Male: Welcome to the Art of Drink video pod cast. My name is Anthony Caporale. This week we are sitting in our master bourbon tasting class in the third and last part of our special AOTD on the road series from our visit to the Makers Mark Distillery in Loreto, Kentucky. We have the privilege of talking with Dave Pickerell the master distiller for Makers Mark. How are you Dave?
Male: Good. It is good to have you here today.
Male: Thanks for having us. I really appreciate it. And you are going to take us through a bourbon tasting is that right?
Male: That is right, we at Makers Mark avoid using descriptors of what you taste and instead we aim where you taste. We are all going to taste what we associate as sweetness in the same place right at the tip of your tongue. Bitter is all the way to back your mouth and sour is all along the edges. And so if I say when you taste this you are going to feel it on your palette on this location and that location and this, you will. And the other thing is that it removes that the issue of good or bad, or better, or worse. That is not my job to tell you what you like. That is your job. I am keeping in mind that in production of Makers Mark we got a one major objective and that is get rid of bitter taste. Everything that we do is oriented around getting rid of bitter taste. All right so we are going to start with white dog and that is straight of still. It has not hit the barrel yet that is why it is clear. We do a little. I play around quite a bit with various things. It is just because I want to learn more about it.
We actually took some white dog while they put in a barrel and rolled it 100 yards and dumped it back out. And then put in the tasting glass of wine with some un-barreled white dog and everybody could tell the difference and it already picked up color.
Male: Really?
Male: It is just a 100 yards and it was visual to the eye that it picked up color already. Okay, so what we know this first thing we are going to do is a little bit different with wine and lower proof spirits you can really stick your nose and then take a big sniff. If you do that with higher proof spirits you are going to pull so much alcohol up your nose that you are going to dull some of your sensors. So in my nose today we are going swirl it around. Lay it under your nose and breathe in through your mouth.
Male: Really?
Male: When you try that it pulls in less alcohol but it gives you all the new ones to the nose and taste it anyway.
Male: So I am breathing in through my mouth. Not my nose.
Male: Right.
Male: Look at that. That is unbelievable. So I want you to taste this now just swirl it around. Put some in your mouth and swish it around really well. Spit it out breath in through your mouth and then ask yourself where I am feeling this taste on my pallet. Let me describe for you where I think you are going to taste and you just tell me here okay. This taste is going to be all along the sides of your tongue front to rear.
Male: Absolutely, right.
Male: It is like a vise-grip on the sides of your tongue that is the grainy harsh.
Male: And it is there—
Male: It is lingering.
Male: It stays, yes.
Male: And even somewhat intensifies in certain areas towards the front.
Male: Yes.
Male: Now, we do not have to worry about that. We actually have a name for that. We call that hog tracks and the good news is that goes away. If we mature our product right all of that goes away. So I do not even have to worry about that part of the taste profile. Okay?
Male: Okay.
Male: Now, ignore that piece for a minute and search around on the top of your palette about mid-palette there is faint taste.
Male: Yes.
Male: It is much, much less defined but it is certainly mid-palette.
Male: Absolutely.
Male: Now about 10% of the people get a little pinprick of taste some place on their palette. I want to know just do you have one?
Male: Yes.
Male: Where is it?
Male: Right at the tip of my tongue.
Male: You are one of those 10%.
Male: Really.
Male: Only about 10% of the people get it and those are the people that we l
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