Today in strange booze news: The flavors you taste in your whiskey change depending on your physical surroundings, says a recent study from the University of Oxford.
After sampling the same brand of whiskey in three different rooms—one green-hued, one red-hued, one cedar-paneled—the drinkers enjoyed their hooch 10 percent more when knocking it back in the wood-themed space. A separate experiment showed flavors of “grassiness” or “woodiness”—both of which are detectable in fine whiskeys—varied by up to 20 percent depending on whether the sipper was in a meadow-like or woody environment.
“We all think we can just focus on the drink in the glass,” explains study coauthor Charles Spence, Ph.D. But our brains are constantly taking in information about the world around us. And those sights, sounds, colors, temperatures, and smells change the way we perceive taste, Spence says. (Here are three more wacky ways color and characteristics alter your perception of food.)
If you like light, grassy flavors in your whiskey, Spence’s study suggests drinking it in a well-lit space decorated with green colors or plants to bring out those tasting notes. Prefer earth or wood tastes? Low-lit brown- or wood-hued rooms may accentuate those flavors. And, in any environment, whiskey tastes better from a heavier glass, according to previous research.
New to whiskey? Start with these three great trends to try.
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