On Food and Cooking

appreciate nuances of flavor, they’re best
served at room temperature, and if necessary
warmed in the hands. Their aroma is intense,
so much so that it can be just as enjoyable to
sniff as to sip; Scotch lovers call this nosing.
At distilled strengths, alcohol has an irritating
and then numbing effect on the nose that is
accentuated at high temperatures. To reduce
the interference of alcohol and bring out more
delicate aromas, connoisseurs often dilute
whiskies with good-quality water to 30% or
20% alcohol. Different kinds of spirits have
very different flavors, which derive from the
original ingredient — grape or grain — from
the yeasts and fermentation, from the
prolonged heat of distillation, and from
contact with wood and the passage of time.
Spirits with a high fusel oil content have an
unctuous quality in the mouth, while more
neutral spirits give a cleansing, drying effect.
The aromas of spirits often persist in the
mouth long after the liquid itself has been