "Styles" are called paradigmatic dimensions - like a "warm weather Chardonnay". Identifiable categories. Why is knowing this important?

Otherwise, you end up trying to compare a light Puerto Rican rum with a heavy Jamaican - unfair and just plain idiotic. I know.

While the beginner is concerned with the few obvious characteristics (the extrinsic dimensions), the intermediate is beginning to get into what have been called the gustatory dimensions.

These are considerations like complexity and interest.

In truth, the more experienced you get the more these two factors become important to your enjoyment. When you're a beginner, smoothness and tasting good are all you need, and this limited arena is where the addition of unlabeled flavorings and additives takes place.

An intermediate - depending on the "it's all good" boyz over at the Preacher's and similar sites - has unnecessarily purchased a lot of "it tastes good" rums, and frankly has become either confused or bored. Probably both.

But if they've done their homework, the intermediate has become aware of this practice, is aware of stylistic differences and has had a pleasant taste of real and authentic profiles. The intermediate is developing good taste and is more critical.

It now takes authenticity, complexity and interest to float the intermediate's ship. Stay tuned for advanced tasters, to follow...
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Capn Jimbo
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The Advanced Intermediate...

Post by Capn Jimbo »

The Advanced Intermediate. It there really such a thing?

There is on this website.

By now I'm sure I'm speaking to a relative handful of you fellow rum tasters. The Preacher's boyz gave up at the OP, the Wolf pack made it only halfway through the second - to the part that discussed purity and authenticity. But here you are: anal and obsessive but sincerely interested. Like me.

We left off with the budding intermediates, who were beginning to develop adjectives, wondering about purity and with at least a passing familiarity with the four or five reference styles. Some maybe even own one or two of the reference standards. Mount Gay Extra Old better be on their shelves.

But what makes the "advanced intermediate"?

The advanced intermediate has a pretty good vocabulary. He can pour a dram and identify the style and whether it's been "tweaked" or not. He has chosen his rums wisely and follows our reviews religiously. Sometimes even sacrilegiously, lol. He's seen a green edge and knows what it means. And is beginning to understand and distinguish the differing characteristics of young, continuously distilled rums with those of aged, pot-stilled rums. He's become a fan of Pusser's Blue Label.

In short the advanced intermediate is beginning to appreciate the aesthetic qualities. These include factors like intensity, unity and balance (which some call harmony), complexity and novelty, interest or distinctiveness. Let's give some examples:

Take the Flor de Cana line - subtle, balanced and harmonious - but not particularly interesting. Compare to Pussers - intense, unified, complex and certainly distinctive. And any rum that gains its profile via artificial flavorings and additives doesn't even count. Better rums are more complex, and great rums, though very complex, do not easily reveal their components. Compare a rum which reeks of vanilla and is drippingly sweet with say MGXO, which will keep revealing aroma or flavor, one after another.

That's what I mean.

And the advanced intermediate has caught onto this, and realizes how really few great (or even good) rums there really are. Next we'll discuss the notion of advanced tasting and the idea of "catalysis" - a word with which all you Chem E majors should be familiar...
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The Advanced Taster

Post by Capn Jimbo »

What's this stuff about "aesthetics" and "catalysis"? And just who is the head monkey around here?

The advanced taster.


And how many are there? Precious few. The world of rogue rum is so damaged and unmanaged that except for a few exceptional tasters and reviewers like Dave Broom, the rest barely recognize the basic styles of rum. Find that odd? Nor have serious or concerted efforts been made to identify or suggest reference standards. There are no magazines, no wheels, and only one competent and complete coffee table book ("Rum", by Dave Broom). Rum is so commonly "tweaked" that purity and authenticity are vague notions, little more than undeserved fodder for marketing claims.

Pretty sad.

Actually most of the rum review websites are either run by biased, "it's all good" commercial operators (like the Preacher, the Queen of Rum, the Burr Brothers or the Badassitor) who simply cannot afford to piss off the distillers who pay dearly to participate in their commercial "rum fests" and faux competitions. Or by interested quasi-amateurs like the ball licking Wolfman or the treehanging Forrest who are really commercial wannabees, and who accept free product. Or relatively amateur websites like RnD, Scottes, the Dood, et al. Even the latter cannot avoid suspicion as some of them are invited to act as "judges" in the faux competitions. Which means acceptable to the big four commercial flacks.

And around we go. Counting on the Big Four for honest reviews is hopeless. Ibid for the wannabe's. And the mostly amateur reviewers are intermediates at best.

So where can you go for truly unbiased and competent reviews?

Your choices are limited: BTI (the Beverage Tasting Institute) is perhaps the only advanced, competent, unbiased and reliable resource on the net. Still, most beginners and intermediates will barely comprehend their artistry, but are left to count on their very reliable scoring. Any rum scoring 89 or 90 and higher is definitely worth trying. And it's certainly worth finding an amateur website whose evaluations match your own.

Your other alternative is right here.

What do I consider Sue Sea and moi? Advanced intermediates transitioning into this category. More important though is that our reviews and tasting are absolutely non-commercial. We actually buy our own rums at retail prices. Our goal is to serve the average rummie and not the industry. Our reviews are meant to be accessible and understandable to you. And we say what we think, which means that we are no longer invited to act as "judges", and are rarely even offered free product.

Perfectly understandable.

So what makes a truly advanced taster? Great experience, great knowledge, great communication skills and most importantly, a sense of the "aesthetic". Aesthetics is the notion that a fine spirit can be appreciated in an artistic sense.

A great example of this is Barbancourt. Barbancourt's history moves the soul, having been founded in Haiti, a country whose slave population revolted and gained their own independence, followed by years of turmoil caused by a punishing Napolean. Barbancourt survived years of political turmoil and dictators, hurricanes and even the recent earthquake. Through all, the distillery remains firmly in the hands of the Gardiere family, and continued to produce their fine cane juice rum in the midst of chaos.

Such a history is artistic.

As so well put by Dave Broom, Barbancourt is as close to a handmade and artistic rum as you may find. To this day much of the cane is cut by hand, and transported for crushing in oxcarts! Their world class rum is still double distilled - first in a column still and then in a pot still. The final product is barreled at relatively low proof in expensive French Limosin oak - an expensive and time consuming process. It is estimated that Barbancourt directly supports over 20,000 people, and may fairly be considered the product of a community.

Again, as Dave Broom puts it "Barbancourt... is a triumph of the human spirit". That's artistic. So why have I bothered you with this story?

This is what makes advanced tasters. Knowledge and appreciation of the history and tradition. Of the distillery, its owners and its process. Of rum making and aging in general. And who has extensive experience tasting rum, lots and lots of it. This all goes well beyond "I taste vanilla and peach". It goes way beyond "it tastes good". And it goes beyond the intrinsic and gustory dimensions discussed in the previous posts.

The intermediate taster makes laundry lists, neatly sliced and diced into categories like (a) aroma, (b) taste and (finish) - and then give it, gasp, his score! Ad nauseum, and opaque to the reader - who still has no idea what that rum is really about. I once published three very different reviews from three different reviewers - competing laundry lists, all very unlike and intriguing - only to reveal that all three reviews were actually of the same rum!

Truth is, most readers wouldn't recognize the rum in their glass from these dissectioned reviews.

For the advanced taster the notions of complexity, unity and balance, intensity, novelty, interest and distinctiveness are known and become paramount. The advanced taster has a sense of aesthetics as represented by the integration of all these qualities into an artistic whole - which by catalysis - is greater than the sum of its parts. He or she understands how all the parts work together, what in the whole that they achieve, and how the spirit compares to other in its category and style.

That's artistic.

And if this person is also a skilled communicator - rarer still - he or she may then successfully communicate with the greatest number of rum drinkers.

Aethetics, art and the process of catalysis. It's what it's all about.
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