Supertasters, tasting notes and scoring
What it actually means is that, in common with 25% of the population, I have more than the average number of taste buds. The impact of this is that I, and the rest of the 25% (is supertaster really the right word when there are billions of us out there?), taste some things more intensely. For instance, I’m one of those people who can’t abide the taste of coriander leaf, much to the bafflement of most of the population. It also means I watch cookery shows wondering why chefs spend so much time balancing all those flavours to perfection, only to throw a handful of foul tasting, chopped up foliage on top.
Great, you’re thinking, but what does this have to do with a whisky blog? Well, rest awhile and let me explain..
Research has shown that we experience tastes in different ways, and for a variety of reasons. For instance, it’s far more common for women to be supertasters, and there are also higher proportions of people with this ability in regions such as Asia, Latin America and Africa. It’s also understood that there are many factors which can affect how we all taste food, including age, mood, health, preconceptions and what we’ve previously eaten during the day.
When tasting a whisky, it’s often useful to think of it as a whole bunch of chemical compounds, all with their own distinctive aroma and flavour characteristics, and sometimes those characteristics can combine to form a completely different note. There are notes that everyone can recognise, such as whether it’s peated or not due to the presence of phenolic compounds. Vanilla is another note often picked up by most people, simply because the compound vanillin which gives vanilla it’s characteristic aroma, is commonly found in whisky in high enough concentrations to be detected. But these tend to be the exceptions rather than the rule.
Whilst it’s possible to train the palate to detect many notes, how many times have you smelled or tasted something that seemed familiar but you couldn’t quite put your finger on what that something was? For me, the real art comes from being able to relate these individual chemical notes to something recognisable. Imagine the smell of freshly baked bread and your mind will develop a picture of the loaf straight out of the oven. That’s something we can all do, but there are a few highly gifted people who can create a complete picture just from a mixture of compounds in the bottom of a whisky glass. And yet, whilst this ability to create a picture from an aroma or flavour note is extremely impressive, it’s not without drawbacks as those pictures are based on individual palates, memories or experiences and, as such, are entirely personal.
As an example, when I read a European tasting note of chocolate I think of either rich, creamy milk chocolate or bitter dark chocolate. And yet if I read an American tasting note of chocolate I immediately think of butyric acid, a component of both American chocolate and baby sick..not something I really look forward to in a whisky.
So the point I’m eventually getting to is that tasting notes are based on a huge variety of factors and are ultimately entirely personal. And yet, there’s another major factor at play when deciding whether we think a whisky is good or not, and that is personal preference. The world would be a very dull place if we all liked the same things, and even the most identical of twins may differ completely in their preferences.
When I first set out on my whisky journey 35 years ago I was of the misguided opinion that whiskies were either great, good, mediocre or bad. These days, my philosophy is that nobody sets out to make a bad whisky as the lack of repeat orders wouldn’t make for a successful business model. Even if I don’t enjoy a whisky, and there have been many I don’t, I’m more than aware that there will be plenty of other people who will. So I try and keep that in mind with my reviews and just pick out the good and bad points as I see them. Yes, I may get a little effusive on the whiskies I believe deserve praise, but at the end of the day it’s still just my personal opinion. Which brings me to my final point, and why you will never see scores on my reviews.
I see many social media posts saying “this scored 87/100 on ‘insert website here’ so it must be good”. Given all of the variables mentioned above, and especially personal preference, how can a score be any more than one person’s opinion? Yes, you could argue that websites which combine scores from multiple users is more accurate, but were they all equally experienced, did they use the same type of glass, did they follow the same tasting process and isn’t it feasible that people with very similar tastes tend to buy, enjoy and give scores on the same whiskies which could easily skew the system? And perhaps more importantly, how can a score possibly predict whether I will like that whisky or not?
If I have any advice to give, if you’re looking to try a new whisky don’t look at the score. Sourcing a sample is always the best option, but if that’s not possible then check out several reviews, look at the flavour profiles and you will usually find many of the same notes appear in each. See how that matches with your own preferences and take it from there.
And remember, whisky is a very personal thing. If you find one you love that gets dreadful reviews then just ignore the reviews and keep drinking what you enjoy!
Slàinte mhath!
