Being able to taste and evaluate your product is critical to getting it ready for market, not to mention meeting your own standards. But what does it mean to taste and evaluate?
The Institute of Food Technologists defines sensory science as “a scientific method used to evoke, measure, analyze, and interpret those responses to products as perceived through the sense of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing.” If that sounds straightforward, putting it into practice can be more of a challenge.
Currently, there are no universally agreed-upon standards for distillers who want to conduct sensory analysis. That means that each distillery—and, indeed, each distiller—must decide for themselves how best to implement the tenets of sensory science.