Help me refine an immature palate for alcoholic beverages

Cafe Society
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I’m usually a simple drinker with an appreciation for interesting and varied types of beers. Wine is okay to me, I tend to prefer reds, but I don’t seek it out. I don’t drink spirits or cocktails often since I settled down and stopped clubbing in my early 20s. On occasions that I get together with friends who aren’t beer drinkers, I’m trying to broaden my horizons and lately I’ve been thinking that beer is not a great choice for maintaining/losing weight.

As far as spirits go, I’m not fond of rum at all. I do like tequila, margaritas, and back in the day tequila sunrises. I’m trying to get whiskeys to appeal to me and I’ve had some bourbon that had an interesting taste I can’t quite describe, but it’s generally too sweet to my palate. Except I find Fireball in small amounts to be quite acceptable to have in a flask while backpacking. I can drink it straight or in hot chocolate.

I tend to choose vodka-based drinks. I do love a really well-executed Bloody Mary. I have recently discovered a love for Moscow mules which makes sense since I enjoy ginger beer. I’ve been making my Moscow mules with Fever Tree Ginger Beer and I’ve been trying out different vodkas. I realize it doesn’t really matter which vodka you use in mixed drinks since it doesn’t really impart any flavor, but there’s a big difference when you drink it straight. It always tastes like rubbing alcohol to me, but I can tell a difference between ones having a smoother finish and others tasting quite sharp. The last two vodkas I bought were New Amsterdam (I like this one) and Russian Standard (I didn’t like this one straight up). What do I need to know about vodka? I know you can make vodka out of all sorts of things other than potato. Does it matter? Is there a vodka that doesn’t taste like rubbing alcohol or is that how it’s supposed to taste? How do people get used to that and even enjoy it?

When I was younger, we drank a lot of schapps or tequila. I still like liqueurs, but maybe not on their own. I’ve had drinks with Midori, Bailey’s, and Sambucca/Ouzo. I like all of those flavors. I also tend to prefer citrus-based cocktails, especially lime or grapefruit. I don’t like especially sweet, though unless it’s balanced with tart.

Anyway, I’m thinking about creating a little bar at home to get a little variety and I’m not sure what I should have in it to start. Also, how can I refine my palate for alcoholic beverages?

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Wines that taste like asphalt seem to be very trendy lately.

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This one’s very simple: taste lots of different beverages. See if someone’s running a wine-tasting course near you. I have two tips for you: first, when tasting, don’t swallow; second, work your way from dry to sweet.

Do you cook? If so how about hosting a meal once a week with your friends and they all bring a decent bottle of wine, one for each course? An aperitif wine, a wine for the starter, a wine for the main course, a desert wine, then a port or brandy. Just make sure the glasses are small!

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Typical accompaniment to vodka would be snacks like mushrooms, pickles, herring, bread with schmaltz or salo, etc. Try drinking it neat, and perhaps chilled.

Regarding your mention of rubbing alcohol, I think I know what you mean (and it is not restricted to vodka), but is that analogous to saying a wine has “notes of asphalt”? Because I cannot picture anyone sampling rubbing or wood alcohol to see what it tastes like.

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as an after-dinner drink, I think Drambuie might be a good addition to your bar. The Drambuie I’ve had tasted like honey blended with cinnamon.

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Find a place that caters to liquor. Near me, there’s a craft distillery called Disobedient Spirits that has classes geared toward enjoyment of liquor.

Any decent Mexican restaurant (I like MadMex) usually has good tequilas. Order a flight (with the help of a knowledgeable bartender) and sip four or five tequilas. Compare and contrast reposado, añejo, and extra añejo. Have fun.

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If you’re willing to spend a little money, find a nice bar on a quiet night and strike up a conversation with the bartender. You’ve already done the hard part, which is thinking about exactly what you do and don’t currently like. A good bartender will help you narrow things down considerably.

Sampling cocktails is expensive, but you’ll save money in the long run since you won’t be buying bottles of stuff you don’t like.

My only advice is this: don’t think of it as ‘refining an immature palate.’ You seem to have a good handle on the kinds of things you like. Think of it as exploration and discovery. Like kayaker says, have fun.

Maybe try asking for a good rye whiskey. I find ryes to have the most interesting flavors, but that’s 100% my own preference talking.

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I was going to post something here, but after reading the above, I think I’ll just say: Do that. It’s a great idea.

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Since you like Moscow Mules, I’d suggest gin and ginger beer. Try Tanqueray or Hendrick’s.

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Vodka with diet tonic and a squeeze of lime is a great low calorie cocktail.

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I’m not as interested in wine as I am in spirits and cocktails. But the dinner thing is a great idea. I wasn’t thinking of reviving Dinner & a Movie (TBS) with a couple of friends, which we would cook a themed meal and watch an old movie after. Adding a special themed cocktail would be fun, too.

It’s probably the smell of rubbing alcohol followed by an astringent aspect on the palate. Vodka has no discernible flavor, if flavor is different than taste. When I think of taste, I think of the smell, flavor, and mouthfeel combined.

I did try it neat (I wrote ‘straight’) but not chilled. I understand that about wine, one would generally drink reds at room temp and whites slightly chilled, right? Does that follow with spirits? I’ve also seen vodka shooters served in a bowl of ice. I thought it might be a good idea to taste the vodka I’ve been choosing for my mules.

Still wondering if there is a difference in taste between different types of vodka. And how do I know what to spend my money on? I’ve avoided the cheap Popov, Smirnoff ones because cheap is almost never good in anything and I’ve avoided Skyy and Grey Goose because I’ve heard they are artificially high priced. So I’ve been hovering around the $13-20 fifths. I’ve had Absolut many times, but not neat and the flavored ones are great for mixed drinks.

On a trip to California recently, a very knowledge BevMo! clerk suggested Deep Eddy Lemon vodka when I inquired about making a sort of spiked blackberry lemonade. I found some blackberry soda at Trader Joe’s and had fresh blackberries that I muddled and added with a slice of lemon. We drank them while camping at the beach and it was magical. The vodka was perfect but drink was slightly too tart and would have benefited from a little simple syrup, I think. This is exactly the kind of experimentation that I want to do.

That’s sounds right up my alley and is going on my list. I really do like liqueurs in small amounts or in a cocktail with other spirits. Do you ever mix it in anything, like maybe a whiskey-based drink?

BTW, I know I can look these up on the internet, but I would really prefer experiential opinions rather than professional reviews. I try to ask the clerks in the liquor stores, but the one nearest to my house, sadly, doesn’t employ knowledgeable clerks, just cashiers. I wish I was closer to BevMo! The guy there seemed to really know his stuff and I’ll bet he could get me to spend a lot of money I don’t have there. Well, maybe it’s a good thing, I don’t live near one.

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Of course. There’s a very upscale spirits bar in town that I’ve been wanting to try different things and I’m sure I’d learn a lot. But oh it’s so expensive, which is why I wanted to do it at home. Liquor can be pricey, mixers are relatively cheap and I can really make my money work for me perfecting recipes at home.

I’ll check if they have any classes. The liquor store near me does tastings but they don’t advertise them, so I never know when to go. Oh, I forgot! We do have a distillery with a tasting room. Perfect place to start.

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Drambuie is scotch whisky flavored with honey and other herbs and spices. I’ve only had one time but it eas quite tasty cinamony spicy and sweet with a good scotch warmth. I wish i could remember the distillery name to direct you. Maybe try a couple different ones made from different styles of scotch if you can

Eta. I would not mix it

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You can probably get a 30 ml bottle if you just want to taste it. Pretty sure I’ve seen it sold in minis.

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I checked out the Drambuie website. That is the brand, but there’s another one called Drayva. Obviously I’ll try it neat, but I’ll probably end up mixing it at some point because I like the artistry of cocktails and variety of flavors. And there’s a recipe on the site for a Drambuie Collins which looks tasty.

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The first thing to do is request this thread be moved to CS, which is where all the drunks hang out.

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That’s Glayva

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Moving to CS.

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No drunksh here!

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Good vodka should be pure alcohol (diluted with water, of course; I don’t recommend drinking pure ethyl alcohol), so in some sense it should not matter what was used to make it (wheat, rye, potatoes, etc.) It should be smooth and not have any strange or nasty flavors.

Now this ideal may not be realized: cheap vodka may contain higher levels of impurities due to poor distillation and filtering, and the water used may have some flavor of its own. So, unless you use analytical-grade alcohol and distilled water, the precise recipe used will have some effect, which a skilled distiller will use to their advantage, but this should be really subtle. About flavored vodka, sometimes there are subtle hints of flavor infused, which can be really delicious, and of course more obvious concoctions like hot pepper- or fruit-infused vodka, as you yourself mention below.

I would avoid the really cheap and nasty-tasting poorly distilled vodka, but besides that there is no need to spend a fortune on a premium brand, unless you particularly like it. You can get a bottle of Stolichnaya Gold for around $20.

If you chill it, you should serve it colder than wine, down to ice-cold, but not necessarily overnight-in-the-deep-freezer cold.