TDC CALENDAR: APRIL 2021
INSPIRATION
The illusions and trickery of April fools got us thinking about the sensory illusions drinks deceive us with every time we take a sip. Wines, beers and spirits are the OG tricksters, fooling taste buds and brains into thinking things are there which simply aren’t.
Sure, you might taste cherry bakewell, but it may actually just be benzaldehyde and other organic compounds within the liquid. Think you’re picking up some zesty citrus? You’ve likely fallen prey to citrus compounds such as citral or limonene. Swear your dram is bursting with bananas? You’ve been conned by iso-amyl acetate!
We’ve all jotted down tasting notes, let a snifter transport us to some wild and windy coastline. But it’s not often we take a step back and consider that it’s all just the work of nature’s scientific smoke and mirrors…
THE DRINKS
We chose three liquids to ‘show’ what their tasting notes appear tell us:
Waldorf Cocktail - an old friend of the Manhattan with an absinthe rinse. Big aromatic notes from the sweet vermouth and spicy rye, with a solid anise presence.
Rosebank 12 Year Old - a light floral whisky with green and grassy herbal freshness, barley sweetness and oak.
Bols Genever - Balanced notes of cherry, herbaceous flavours and a little citrus. Clean and more-ish.
HOW WE SHOT IT 📸
We used a simple set-up of some green card and a mirror, and got playing with our illusion. Using a tripod, the image was taken in two parts, then sent to the studio for some Photoshop wizardry…
Our first shot was the ‘tasting notes’ sitting on a mirror. Carefully marking exactly where the glasses sat, we then swapped them out for the liquid and lit accordingly.
During the edit we flipped the images – so that the reflection appeared on top – and blended the two together, creating the illusion of ‘tasting notes’ appearing within the liquids’ reflections.
THE RESULT
SHARING A FLAVOUR EXPERIENCE
If we can effectively communicate flavour profiles and share them with peers, followers and customers in a way that is attention grabbing and memorable, then we can create meaningful conversation around our brands. Never underestimate the power of shared flavour experiences!
We could chat for hours about our tasting by colour approach to dissecting flavour, something we encourage the bar teams in our Sip It programme to do when approaching new liquids for the first time. Give us a shout to find out more…