Blending at home

Blind tasting your own blends

2 minute read · The Blending School

You cannot taste your own blend fairly while knowing it is yours. Blind tasting is the only way to find out whether the thing you made is actually good, and it takes five minutes to set up.

Why blind

Knowing what is in a glass changes what you taste; this is one of the most replicated findings in sensory science. A blend you spent an evening building will taste better to you than it is, and a bottle with a famous label will taste better than it is. Blindfold both and the playing field is level.

The setup

• Identical glasses, three to five of them. Mismatched glassware is a tell.
• Same volume in each, about 20 ml.
• Have someone else pour and label the bases A through E, and write the key somewhere you cannot see. Alone? Pour, shuffle the glasses with your eyes closed, and put the key under each glass.
• Include one or two commercial bottles as anchors. A blend that beats a known reference is a real result.
• Water and plain crackers between glasses.

Score simply

A 1 to 5 overall score per glass plus one line of notes beats a tasting wheel you will abandon. Score before you reveal. Then reveal and be honest with yourself about surprises; the surprises are the whole point of the exercise.

Common biases to defeat

• Order effects. The first glass tastes stronger, the last tastes tired. Randomize order between sessions.
• Proof bias. Higher proof often scores higher simply for intensity. Note the proof after revealing and see whether your scores just tracked alcohol.
• Color. Darker looks older and richer. Use opaque or dark glasses if you want to remove it entirely.

What to do with the result

If your blend lost to a reference, look at the notes for why, and check the fixes. If it won, record the exact recipe now while you still have it. If you have been rating your infinity bottle as it changes, charting those ratings against proof over time turns single tastings into a real picture of what you like.