I feel like such a loser... no palate whatsoever.

[DaviesCountyBoozer]

Hey. I'm really feeling left out. I've read literally hundreds of posts on here about "vanilla notes" and "coffee taste" from oaking, but when I've tried it, we'll, yeah, it's a teeny bit better, but I don't get all the hype. I guess I'm just a philistine.
My oak comes from Grandfather Oak, a very old, dead oak tree on my property. Probably 250 years old by the diameter, and no longer making green leaves in the spring. When large branches fall off, I scoop them up, split them into "fingers", and and toast them over the fire. Then I drop them, still smoking, into the mix. Leave them set for a season.
The end result is nice and dark, and has a bit more flavor, but I can't tell all this "notes of chrysanthamum" crap. It tastes like whiskey. I drink it.
Am I just handicapped, or is this just because ive been smoking cigarettes since 1974?
Also, it seems to make very little difference whether I use corn mash, beets, or store-bought sugar. After the 2nd distillation, it's pretty much just alcohol.
Go ahead. Roast me. I will take the charred remains of my backside and put THEM in the next batch.

[acfixer69]

You need to use the heartwood not branches to start the with.

[bilgriss]

What he said.

Like most things one develops an expertise in, it takes time, repetition, comparison, and more repetition to really start to tease out the nuance in flavors and aromas. It takes an openness to sense things you haven't previously seen, felt, or smelled before too, and some of us are better at that than others.

I do smell things much more better good since I stopped smoking, now years ago. Probably flavor too. But I suspect lots of smokers still can develop the ability to notice those flavor and aromatic notes. I also know someone who has no sense of smell - never smoked. I can't tell you anything for sure.

[jonnys_spirit]

How about buying a couple lower/mid/higher range commercial bottles and lining up a handful of slightly under proof glasses to compare and contrast with yours? Better? Worse? Meh?

Keep it simple and forget about grandma’s spicebox for a minute. How does it make you feel when you sniff and swirl a bit? Maybe limit it to two or three commercial and one of yours to minimize what you’re trying to interpret.

Glass of water to rinse between tastings?

Cheers,
-jonny

[NorthWoodsAb]

DCB I can totally relate to your dilemma. I've had nearly zero sense of smell since exposure to chlorine gas when I was 27-28, I sometimes get a smell stuck in my head for a day or two don't know what it is or if it's real. So obviously my sense of taste is compromised as well. All I can tell you is there are things I like, things I don't care for, and things I really don't like. But I don't have a hope in hell of quantifying any of it. I have to trust others for honest opinions. Making cuts is a real bitch.
You are not alone.
Cheers

[DaviesCountyBoozer]

DCB I can totally relate to your dilemma. I've had nearly zero sense of smell since exposure to chlorine gas when I was 27-28, I sometimes get a smell stuck in my head for a day or two don't know what it is or if it's real. So obviously my sense of taste is compromised as well. All I can tell you is there are things I like, things I don't care for, and things I really don't like. But I don't have a hope in hell of quantifying any of it. I have to trust others for honest opinions. Making cuts is a real bitch.
You are not alone.
Cheers

Thank you for that. Disabled combat veteran here. . I get the "ghost smells" too.

[Saltbush Bill]

I'm really feeling left out. I've read literally hundreds of posts on here about "vanilla notes" and "coffee taste" from oaking, but when I've tried it, we'll, yeah, it's a teeny bit better, but I don't get all the hype. I guess I'm just a philistine

I wouldn't worry to much about it, you either like what you're drinking or you don't like it.
Here is an interesting thing about wine tasting by professionals in blind tests.....you can find a lot more out there on the subject by googling.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_w ... nsistently.

[Yummyrum]

I wouldn't worry to much about it, you either like what you're drinking or you don't like it.

Salty has in his usual unique way pretty much summed it up in a way I can relate to .

I can sample the same drink on several different nights and get completely different senses . I also , find it hard to identify the “notes” and even if I could and wrote them down , they mean bugger all and are not what I would sense the next night .

One night my Rum tastes bland and boring . Then next , it is just tastes like wood but with a nice Rum flavour .

Then the next night it’s Sweet and Rummy and I love every drop .

The next night I’m excited , pour another expecting the same , and it tastes like arse .

About all I have discovered is Oak aging makes Brown Spirits taste like Brown Spirits , some Heads will be needed to give spirits some life and tails just make a drink taste like shit . As for the other subtle nuance's , I just can’t name them .

So , Sir , you are not alone out there .Not only is it hard to identify tastes and smells , but also to rely on them .
Hats off to those that have the skills .

Alas I take each drink as it comes . …… some tasty , some not so .

[Deplorable]

Same as Yummyrum, I can have a different sensory experience to spirits any given day. My own or store bought.
Some days I can pick out the vanilla, toffee, citrus and cinnamon. Some days it's just booze.
What I HAVE learned is that it takes more than a season fore those flavors to develop. The color comes long before the flavors, and tempering down too fast can blow out the esters that took so long to develop.

[Reefer1]

Try a bit of cheese before you drink, i find it helps with the taste. I took a leaf off of the wine people
Cheese and wine work very well.

[NorthWoodsAb]

[/quote]

Alas I take each drink as it comes . …… some tasty , some not so .
[/quote]

Cheers to that

[LWTCS]

How long are you aging for? What is your process?

Some of the tasting notes you are likely reading about are not going to come across in a week or a month.

[MooseMan]

Are you drinking it hand warm or with ice?

I've found that all my various bourbon type efforts provide much more flavour when they are allowed to warm up in the glass in your hand, and again in the mouth.
Over ice? Meh

[Chucker]

Are you drinking it hand warm or with ice?

I've found that all my various bourbon type efforts provide much more flavour when they are allowed to warm up in the glass in your hand, and again in the mouth.
Over ice? Meh

I don’t like whiskey over ice. Mutes too many flavors. Same thing if it’s too warm. A decent room temp is my preferred.
Now if’n it’s hotter than heck out like she is today, then a nice long pour of NMB vodka over ice is nicely refreshing!

[Chucker]

…and with respect to the original post, I’ll get different things at different times. A lot of times wishing for more of the nuances I hope for. But they show up from time to time within the same sample. Usually on a fresh palate. After the initial taste things just seem to roll together for me.

[LWTCS]

…and with respect to the original post, I’ll get different things at different times. A lot of times wishing for more of the nuances I hope for. But they show up from time to time within the same sample. Usually on a fresh palate. After the initial taste things just seem to roll together for me.

100%.
A single tasting is not always conclusive.
Heck, pick up a bottle of Baller and you may find yourself observing completely different tasting experiences from sip to sip.

[shadylane]

Seems to me, character of new make go's through cycles.
Don't put too much decisions on just a couple samplings.

I've also lost some of my smell and taste, due to covid19

[Broken Jug]

Great thread!

I too have a tough time discerning smell and flavor “notes.” The only notes that I can honestly say I can smell and taste are oak and vanilla, sometimes caramel, but nothing else.

When it comes to adding oak chips, dominos, or staves to my shine, I am not a fan. I just don’t like the flavor I get from using them like I do when I age in a barrel. That’s just me.

[Dougmatt]

Ive taken a few Som class and they say tasting is just like any skill, and your palate and flavor / aroma identification need to be trained. Picking out subtle aroma and flavor from a sample is challenging.

My suggestion if you want to improve this skill, is to get a flavor wheel for what you are tasting. Search the net, they are all over. These wheels are labeled with categories, then divided into individual flavors. Sit with the wheel and what you want to taste, and look at each category and see if you find it. Once you feel like a category is in there, try to see if you can pull out the individual elements. Just getting the category is good for your first few tries.

As far as changing profiles, temperature, water, etc will affect what you can smell and taste. Regarding different people getting different things, this is common as we all have different mental maps of what we’ve smelled and tasted and how it’s associated in our heads, but usually we land on the same categories.

To the folks that have impaired senses, I expect this may be challenging. Also to the OP cigarette smoking has likely affected your ability too unfortunately, but who knows how much so why not give it a try.

Personally I enjoy “trying” to pick things out for fun, but in the end it has really limited use . Who really cares if the spirit has graham cracker, butterscotch and candied ginger…. Only that you like or don’t like it?

[Chucker]

<<Personally I enjoy “trying” to pick things out for fun, but in the end it has really limited use . Who really cares if the spirit has graham cracker, butterscotch and candied ginger…. Only that you like or don’t like it?>>

Dougmatt- Exaclty!! You make it the way you like it and if’n others don’t care for it, then too bad for them! It’s unique, it’s your own and as long as it suits you, that all that really matters.

[Photoguy-70]

Great thread I can relate to. Best I can do is I like it or don't. As someone earlier one day it's heaven next it's blah. Happened to me quite recently. Bought a bottle of bourbon (being out of town and thirsty) was very surprised how good it was. 3-4 weeks later with friends bragged about it, went and got another bottle and it was piss. Couldn't believe it. Goes to show how our perception can change.

[Renhoekk]

Don’t be too hard on yourself, it does take time and lots of sampling to develop a palate. The professional tasters who are involved in product development and quality control can take over a decade or more to develop the skills that they need. One tip: dilute the spirit down to 20%. This is what the professionals do when they are trying to discern flavour. The alcohol in spirits can mask some of the flavours. So diluting it down takes this out of the equation. And if you haven’t already, google up flavour wheels for the product that you are tasting. It will give you an idea of the range of flavours that can be detected in that particular spirit, and then you can focus on trying to detect them.

[DaviesCountyBoozer]

Yeah, I found out that wh3n I diluted my 180 proof sipping whiskey down to about 45, it tasted a whole other different. Weird.

[DaviesCountyBoozer]

So. My wife, my love, the essence of my dreams, brought home a bottle of Woodford Reserve double oaked. $70 bottle. Didn't taste as good as mine, but it was nice. It was a weird sort of affirmation that I'm actually doing something right.

[NormandieStill]

Well that's good news.

Regarding your oak; you can get heartwood from branches if they're big enough. You can recognise it in oak because the sapwood is much lighter in colour. If you can only see one colour then there's probably no heartwood.

Once you've got some heartwood, cut and split it and then build a stack somewhere outside but off the floor. The longer you can leave it, the better. If you live somewhere very dry, try watering it occasionally. This will leach out some of the tannins which can overpower the sure that flavours that you've read about.