[John151]

I am a novice wine drinker (mostly reds).  Actually, I am pretty darn good at the drinking part, but I know very little about what I am drinking.  I generally get the color right, but after that, it all gets a little confusing.  

The wine experts love to describe what they taste in a wine:  peach, leather, liquorice, oak, tanins, etc..  I have actually tried to identify these things, but for the life of me, red wine tastes like, well, red wine.  This is probably a good thing since I hate liquorice, have no desire to taste oak or leather, and if I wanted to taste fruit, I would eat an apple.  

[BrianM]

I watched a bartender take lots of money from people in a bet that they couldn't tell the difference between Coke and 7UP after they've had one alcoholic drink and were blind folded when they took the test. After awhile I said, give me the blind fold and I lost too. Apparently, much of our taste comes from our eyes and the sence of smell. Since both Coke and 7UP are cabonated, the effect on the senses are similar and the mind becomes confused with an AB test.

And some of you think we aren't marketed like sheep?

Wayner aa

I need to try this one...

While I in no way doubt you, it is hard for me to believe that I couldn't tell the difference between the two after one drink.  Was this a normal sized drink or super sized?

George

Considering both drinks are like 50% high fructose corn syrup, I'm not all that surprised.  I would bet that it would be equally difficult if the sodas had gone flat.

[BrianM]

Actually, I am pretty darn good at the drinking part, but I know very little about what I am drinking.

...I believe this state of mind is what the Hindus refer to as Moksha, i.e. liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth, and from all of the suffering and limitation of worldly existence.

So I recommend you stay put.


(I'm with you on red wine tasting like red wine...most of the time.  I had a byootiful $120 pinot noir not too long ago that brought all kinds of adjectives to mind. Or to be more exact, prompted each adjective to be preceded by the word "f***ing," if you follow me.)

[Steve Eddy]

I watched a bartender take lots of money from people in a bet that they couldn't tell the difference between Coke and 7UP after they've had one alcoholic drink and were blind folded when they took the test. After awhile I said, give me the blind fold and I lost too.

Hmmm. Don't see how, if no one could truly tell a difference, he could have been taking lots of money from people without in the long run also losing lots of money.

I mean, if you're just comparing Coke and 7Up, there's a 50/50 chance they'll win even if they're just guessing. Over time, the bartender would have to lose about as often as he wins.

If the bartender is consistently winning, then that would mean that people were in fact consistently detecting a difference. Just that for some reason they were also just as consistently misidentifying which was Coke and which was 7Up.

se

[Rob Babcock]

A similar phenomenon has been demonstrated with Vodka, too.  For all the rankings of ratings of vodka, even vodka experts/snobs have great difficulty telling them apart blind.  I read of one fan that went to simply buying the cheapest he can find then running it thru a Britta filter three times.  He claims there's really no way to tell his home-filtered stuff from the high zoot brands.  I can't say I'm surprised, either- supposedly the filtration is the main diff.

I used to be dead sure I could tell vodkas apart, especially in a case like Phillips or Mr. Boston vs Grey Goose or Stolichnaya.  It might be fun to conduct my own blind test to see if my palette is really that refined.

[JohnR]

Now there's a blind test I can drink to!

[BrianM]

I watched a bartender take lots of money from people in a bet that they couldn't tell the difference between Coke and 7UP after they've had one alcoholic drink and were blind folded when they took the test. After awhile I said, give me the blind fold and I lost too.

Hmmm. Don't see how, if no one could truly tell a difference, he could have been taking lots of money from people without in the long run also losing lots of money.

I mean, if you're just comparing Coke and 7Up, there's a 50/50 chance they'll win even if they're just guessing. Over time, the bartender would have to lose about as often as he wins.

If the bartender is consistently winning, then that would mean that people were in fact consistently detecting a difference. Just that for some reason they were also just as consistently misidentifying which was Coke and which was 7Up.

Maybe he was making them do a best-of-three, to mitigate the guessing element.

[BrianM]

A similar phenomenon has been demonstrated with Vodka, too.  For all the rankings of ratings of vodka, even vodka experts/snobs have great difficulty telling them apart blind.  I read of one fan that went to simply buying the cheapest he can find then running it thru a Britta filter three times.  He claims there's really no way to tell his home-filtered stuff from the high zoot brands.  I can't say I'm surprised, either- supposedly the filtration is the main diff.

I used to be dead sure I could tell vodkas apart, especially in a case like Phillips or Mr. Boston vs Grey Goose or Stolichnaya.  It might be fun to conduct my own blind test to see if my palette is really that refined.

In my not-so-humble opinion, the whole vodka connoisseur phenomenon is a load of rubbish and a scam.  Unless you flavor it, a la Absolut Citron etc., it's basically just ethanol and water.  Clear, colorless alcohol is going to taste like...clear colorless alcohol, no matter what bottle it's in.  Filtering, schmiltering.  It's ethanol.  You don't think the taste of ethanol is going to overwhelm whatever minute differences there were in the refining process, almost every time?  Straight up vodka can be either more or less alcoholic, or more or less "smooth" going down (that's where the filtering comes in), but the basic taste isn't going to change.  So unless you can identify different brands of vodka based on how relatively easy they are to swallow (and after the first couple shots, who's paying attention to that anymore), you're going to fail a blind taste test.

It's hilarious -- vodka was the ultimate, cheap Russian peasant drink.  It's flavorless alcohol!  They would've gladly traded up to good scotch.  But marketing mystique can sell just about anything.  Not to mention it's mainly used as a mixer, so you often have people ponying up for Stoli to add to their cranberry juice...

[BrianM]

Incidentally, this is why real men drink gin martinis.   

[ZLS]

    The question I have is the blind test conducted when you are "Blind Drunk"?  Remembering back to my dim distant youth, never mind distinguishing between the subtle nuances of the different brands of Vodka I was having trouble concertrating on which end is up! 

[woodsyi]

I volunteer to be the blind fool if anybody wants to test placebo effect on fine wine or vodka.  Warning:  I may need a lot of samples to come to a decision. 

[miklorsmith]

Incidentally, this is why real men drink gin martinis.   

mmmmmm, yummy!  My friend does them with a lemon zest, but I'm firmly an olive man.  Yet, dirty martinis are disgusting.  Weird.

One martini is never enough, two martinis is never enough, three martinis is always too many.     Oy vey, what's a *real man* to do?

[BrianM]

One martini is never enough, two martinis is never enough, three martinis is always too many.     Oy vey, what's a *real man* to do?

Not much you can do but pick up the pieces and start again the next weekend, I'm afraid.

[BradJudy]

A similar phenomenon has been demonstrated with Vodka, too.  For all the rankings of ratings of vodka, even vodka experts/snobs have great difficulty telling them apart blind.  I read of one fan that went to simply buying the cheapest he can find then running it thru a Britta filter three times.  He claims there's really no way to tell his home-filtered stuff from the high zoot brands.  I can't say I'm surprised, either- supposedly the filtration is the main diff.

They tried this one on Mythbusters.  While the show employees had a hard time telling the difference blind (one actually picked the opposite order of theoretical quality), the vodka expert they brought on was able to tell the difference blind between cheap, cheap and filtered, and expensive.  Which means it's possible, but unlikely that most people can tell. 

[acd483]

I had some amazing vodka at the Russian Tea Time in Chicago but it was flavored. Still, simply great stuff. To me vodka is just an alcoholic binder to most mixed drinks.

Give me a proper rye manhattan any day. By the way if you want the best manhattan recipe I've developed over much testing, it's 3 parts Templeton Rye to 1 part Vya sweet vermouth, a tiny shot of bitters and a drunken cherry. This is not a sweet drink. If you like a sweeter manhattan substitute your favorite bourbon.

[bwaslo]

I've was once the target of an even more embarrassing test.  At a stereo store I worked at decades ago, someone bet me I couldn't tell my brand of cigarrette blindfolded (I was a dedicated Marlboro fan in those days).  So they put a bandanna over my eyes and sat me down and stuck various cigarettes in my mouth and lit them up, asking which of the (4? I think) brands it was (tried about 20 times, one or two puffs per stick).  It was very disturbing how many wrong choices I made as being "my brand".  Second worst ones were when I mistook a Kool for a Marlboro!  Worst was that twice I mistook a-not-even-lit other brand for the Marlboro!

[Steve]

I think you bring out a good point Brian. In every field there are going to be honest and dishonest "mistakes" made by judges. The hard part is sorting out the bad from the good motivations. Imo, it is much easier if a bad reviewer (hopefully not) than the wine tasting judge in your article to skip by however. One method that helps before hand is inspecting the judges/reviewe's past if possible.

Yes, there are some similarities between wine tasters, audio reviewers, and us.
 
Hope this helps.

[acd483]

I've was once the target of an even more embarrassing test.  At a stereo store I worked at decades ago, someone bet me I couldn't tell my brand of cigarrette blindfolded (I was a dedicated Marlboro fan in those days).  So they put a bandanna over my eyes and sat me down and stuck various cigarettes in my mouth and lit them up, asking which of the (4? I think) brands it was (tried about 20 times, one or two puffs per stick).  It was very disturbing how many wrong choices I made as being "my brand".  Second worst ones were when I mistook a Kool for a Marlboro!  Worst was that twice I mistook a-not-even-lit other brand for the Marlboro!

Fascinating, though it is well known that smokers can't taste as well as non-smokers (which always miffs me when I see chefs smoking), because smokers are fiercely loyal to their brand. This test has proven it's all brand driven.

That blind test is tough, because you should have been able to smoke as much of each brand then be blindfolded and choose.

Humbling though eh?

[BrianM]

I for one would feel very uncomfortable in a situation where I'm asked to wear a blindfold while someone lights me a cigarette.  I guess I've watched too many Looney Tunes.