ralfy review 736 Extras - Understanding flavour/sensations in whiskies.
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
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It’s very nice to rap your mind around the taste/experience concepts. The first malt to send my mind scrabbling was Ledaig 10yr. That really put on my brakes to slow down and enjoy new territory. Thanks again Ralfy...time very well spent!
That's absolutely right about the extra sugars and sweeteners that is put into food, especially in America. I've been in Europe for nearly 10 yrs, and the most telling was with my 3yr old son on our last trip stateside. At home in Austria he eats most things, however like many youngsters he would be considered to have a sweet tooth. We had a devil of a time finding food and healthy snacks without a bunch of added flavour and shit. What's more, he himself wouldn't eat the granola and fruit bars (which he loves) because they were TOO SWEET for him. That was crazy!
They may not be a part of the 5 tastes but our palates can feel pungency and astringency just as we feel heat, cold and texture. Tannins are among the natural astringents, the "drying" sensation. Capsaicin of hot peppers and piperine of peppercorns are the pungent sensations, perhaps perceived via pain receptors, just like the burn of ethanol. When these combine with the 5 tastes and the myriad of the aromatics we smell, that's when our brains start recognizing signatures of familiar items. Citric acid alone won't make you think of lemons or white vinegar - of apples or wine. Food scientists know how important texture is, even in soft drinks, viscosity, mouth feel, read the ingredients of some soft drinks, they'll often have pectin or other viscosity agents. So I'm just saying things go even further than that :-)
Another thing I just remembered: salt mitigates bitterness better than sugar. I learned that from Alton Brown's awesome "Good Eats" show. He even demonstrated grapefruit served with salt. Think of all the salty beer snacks.
Ralfy, I've been watching your reviews since about 2013 and I watch them all to the end. Your descriptions and knowledge are admirable. My wife and I recently started drinking scotch together and she LOVES it. I got a bottle of Glenlivet 15 YO from a good friend several months ago. It's my second bottle of Glenlivet 15 YO and the current bottle is SO MUCH BETTER. Reason being, I took your advice about a year in a casket, 1 minute in the glass. My wife and I watch your videos together and do just as you do and we experience it with you. We've had 1 drink per night the last 3 nights and my wife told me it's her new favorite thing. You have brought true joy to our lives and I wanted to let you know that. You ROCK!
. . . happy to help with the malt-moments !
Same here for my husband and I. Enjoying a good old fashioned night cap a few nights a week is such a nice quiet thing to do once the kids are tucked in. Congrats on your new found shared enjoyment!
A year (or more) in a casket helps a scotch; human bodies, maybe not so much :-/
Well said Ralfy! Here in the U.S. they put high fructose corn syrup into everything from ketchup to kids cereal, and the obesity rate is alarming! It's a job reading the labels on food to see what's in it these days. We've done our best to reduce sugar and the rewards come when you bite into something like fresh pineapple and it hits your pallet, oh my! Greed and money control our government; democracy is dead as a doornail, just an opinion, just saying! Take care, Ossie
Absolutely right. Americans even put sugar in bacon. Try getting a brown or grain bread without sugar or corn syrup. You can't. Would you believe that American baked beans contain 400% the sugar of British Heinz beans ? YUK
Spot on! We bake our own bread, and I make vegertain baked beans so I can control the ingredients. This takes time, time most people don't want to spend cooking, and the fast food they eat is making them sick and killing them. I love to cook! I put on some relaxing music, maybe pour a glass of wine, and take my time. It's a pleasure to make and very tasty to eat. The U.S. allows a lot more chemicals in their meat than the U.K., and I read an article where a farmer was feeding cattle Skittles, a sugar bomb candy, insane!
Sad but true!
Cheers from South Africa 😊🥃!
HFCS in itself is not a problem. It has the same fructose-glucose balance as honey and very close to ordinary white sugar. The real problem is that they put sweeteners in everything, so everything has a ton of sugars in them. Doesn't matter if it's HFCS, sugar or honey or whatever. It's a load of empty carbs and calories.
Thank you for the information, you are absolutely right, it adds to a daily total that is extreme.
Ralfy: I started out with Auchentoshan and I liked it. I went to Glenfarclas, I liked it but Auchentoshan was my favorite. I bought some Laphoaig 10 year old on sale, I loved it. The smoke and salt. Then I tried Springbank 10 and what a complicated creature it is! Thank you for providing a roadmap to single malt whiskey. I still adore my Auchentoshan by the way.
Big fan of your extra episodes👍
Love your scientific breakdown on the pathology of enjoying quality spirits. Spot on your analysis is as always.... Slainte!
You are a decent man in a sea of indecency.
Hello ralfy, I recently posted a comment about how to distinguish flavours being a newbie and bang here it is, your good you are!! A joy to watch as always, cheers
We've also tried to reduce our sugar intake. It's in everything.
Very informative too!
Good early morning Dear Sir! My "extras" notification was my wake up call at 4:42 am here on the East Coast of the USA! Makes for a long time till the night cap tonight when i start thinking about scotch so early in the day! 😉 Hope you are having a wonderful day today!
I think one of your talents is mesmerism. I can't remember the last time I had a candy bar, cake, cookie or any food that registered in my mind as sweet. I just don't have any hankering for sweetness. Maybe it's because of my age, but I think do think you had a part, because I now have a hankering for sour-I really appreciate sour.
Compound sensations 👏👏 fantastic explanation! Thanks for this video contribution! Cheers from South Africa 🇿🇦😊🥃!
You produce amazing content Ralfy. I was curious to know if in the meantime you already encountered that maelstrom of a whisky with all the sensations applied ;) Cheers!
The way societies eat and drink changes over time, it's really quite interesting.
As a homebrewer and sb that's into historical beers too, many recipes of 19th have milds going at 7%abv+, 80IBU and quite high final gravity, so really a bittersweet beer. And that's a mild, served fresh. Stock ales were often way above 100IBU and even stronger.
Speaking of Glen Garioch 12yr, I bought a bottle on your recommendation, enjoyed it very much, however, it had a peculiarity about it that I'd not yet encountered. I always got on the nose, somewhat transferring to taste, a popular dessert here in Austria, Apple Strudel with raisins, Nutmeg, dusted with Cinnamon and Powdered sugar, covered with vanilla sauce with Rum. Absolutely a beautiful bouquet of elements. However, at 48% I did the water additions, incrementally, and everytime without fail the flavours became buried, it did not open up like most others, but became much sharper on the tongue, like alcohol burn. I believe that I was patient, and it was a very enjoyable delightful dram, but without adding the water. What has gone on??
. . . how about trying a little bicarbonative soda in your water to alkaline it a bit. this may articulate the malt a little better. You wont need much.
ralfydotcom ah thanks, I will give that a go next time I meet with it...you've been more than helpful! Cheers!
Greetings Ralfy! Don't know if you make much time for a pipe these days, but I find a delightful mineral note in the tobacco Tabac Manil: Le Petit Robin, Especially in a smaller sized pipe. Kind regards!!
Good morning Ralfy...another sensation in my opinion is Spicy.(all the hot peppery good stuff).
I find it Interesting that beer is going in the opposite direction with more hops and bitterness as well as champagne that is focusing more on extra dry wines with no sugar added at all
I know it's 3 years later... But I was just thinking: beer and champagne are enjoyed cold, which dulls the senses, so it works. Beers that are enjoyed at room temperature tend to be less bitter and even a bit sweet, naturally, like dark malty barleywines.
This is a nice refresher.
Hi Ralfy, what is your opinion about the recent aberlour a’bunadh development in pricing and intrinsic value.
Also are they shifting in flavor profile from intense sherry with spice and christmas cake towards caramel, woody and minty even ?
Have you tried the batch 52 and 55, any would you do batch comparisons in the future vlogs :)
. . . I fear the decline of a respected brand of single malt, happeing right now !
Ralfy, your thorough explanations on how the tastes sensations are broken into sub sensations are very interesting. In all your reviews you are able to separate the different types of tastes and use various foods to describe them, sometimes identifying 20 different foods in single tasting session. I have been trying to follow that as well but am able to taste usually one or two foods only, such as Banana or Apple . Is there a way we can train our taste buds and expand our senses to get a fuller sensation like your are presenting?
. . . patience, practice and perseverance !
Very useful Ralfy. I was just wondering how many topics you have left us hanging on for another day? On this topic though, I feel that I am able to distinguish between flavours but then I do wonder whether its my developing palate or my widening vocabulary that is driving my description of whisky.
. . . lots more topics for mentioning !
I find that with myself and my husband our whisk(e)y preferences are almost exactly opposite our food preferences. He is a salty/savory food guy who prefers sweeter corn bourbons where as i am a sweet tooth gal but just love a Cambletown dram!
Edit: spelling
Kudos to Ralfy for his educational vlogs.
When I first started this journey I thought you were talking over my head, but now I do like astringent. I get astringent.
Hi Ralfy I just watch Dougie Maclean singing Caledonia......It took me a minute before I realised I was not watching Neil Oliver the archaeologist and BBC presenter the is likeness uncanny I have bottle of Edradour Caledonia Whisky On the way......👍👍😎😎
I've certainly noticed since getting into whisky (and into my 30s) I've really lost my sweet tooth.
. . . it happens !
I have to make the dumb question here. I understand that single malt whisky is made solely with malted barley, and with a few variations in production method (peat or not peat, shape of the pot stills, reused casks, etc), but in your reviews you expose a wide and far reaching array of tasting notes, (pear, pinaple, mint, sultana, ginger, and so on...) How do you find these flavors in a spirit that's just malted barley aged in casks? It would make much more sense if notes were just a reflection of the actual process. Peat or not peat influence, cask, age, and the interatction of these. And that's about it. So in your chalkboard you mention sweet, salt, sour, bitter, savory, and their combinations. That's fine. But... how do you go from that to PINEAPLE?
Smooth has dog whistles. Is mellow a better word? A better descriptor?
Ralfy there is essentiall no sugar in ANY whisky (sugars do not evaporate), so whiskies may only vaguely taste sweet, but they are not sweet chemically.
. . . depends what was put in the casks before they were filled !
I think legally you can only put distillate in them, what comes out of the neck of pot or column stills. And I don't think any large whisky maker would risk anything funny like adding sugar when filling their casks. You can visit many distilleries and it would in fact be too complicated for them to tamper with their processes to actually bother with that. Some whiskies do taste a little sweet but noone could honestly find them as sweet as even wine, not to mention porto or sherry. In conclusion, there is essentially no sugar in whisky, perhaps 100mg/L or less which I believe is undetectable even in distilled water, but I have not tried. (you may test yourself, with a few grains of powder sugar in 1L of water, to see if you can taste it, try it blind to avoid bias).
Such a valuable video! Thanks Ralfy!
Slainte 😊🥃!!
Brilliant, as always, Ralfy. I miss living in Glasgow, where whisky was cheaper; here in Canada, we get raked over the (peat?) embers with taxes. Enjoying some Dalmore 12 right now - a bit 'manufactured', but serviceable. Keep up the great work!
. . . Canadian's get screwed for taxes because they are simply too polite and tolerent with greedy institutions , just like Brits are !
haha, too true! I'm an Irish citizen (I only work here in Canada), so perhaps I should teach the locals a thing or two about standing up for themselves! All the best, Ralfy - your videos always bring a light to the evening (and help the whisky go down properly).
. . . you tell 'em Daniel !
What do you think pays for our health care system. We can do like Americans and have a free market, cheaper booze but 10000$ bill when your kid gets an ear infection. Let's keep things into perspective, I love whiskey, but it's still a luxury.
I am 100% fine with taxes, but I'd wish they were better distributed over more areas; plenty of countries with health care systems as good as Canadas tax booze less.
Hi Ralfy, changing speeds, have you tried John Barr (blended) ?, the mist is amazing
. . . not seen this one on my travels !
bought it in Davie , FL, outside of Fort Lauderdale, amazing
Thanks for another brilliant video Ralfy! I'm a very analytical person and I find your videos to be a nice time of informative entertainment.
Is there a word for a bitter sweet combination, like you would get from raspberry leaf?
. . . none springs to mind apart from "bittersweet"
Hi Ralfy. Really enjoying your videos. My other half and I enjoy nosing a whisky whilst you review it on youtube! We're just wondering what you class as a proper measure? I remember you talking about it in one of your reviews but I can't remember which one! Could you possibly head me in the right direction?!! Thanks.
. . . 25 to 30 ml (approximately)
ralfydotcom . brilliant. thanks Ralfy.
Yeah what about lemon candy or sweetened lemon drinks....still waiting for the review of week old FAST aged booze with the light process
Excellent video, Ralfy! But I can`t feel "fusile" in whisky. Maybe I just don`t understand, what "fusile" really is? What is it exactly?
. . . savoury, mineral, engine, oil, metalic, sour, e.t.c.
Thank's!
I am drawn to humble men. Did you know that Duke Ellington said that he didn't think his music(I say art) would be lasting.
I have not experienced savory as far as I know.
Evening Ralfy. I have a single question. Are there any Scotch's, Irish or Bourbon Whisk(e)ys that have become better in the last 7-10 years, rather than worse?
. . . Arran for starters, mainly smaller Independent makers around the World !
Thank you Ralfy. Cheers
Always useful and entertaining
Hi Ralfie, i like my whisky, has been a year since i started drinking and except for the four or five times i have been drunk i stick to only one to three glasses of scotch a week i would love to keep it this way and never get alcohol dependent or become an alcoholic, any tips to imbibe without getting any trouble ?
Ps, i drink for the taste only and honestly hate being drunk this party style hard drinking is nothing for me.
Nice video. How can I expand my vocabulary of sensations for practical use? The basics, like sweet, sour etc is quite easy. However, how can I identify ”limestone”? Do I have to lick a limestone to gain that experience?
. . . simply through experience and flavour/smell engagement.
ralfydotcom thanks Ralfy, I have a long way to go to reach your experience 😊
What is an overly sweet whisky that you still enjoy(or is there)?
. . . Drambuie !
Oh yeah, Forgot about that one-great answer. It is amazing that so many pooh-poohed the 15yo-bought 2, 1 still unopened.
Sartana(Spaghetti Western) enjoyed Drambuie. Gianni Garko as Sartana was(imo) better than Eastwood's No-name.
How many of the Drambuie 15yo have you stashed?
. . . one !
Ralfy...'sup?!
ya kno u nevr realy did a bonified revu of Makers Mark (orig).
u did howevr do 1 w/a frend comparin the 46 to the orig. wich wasnt realy helpful due 2 sum conjectur.
but I degres...Ralfy MM is a real nice sipr deservin of its own revu. jus sayin.
cheers
Speaking of resinous, do you have any Baltic amber with inclusions? It's gotta be a bit cheaper over there.
. . . not seen this one on my travels !
People fish(with equipment) for amber, you could probably do it on a coast near you. Inclusion are the interesting part.
wow great content !
I've been strictly on islay peat monsters for years now. I'd like to add a good solid highland malt to my rotation. Not a fan of the sweet ones. Any suggestions for a good highland example?
Try Clynelish 14. It's a very interesting malt, hard to easily define. Certainly not a peat monster, and not sweet either.
ruskiimperial thanks malt mate!
Sure thing! Always happy to help others on their malt journey.
Do you have an opinion on talisker storm?
. . . needs an age statement and better cask management ! Not on my List !
ralfydotcom thanks!
Glenlivet Captain's Reserve in the pipeline Ralfy?
. . . needs an age statement.
I've written a blog post on the question of compound flavours and why some whiskies taste sweeter than others and th einfluence of sugars in our diet.
Feel free to comment:
rebmordechaireviews.blogspot.com/2018/06/why-do-some-whiskies-taste-sweeter-than.html
Dear Raffy, take care of your mold or your mold is going to take care of you.
. . . it's happy mould !
It's Baudoinia compniacensis, whisky mold! - completely harmless, if a bit yucky. Why mostly on the one wall, though? The other wall must be jealous!
I’m yet to be convinced that the word fusile has any real meaning. I can’t even find a dictionary definition.
I just hand my money over to butcher and farmers then food corporations. Wouldn't mine added government to the corporation list.
I really don't like sweet things
👍🥃
First One? Wow
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. . . Verified As First !
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