Foods that affect whisky flavor

[politely]

A couple of months ago, I started noticing that the whisky just seemed to have more pronounced wood, oak and, in some cases, bitterness. It was less noticeable in the scotch and in the Canadian whisky I've been drinking lately, but was really pronounced in the bourbon. I was surprised by the EC18 I opened up last month by the amount of wood & bitterness. And then I opened up a bottle of Dalmore 15, which was way too woody. So, I opened up a Lot B, and it was really woody and bitter, too, basically undrinkable. Realizing something was wrong, I started searching around on the internet for a cause. Apparently, there is something called "pine mouth" which results from eating pine nuts and causes certain foods, but not all, to taste bitter. I don't eat pine nuts, so I didn't think anything of it, until I realized, after a few more hours of searching, that pesto sauce contains pine nuts (who knew?). Recently, I've been eating pesto about once a week. After cutting out the pesto, my whisky taste buds seem to have returned to normal. Apparently the effect can last from two days to two weeks. I can't prove it was the pesto, but I'm not eating it again for a while. I suppose this could be one easy way of quitting drink. It was pretty awful.

Anyone experience something similar, either with pine nuts or another food? Are there other foods shown to affect whisky flavor? According to John Hansell's Whisky 101, he says to stay away from spicy foods, including hot peppers and garlic, although neither of those has interfered with my drinking.

[Enoch]

I have noticed that what I'm eating does affect the taste of bourbon but haven't made any attempt to figure out which ones. I'm going to start taking notes on what I've eaten when I notice this.

[MarkEdwards]

According to John Hansell's Whisky 101, he says to stay away from spicy foods, including hot peppers and garlic, although neither of those has interfered with my drinking.

Maybe the spicy / garlicky foods numb the taste buds instead of altering the flavors? Personally, that has never seemed to interfere with my enjoyment, although I tend to drink ale with spicy / garlicky foods...

[Happyhour24x7]

Crest pro-health toothpaste contains a different type of fluoride that can have the side effect of a metallic taste in the mouth. Definitely lowered my eating and drinking enjoyment until I figured out what it was and changed toothpaste.

[sailor22]

Pine Nuts definitely destroy my enjoyment of Bourbon and Rye for the reasons you mentioned. It's interesting that I get the same bitterness from them as you. Brushing my teeth too soon before tasting doesn't help either.

Mike Veech recommended Black Tea as a palate cleanser and it seems to work very well for me. Black Tea and scratchy crusty french bread almost always pushes the reset button on my tatsernator unit.

[cowdery]

Pretty much anything you put in your mouth can affect how your whiskey tastes, for better or worse. The stronger and more discordant the flavor, the greater the negative effect. Garlic and raw onion are two of the worst. Even if you like those flavors, they just don't go well with whiskey. I'd never thought about pine nuts. Most nut flavors go pretty well with whiskey, but pine nuts are different. Sometimes I'll decide to have a glass of whiskey after I've brushed my teeth and that's usually a bad decision.

[smokinjoe]

Oh yeah, pine nuts can funk you out. Particularly when raw. Not as bad when toasted, or cooked in something.

I can fully recommend the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda & Peroxide toothpastes for not affecting the palate. I can drink, or eat, anything right after brushing with it with no off tastes. The GBS Tasting Panel has been solicited for, and has in fact granted it, our official seal of approval.

[p_elliott]

We use Adolph's with spice and Lowery's on our steaks when we cook them and bourbon taste hot if I drink it too soon afterwards. Especially high rye bourbons.

[jburlowski]

Haggis.

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[White Dog]

Haggis.

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[ILLfarmboy]

Oh yeah, pine nuts can funk you out. Particularly when raw. Not as bad when toasted, or cooked in something.

I can fully recommend the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda & Peroxide toothpastes for not affecting the palate. I can drink, or eat, anything right after brushing with it with no off tastes. The GBS Tasting Panel has been solicited for, and has in fact granted it, our official seal of approval.

I love most nuts/seeds. I tried pine nuts when I was a kid. I thought they tasted like rancid fat. I've since been told most pine nuts you buy in most grocery stores are at least a little past their prime, if not outright bad. If I lived in an area with a lot of "granola" types I suppose it would be easy enough to stride into a Whole Foods and get some worthy of trying again.

Whenever I'm going to eat or drink something later, like if I don't know if I'm dome for the night or I'll be going out to eat, I brush my teeth with plain baking soda.

I once tried a bourbon and branch/ WT 101 and water, with liver and onions. I don't recommend it. Since Chuck mentioned onions, and I don't think I've ever had a steak with sautéed onions while drinking bourbon ( I love steak and bourbon) I think it was the onions.

Grapefruit, I think, screws up your taster for a few hours. That's been my experience, anyhow. I suppose other citrus would do it too.

I ate a mango last week while taking a short break from drinking Maker's 46. I think the flavor of the fruit was enhanced by the whiskey and when I went back to my pour of Maker's, I thought the flavor of the whiskey had been inhanced by the fruit. Off topic, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Paul's point about spices making your bourbon, especialy ryed bourbons taste hot is dead on. That's been my experence too. The wife likes crushed red pepper flakes on her grilled steaks. I just prefer salt and a light dash of cracked black pepper, but there has been times, out of convenience, I didn't want to season the steaks differently, and yes it dulls the taste of your bourbon and makes it seem hot.