Tasting
principles.
The sensorial analysis appeals to 4 of our
senses: view, scent, taste and touch.
View is the first sense appealed
while tasting. The visual scan enables not only to appreciate
the limpidity, the brightness and the intensity of a rum,
but also its build and sumptuousness.
Smell is the most developed
sense and the most accurate. Scent is a powerful stimulator
of affective memory. Our nose is the most sensitive organ
able to decode aroma that did not overstep a part per
million. Repetitive inhalations may blunt our olfactory
captors reaction though.
Taste only exists in
4 savours: sweetened, salted, acid and sour. A full-bodied
tasting brings both elementary savours and aromas to
intervene. This enables tasters to describe rums with
more complex terms than the primary tastes.
Touch is the last tool
of tasting. It is the fully tactile sensation tested
with palate or with nose vital to assess the texture
and the temperature of food.
Concerning rums, nasal sensations are often linked to pricking,
peppered, biting even painful notes. They can also be sharp,
astringent or they can even give the impression of warmth or
freshness.
The full-bodied sensation brings tong, palate, inside cheeks
and even teeth to intervene. |
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The
stages of tasting.
The eye: to assess the colour,
the limpidity, the brightness, the body.
The colour: from transparency of white rums to a deep liquorice
tinge with all incredible the shades of tan to gold. The scale
of colours generally used is white (transparent), pale yellow,
staw yellow, gold yellow, goldy, orange yellow, old gold, copper-coloured,
mahogany.
The limpidity: defined when observing
the glass from a side. Whether the glass is lightened by natural
light, whether it is lightened by a artificial light which pinpoints
the particles in the spirit.
Examples of intensity scale: dark, blurred, veiled, hazy, milky,
opalescent, transparent, limpid, crystal-clear.
The brightness of the spirit. This
characteristic can be seen when looking at the disc on a white
background at natural light.
Examples of sliding intensity scale: matt, dull, neat, light,
shiny, bright, sparkling.
The body. Depending on its richness
and on its colour, the rum can be defined as “light”, “medium” or “strong”.
Before dilution, the rum has to be curdled in glass to then observe
the lines shaped by the liquid inside: the longer the lines are,
the stronger the rum is. The uphold of the trails indicates the
existence of glycerol that gives more body and richness to the
rum.
The nose. First, the sensations
fostered by non diluted alcohol can be smelled, then the bouquet
and at the end the aromas of the diluted sample.
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Nose sensations: from tinkle to pain going
through warmth, dryness even burning. Reduce rum until these
sensations disappear.
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The aroma (non
diluted). The very first sensations are the most important.
Curdle the sample in the glass and smell it carefully while
keeping in mind that the impressions of the first nose. In
general, aromatic compositions are covered by alcohol and
closed as far as there is no dilution.
Notice if the rum is whether “aggressive” or “shy”.
Asses its intensity and its complexity, avoid to adding too
much water.
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The diluted aroma.
Add water in small quantities until the tinkle disappears.
At start smell on the top of the glass so as to obtain the
spirit bouquet. Then plunge your nose in the glass so as
to reveal the most secret aromas. The first impressions are
essential. Then notice the distinctive features, breathe
fresh air from times to times. Avoid revealing a fleeing
aroma. For professional nose and for fitters, the smelling
generally stops at this step. On the contrary, the enthusiast
connoisseurs reach the next ultimate step, the most gratifying
one.
The palate. Taste
and touch are the two senses that enable to assess not only the
texture and the body of rums, but also the balance between the
fundamental salty, sweet, acid or bitter savours. All those parameters
help out to constitute the palate of a spirit.
The attack or first in the mouth.
The first tactile impressions felt help to appreciate
the texture of a rum. There are two different kinds
of styles: dry rums and ropy rums. Criteria such as
extent, fineness, richness and complexity, balance
and sharpness are also very relevant for tasting analysis.
From dry to ropy, rums are generally defined as followed: spicy,
sharp, robust, firm, or creamy, round, medium, smooth, mellow,
sweet. What is more the rum texture fosters a changing sensation
from lightness to heaviness. The impressions resulting from the
attack carry on thanks to the assessment of basics savours (salty,
sweet, acid, bitter).
Mouth-filling. The evolution
of the first tasting impressions constitutes the mouth-filling.
- When these impressions are more and more intense it means
that the rum has a strong bouquet.
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In addition, if these impressions gain
in complexity, it means that the rum has a high quality.
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If the mouth-filling has the same tonality
as the first in mouth, the rum is said to be linear.
A rum may quickly fade away and then come back
at the finish. In tasting, this lack in between is named “hollow” or “empty”.
The finish. This step is the utmost of tasting.
Depending on its intensity, this step can be short, medium
or long. A short finish is all the more deceiving if the
spirit had both an interesting attack and mouth-filling.
On the contrary, a long finish often stands for a rum of
high quality.
The retro-olfaction. Occurring
several minutes after tasting, the phenomenon of retro-olfaction
generally reveals a product of high quality. This step is
middle between smell and taste and stands for an aromatic
come back from nose to mouth. The retro-olfaction often and
sharply pinpoints an aroma previously revealed. |