Taste with your nose : Part 1 of our Senses Series

The fresh waft of the sea breeze at the coast, or the buttery dough from the bakery, our nose is our leader. We do not have to see the product, food or drink to smell what it will most likely taste like. We can identify something that is off, or something that makes us want more. And when it's blocked, life is mundane and grey. 

The nose. Our kingpin sense. It may seem obvious that our nose plays such a vital role when it comes to our experience of life, however it does carry more elusive characteristics. 

What we sometimes believe something smells like is not actually what it smells like. Let's take lavender for example. What does that smell like? Floral? It's not floral at all. We have been led to believe it is floral- like a bathroom spray or bubble bath. When our guests come into the distillery, they have the opportunity to an interactive experience, one of which allows them to smell botanicals. Most are astounded by the smell of our lavender (Margaret Roberts by the way), left a little relived its not going to perfume their mouth for the rest of the day. 

Its become instinctive to smell before we taste- we are taught it from small after all- so why the emphasis now? Perhaps we have ventured into a new realm of spirits, food and drink with some innovative products coming from producers and chefs. Your sense of smell influences how you taste things. Everyone's palates are so different and sometimes what we pick up on the nose we cannot necessarily taste. Vanilla for instance is an aroma- which leads its towards the sweet side. But the actual spice is not sweet at all. Our noses are also used to what we have tasted. Perhaps you do not know what cinnamon smells or tastes like because you were not exposed to it. On the other hand, we hardly forget what things smell like too which aid our taste exploration. 

Se we encourage you to take a good waft of your spirit before putting any in your mouth and see what your nose tastes.