Day-To-Day Variation In Taste?

[QiCultivator]

Do people experience day-to-day variation in the taste of juice from the same bottle? Do any of you ever have "off" days with your sense of taste? I'm pretty much a novice when it comes to tasting bourbon or other spirits.

I bought my first ever bottle of Old Forester Signature last weekend, had some Sunday night and loved it. Every sip was a delight. Then, last night I did a blind tasting of OFS, Jim Beam Black, Evan Williams Black and Woodford Reserve. JBB was my least favorite, hard to describe but it had a fairly unpleasant characteristic. OFS was my second least favorite, it was less offensive than the JBB but not exactly enjoyable. I would rate the WR "ok" at best (but a little better than OFS or JBB). Believe it or not, if I had to declare a favorite it would be EWB. Now it was not particularly exciting or complex but it was the most pleasant tasting of the 4.

To sum it up, everything I tasted Sunday night was delicious and everything I tasted last night was "unpleasant" to "decent"

It could have been the fact that I was tasting it blind (which, I believe CAN have a significant effect) or the fact that there was 48 hours of airtime in the bottle (I'm guessing the effect wouldn't be that pronounced but feel free to disagree) or else my sense of taste was just off that night. I'm hoping it is the latter! I want to like Old Forester Signature! I hope the fact that I WANT to like it is not the reason that I enjoyed it Sunday night!

Taste is a strange sense! For me at least...

I'll have to try some another time and report back...

[HighHorse]

Hell, my taste changes from the first drink to the third! As a matter of fact, when we are tasting barrel samples .. we make it a must to go back to the first sample a second time. The first taste is always different later. Blind .. that's where the truth lies.

[portwood]

The following can affect your sense of smell and taste:

- time of day

- environment

- what you had to eat prior to tasting (esp spicy foods)

- what you had to drink prior to the one you're evaluating (ex. rye before wheated bourbon, high ABV before low ABV, smokey scotch before lighter speysider, etc)

- who you're drinking with (other people can influence your evaluation)

- what kind of mood you're in

etc

[squire]

I'm firmly in the maybe camp here. I'm aware various things, amount of sleep, energy level, type of food recently consumed, etc., can all affect taste sensations but the brands of Bourbon I use regularly are very consistent so if it something seems a bit different I know it's me. Good reason to include at least one in the blind tasting that you're familiar enough with to notice if your sniffer or taste buds are not fully on their game.

I'm as susceptible as the next guy to a great package and marketing story so I'm also firmly of the belief the only accurate way I can asses a Bourbon is by tasting it completely blind.

[Richnimrod]

All of Portwood's comments are valid; plus anybody can have day-to-day variability in perception of flavors as well as aromas. The 'best tasters' seem to have less of this variation; but, I'm sure still experience it. One can have significantly diminished appreciation of both flavor and aroma with a head-cold or sinusitis, too. Everybody has "off days" for no apparent reason as well.

My enjoyment of even very favorite drams changes once in awhile. Sooooo, all that said, my advice is: give any and all of your drams several serious tastings before deciding not to stick with a brand.... and, even then; try 'em again after a layoff of a few weex. Reviewing some notes about perceptions of 'em, even when not doing a serious tasting can help with 'final' decisions.

[TunnelTiger]

I think that is why I have so many open bottles. My taste changes day to day. When I start @ noon it changes during the day!

[Danger]

My tastes are pretty constant, but I drink at the same time of day and not while I'm eating, so that helps a lot. I have the occasional day when nothing I drink tastes right, which is why I keep vodka in the freezer.

If you like OFS when you know you're drinking it, but not when you don't, I think all that means is you shouldn't be drinking OFS blind.

[hn4bourbon]

I do experience off days as well. On those days, I always go to my most favorite and it usually saves the day for me:) However off I am, my favorites are still good enough for me.

[higgins]

I periodically have off days for no particular reason that I can determine. I don't try to fight it, that's when I know it's time to switch to drinking beer for the night.

[TheNovaMan]

I think the more often I drink bourbon, the more consistent my palate is.

[GaryT]

Absolutely. Last night I poured a little Ritt BIB, and it tasted acrid and dry. I tried something else to no avail, and gave up. I had some ginger snaps an hour or so before and wouldn't be surprised if they had impacted the taste buddies, but as others have pointed out - lots of factors.

[QiCultivator]

Another example from last night...I bought a 375ml bottle of Rare Breed to try and the first drink I had, maybe a few weeks ago, was fairly tasty. Then, maybe a week ago I had another drink from that bottle and it had this AWFUL aftertaste that I could not get out of my mouth! It was perhaps the worst taste I have ever gotten from any bourbon. I have tasted this in other bourbons but it is usually much, much milder, barely noticeable. I have no idea what it is or how to describe it...it's not too unpleasant if it is in the background but there was just TOO MUCH OF IT that night with the RB.

Anyway, I poured myself 1.25 oz. again last night to give it another "shot"...and it tasted absolutely delicious. So tasty that I had to pour myself a little more (maybe 3/4 oz.) before bed! If the next experience with RB is similar to last night, a 750 ml bottle will be in my house in the near future.

[Flyfish]

I think the more often I drink bourbon, the more consistent my palate is.

The more I drink bourbon, the more I know I can't trust my palate at all. It varies too much to be reliable. As others have noted, the same bottle can yield widely varying responses over time. Of course, I'm a patient man and know that things will eventually right themselves. It's never bad--just different from day to day.

[r60slash5]

I agree with all the external factors. Nobody mentioned once you open a bottle the flavor will change because of oxidation. The more you drink the more in air the bottle the flavor continues to evolve, or open up.

Ted

[SmoothAmbler]

I have huge variations from day to day that I think are due to a wide number of variables. Sleep, stress, diet, etc. I always taste things 3-4 times over several days before making any huge decisions.

[P&MLiquorsEric]

I am lucky enough to live in the Ohio valley. About 80% of the days I take some form of allergy medication. Sudafed being the most common.

Many days I can't taste a thing.

Our palates are an evolving and changing animal. Even the most distinguished can be fooled with ease. (See wine experts trying to distinguish whites from reds).

I think this is also why one taste of a bourbon is not enough to cast judgement. Mood, diet, environment and oxidation all play a huge role.

[squire]

Eric after a certain age casting judgment is a Constitutional Right.

[mbroo5880i]

Absolutely. Last night I poured a little Ritt BIB, and it tasted acrid and dry. I tried something else to no avail, and gave up. I had some ginger snaps an hour or so before and wouldn't be surprised if they had impacted the taste buddies, but as others have pointed out - lots of factors.

Haha...ginger snaps is how I cleanse my palate. I usually have mixed nuts or ginger snaps when I drink bourbon. I had Chinese carryout tonight before the Chelsea-Inter-Milan soccer match. My dish had jalepenos in it. I used ginger snaps to cleanse my palate.

[portwood]

I think this is also why one taste of a bourbon is not enough to cast judgement.

True, that.

Yet that is exactly how many (most?) bloggers/writers review whisk(e)y.

[Guest]

This thread is pure gold for me, the last couple days i have been battling with a newly opened bottle of Ritt BIB and wondering why a whiskey i had previously loved has turned to a whiskey that honestly tastes like someone has poured dirt into the bottle, and now, a week later, it is tasting pretty good.

I have to agree with all the posts about mood, stress, palate etc, sometimes i want to enjoy a bourbon but cant, i have a pour and it tastes average, Ipour a better whiskey and experience the same

I usually give up and mix a sazerac with extra absinthe to force my palate into submission.

Edited August 2, 2013 by onemorepour

[mhatzung]

Last week I sat down with a friend to enjoy some WTRB. It was awful! It had a chemical taste and aftertaste to it. I was so disappointed.It was so bad I had to stop myself from reassessing why it was I liked bourbon. My friend also had the same experience. I then tried some Rittenhouse Rye and some Weller 12 after that. All tasted bad. I guess I just didn't figure out to give it up for the evening. It took me almost a full day to figure out that we both had eaten some stuffed jalapeno peppers for supper and I remembered reading on this site spicy food can affect your taste buds. I was surprised that a couple of hours later it could be so bad. I've also figured out (the hard way) that nasal spray will ruin me for at least 4 or 5 hours. It was a pleasant relief when I tried some EC the next night and it tasted wonderful.

[WAINWRIGHT]

My biggest issue is summertime allergies and the direct correlation of the olfactory senses and greatly effecting my palate on a day to day basis.I often just shift to beer for weeks on end as I give in to mother nature and just let it take its course till I come back around.

[JPBoston]

I deal with this often as well.

Depending on the day, my constantly-stocked EWB seems to switch from a subtle cherry sweetness, to a dry woody bite. I prefer the sweet 'version', but the dry wood doesn't fall into the off-taste or simply bad category. Air does seem to play a part in this, at least a bit, because it usually starts out sweet and then as the bottle empties, I get more of the wood. Don't recall it ever being the other way around, anyway.

With EC12, I had the opposite experience... Started off very woody and ethanol-ish, but with about 3 weeks time to open up, I got more of the chocolate notes that it's known for.

The only truly weird variant I had was with Beam Black (and I've mentioned it several times before, people are probably sick of hearing it). It was sugary sweet the first night... then a few nights later I tried it again, and all I could get was waaaay overly bitter wood. Never got any sweetness out of it again. Even my wife agreed about the sweetness the first night I tried it (and she hates whiskey), so I know I'm not completely crazy.

I wonder what the ratio of physical oxidation vs palate-change is for my experience. I just write it off as 50/50 and go along for the ride.

Edited August 4, 2013 by JPBoston

[QiCultivator]

I must add...forget about day-to-day variation...last night I experienced sip-to-sip variation!

I was doing a blind comparison of VOB BiB and 1792 Ridgemont Reserve because they're from the same distillery.

I poured myself a standard shot of each and for the first half, I preferred the RR, as the VOB had a slightly "off" taste to me. By the end, however, especially the last couple sips, VOB was the clear winner.

So either...I lost track of them (I doubt it) or something changed with my taste sometime after I started drinking!

In any case, I am happy to prefer a bourbon that costs (locally) under $25 for a 1.75L over a bourbon that costs $28/750ml!!!

[squire]

What I expect happened is the air got to them enough let the whisky breathe and grow. The early century salesmen for Jack Daniels were taught to sell the whisky by giving the merchant samples of the competitor's whiskys first. The sales rep would pour some Jack then set it aside to breathe while he served the customer drinks from the competition. After a half hour of talking and stalling he would hand over the Jack Daniels which had been allowed to mingle with air.