Reoccurring Terminology

 Reoccurring Terminology

In my reviews I tend to use reoccurring terminology to help myself differentiate between different spirits via notes. I will clarify a few of these here so readers can get a better understanding of how I use these reoccurring phrases.

Relational Magnitudes

I use relational magnitude terms to try and compare the presence of a certain tastes or smells consistently.

Very light/low: I can barely perceive the flavor/smell or can only get it infrequently or in "hints".

Light/low: The flavor/smell is present in light or low quantities. Sometimes it may not be present, but I can usually pick it out easily.

Light/low to medium: The flavor/smell is light and I can pretty much always perceive it. I may not feel confident about either the identification of it or the magnitude of it in relation to comparable spirits.

Medium: The flavor/smell is always present and in significant quantities to be confident in my identification.

Medium-heavy/high: The flavor/smell is always present and in elevated (above average) quantities but I may not feel confident about the degree of elevation in relation to comparable spirits.

Heavy/high: The flavor is overwhelmingly present to the degree that it is nearly indistinguishable from eating the actual food item the flavor/smell note is from.

Moderate: I don't really know, but its not too much and not too little. Perhaps I lack something to directly compare it to.

Fruit Terms

When I feel a fruit flavor is difficult to identify directly, or is a combination of fruits, I may use a color to indicate what the fruit flavor or smell is trending towards.

• Yellow Fruits: peaches, nectarines, apricots, white grapes
• Yellow Tropical Fruits: pineapples, mangos, papayas
• Red Fruits: assorted red berries, fresh cherries, fresh cranberries
• Dark Fruits: plums, prunes, dates, figs, dark raisins, stewed cranberries, stewed cherries

Sensations:

• Good Bitterness: The kind of bitterness you get in dark chocolate and dark coffee.
• Bad Bitterness: Strong herbal bitterness, wood bitterness, or organic bitterness. This is the kind of bitterness that your body interprets as "do not eat this, it will harm you or at least not be beneficial". Certain food spoilage bacteria can emit bitter compounds in their waste. Certain plants contain bitter compounds that let you know not to eat them. An example of this might be eating raw cranberries, they have a light "bad" form of bitterness.
• Astringency: The sensation you get that gives you "cotton mouth". It is distinctly different than bitterness to me. Wood tannins can be astringent but without bitterness. Wood tannins can also be astringent with bitterness.

Personally, I don't mind medium astringency and it does not negatively impact my scores for the most part. I just accept it as part of the territory for the kinds of spirits I drink. But I do not like low/light magnitude "bad" bitterness and above. Spirits containing such bitterness will draw sharp score reductions from me. Other people may have the opposite opinion where they hate astringency but don't mind or can't perceive bitterness as much. All reviewers are different.